Ask John: Is Chara Moe a Negative Trend?

Question:
I have a question in regards to “Chara-moe” or character-obsessing. Do you have any opinions on this matter? Below, I speak in slight frustration because I was told all these years (by Square, through interviews) that they would never make a movie on the FF7 franchise, ever. And of course, they did. Why? Probably chara-moe?

I’m finding that a lot of anime as of late have become so fixiated on “chara-moe” that there seems to be a huge breakdown in anime as a story telling medium. Anime is no longer about animating carefully, but creating a brand of characters that people idolize regardless of the real quality of the story, animation, or concepts. Fan-fiction about characters doing insignificant things continue being created at the expense of logic, or appreciation of the other creative things of anime such as thesis, concept, art work, narrative, or general atmosphere.

The result is such like Final Fantasy: Advent Children. Back when I read an interview in Famitsu before Spirits Within came out, Sakaguchi specifically mentioned that the upcoming (at the time) movie was not going to be a Final Fantasy 7 movie and there will never be a movie or game made on it. He used the fact that previous FFs were never direct sequels as evidence.

However, after the blunder of Spirits Within, Square completley capitalized specifically for profit. FFX-2 was made, and a barrage of FF7 goods is being released with seemingly no stop. Who knows, a Final Fantasy 7 remake on PS3? If it makes money, why not? Rather than exploring new perspectives of the Final Fantasy 7 world through new characters or a new solid story, Advent Children was pretty much a CG re-hash of all the familiar characters appearing for little to no reason other than fan-service, completely detatched from Final Fantasy 7’s story itself. It seems that destroying artistic integrity is acceptable now if it makes dollars.

Same with Gundam Seed. The Gundam series that’s known for its impact on anime in general has fallen to a mere robot series with pretty people riding giant robots that make explosions. There is drama, but a lot of it involves “modernized” anime cliches such as big eyes, breasts jiggling, and a lot of making out, seemingly to please viewers in need of animated sexual relations as well as “chara-moe.”

My views on anime is not abysmal, but I can’t help but think that characters no longer hold a significant meaning to anime anymore other than as mere marketing tools to be made into resin kits, and gashapon toys to be sold at anime conventions or over the internet.

Notice how shows like Monster from Urasawa Naoki have no figures, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has very little, and other shows like Zipang may only release naval ships at most. These shows meanwhile seemingly are not as popular as ones that market chara-moe: Naruto, Bleach, and what have you.

I do not want to dismiss these shows as purely being bad because they aren’t horrible or anything, but they seem to lack the narrative, conceptual consistency that anime used to have. They’re like American comics going from next episode to next episode over and over because there is no end, literally, to market to the demand of chara-moe.

Answer:
Selfishly I must admit that I’m pleased to be asked about my opinion on “chara moe” instead of asked for an explanation of its prevelance. It’s much easier to explain my perspective on this trend than attempt to explain why it’s occurring, which would probably require more familiarity with the Japanese fan community and anime industry than I have. On one hand, I think that the increasing focus on marketable characters is a natural evolution of the anime industry. On the other hand, I’m not entirely certain that the percentage of “chara moe” has actually drastically increased. It may be more abundant and more obvious now because there’s simply more anime now than ever before.

Although I’m a staunch proponent of anime being considered a legitimate form of contemporary art, I also recognize that anime is a commercial product. It should come as no surprise that the Japanese animation and game industries are eager to produce products that generate big profits. Blame can’t be laid entirely on animators and creators because production studios frequently rely on corporate sponsorship to fund the production of anime. So if producers and sponsors pay animators to create shows with marketable characters, that’s what animators create. I also believe that animators aren’t aloof from the demands of fans and consumers. Hironobu Sakaguchi may have previously stated that Square would never produce a Final Fantasy VII movie. In 1996 Hideaki Anno told Americans at Anime Expo that he had no plans to create an alternate ending for the Evangelion TV series. But in both cases overwhelming fan demand may have had some influence in changing formerly adamant resolve.

The concept of appealing to interest in singular characters is not a new trend. Japanese mascot characters like Hello Kitty have marketed characters with minimal or no context for decades. I think it’s valid to argue that anime has had marketable characters since at least the early 1980s. Characters like Kei & Yuri from Dirty Pair and Lum from Urusei Yatsura have been as popular as independent characters as the anime they’ve come from. The 1990s and titles like Secret of Blue Water, Tenchi Muyo, Sailor Moon, Evangelion, Nadesico, and Dragonball Z were the beginning of characters who were more popular individually than the shows they came from. Conjoined with the 1990s was the development of high quality anime style computer games that featured still images and text. These games necessarily focused on character appearances and visual impact because they didn’t have animation to rely on. The introduction of computer visual novel games may have had a significant role in contributing to the narrowly focused obsession with individual characters and even individual characteristics of characters. These days there seem to be many more anime series that emphasize characters over context, but these days there are many more anime of all types.

Just considering relatively recent anime, there are shows like Kagihime, Binchotan, Fate/stay night, Shinigami no Ballad, and Disgaea that are designed to draw attention to profitable characters. There are also series like Yomigaeru Sora, Kasimasi ~Girl Meets Girl~, Black Lagoon, and Gintama which don’t have instantly marketable characters or don’t concentrate on working as advertising for affiliated merchandising. I’m aware that some fans may criticize trends within the anime industry or complain that “all” anime is the same. I think that these fans are either uninformed or speak without serious consideration. There are plenty of substantial narrative and artistic anime series available to viewers that make an effort to seek them out and watch them.

Now that anime is becoming more universally accepted worldwide and some of the stigma of being an anime fan is decreasing, it seems as though anime fans are becoming more prone to indulge themselves. Anime is fantasy and wish fulfillment. That’s what makes it appealing and entertaining. So it should come as no surprise when, now that it’s more socially acceptable for fans to obsess over particular anime characters, fans do so. While I do encourage taking anime seriously, it’s a mistake to forget that anime should be fun. Even anime that obviously exists to service its characters can still be enjoyable and entertaining without being overly condescending. In other words, I may be too forgiving with anime, but I don’t think that the current trend of “chara moe” anime is necessarily bad because it doesn’t represent all current anime and doesn’t appear to be a threat to the diversity or quality of anime as an art form. In fact, I honestly appreciate the fact that I can enjoy looking at characters from franchises like Shinra Bancho and Kabu de Iko even though I know virtually nothing about them. I can’t deny that the trend of creating anime just for the purpose of introducing marketable characters seems to be getting more common, but it’s not a new trend, and I don’t think it’s a serious threat to the integrity or credibility of the Japanese animation industry. This is probably an evolution in the ongoing development of anime rather than a passing phase, but I don’t think it’s a reason to be fearful that the literary and artistic quality that we expect out of anime is approaching extinction. I can’t blame Japan’s anime industry for responding to market conditions and demand, and individual fans have every right to dislike this trend or examples of this trend. I think that the consumer obsession with individual characters may intensify, but it will never eliminate interest in exceptional narratives and outstanding animated works. And I believe that Japanese creators are artists who will always be interested in creating substantial, literary stories. I don’t think that pandering to “chara moe” is cheapening the industry because developing obsessive love for anime and its characters is the purpose of anime, and I support anything that encourages interest in anime.