Anyway, this reminds me of something I was supposed to write for a while, so I’ll probably toss together a post in a couple days. Moe theory FTW.

@ phossil: That’s the secret to drawing a moe character, but you wouldn’t pick a “waifu” based solely on character design. Of course, character design is still a huge factor, and it’s the most visible one (and thus the one that most people notice first).

@ Ryan A: Agreed. I can’t remember your opinion of K-on, but one of the things I liked about it was that the characters never tried to act moe. The intent of KyoAni and the source material is obvious, but the characters exist within their own universe, and their “cuteness” just comes naturally. We call it pandering because we know the industry and the fandom, but if you view it in isolation, it’s innocent. And it’s definitely convincing.

@ Nazarielle: I don’t care for the auu~, but I think Kanon’s biggest strength is its ability to “showcase” the charms of each of the girls. Like you said, it’s character based. If a moe character is portrayed well, it can make all the difference, and I think Kanon does all of its characters well – they’re just not all relevant to my interests.

@ gaguri: This post was from the perspective of a moe fan (i.e. evaluating Kanon’s success at being good at pandering as opposed to bad at pandering). It’s forced from the perspective of plot, but within the context of galge/moe fandom, I think its characters feel natural.

That said, you can definitely apply this basic concept to any genre, or even any medium.

@ Aorii: A bit tangential, but that’s true. Looking at it this way, it’s not that different from the whole concept of building a fictional universe in that realism is less important than consistency.

(I explained my statement about Mai in the post and in response to Nazarielle, but I understand your rage :P)

There’s realism, and there’s “realism”. Character design never has to be truly realistic, although sometimes it does help when the audience can look at a character and claim ‘I knew someone just like this’. Most of the girls from galge are simply too innocent, too nice, that it’s impossible to believe they’d be that way at high-school age IRL, but most young people aren’t going to fault that (though I’ve met plenty of middle-aged adults that do). However, there are realism aspects that should never be thrown out the door, like consistent and logical behavior. I don’t mean that the character has to think logically, but if one of their decisions leave the audience dumbfounded and unable to see why that just happened given circumstances and their personality, something is going down.

(more *rage* at “Mai is dull”)

I won’t link it but my basic point was that, like you say, anime don’t really need realism to capture you. Not just moe/galge/harem like Kanon, but things like mecha/shounen/shoujo you name it. Not just the writing, but with appropriate animations/art/voice acting/direction/soundtrack etc. You do it right and connect with the viewer, and the characters and world they see in front of them becomes more than just moving pictures, then at that moment that’s the only realism that matters.

One more comment. As much as I love Kanon 2006, I do think large portion of the show was direct pandering and forced, but that’s just my perception (although I’m sure many others feel the same way).

I think you really nailed why I watch what are otherwise mediocre and sometimes downright bad shows: the characters. Usually a specific character that’s managed to hit all or at least enough of my relevant interests to keep me watching. Like you, I can suspend my disbelief or ignore the flaws of the show/game, as long as I get enough satisfaction from seeing my favorite character. :p

This is similar to girls (or guys I guess) trying to act cute, but failing. What does this bring us to? Acting, and when we are dealing with 2D characters, there is little difference from physical acting and rendered acting at the core of intent. It is almost entirely about convincing*… and it is that which allows the translation from 2D to 3D in my opinion.

*Given the generation of a convincing portrayal between film/stage/tv and animation can be very different, but they carry similar intent.