I see Sakura as cute but she wasn’t moe to me. OTOH, Nanoha is not only cute but she’s also moe. When I think about it, it probably has something to do with the girl’s action. Seeing Nanoha in battle really burns me up & energizes me. That never happens with Sakura for me.

Another thing I see as moe has something to do with characteristic. I usually see a hyper, energetic or eccentric personality as moe. But it also depends on my taste for the character (not in a sexual way, mind you). Energetic character like Misha from Pita Ten is moe to me but Suzumiya Haruhi is not.

This is just my opinion but I think that most people (guys especially) take moe as something that melts them down, while others take it as someone they have hot feelings for (usually in a sexual way, as stated before me)

And Wow, you had this moe thing figured out two years before me…-_-

http://www.animoe.net/2007/09/whats-moe.html

I don’t actually use any Japanese terms in real life…and I rarely use them on the net.

@Roy Mustang: She’s the original moe! Possibly the only character I would use ALL THREE “MOE” on!!! ;)

@Xiao Jie: So for you, “Moe” is a higher form of cute? For example:

–You see a cute character, and you shake the Earth with your apocalyptic squeal.
–But when you see a “Moe” character, you shake the Universe with your apocalyptic squeal.

Cute shakes the Earth, and “Moe” shakes the Universe?

@Sergio: It is indeed too long to do and I too would not do it.

But as most people so far have said…it seems it’s just another word for “cute”.

In fact, I have very seldom seen “moe” used to describe someone you want to protect. Maybe never.

Anyway, it would take too long to do, so it’s not me who’s gonna do it, but to find out how it’s really used I think it would be useful to take a large sample of the usage of moe, to see to which characters and in what situations it’s applied, etc., and see if there’s anything consistent there.

Generally speaking, though, I agree it’s become almost synonymous with “kawaii”.

It may also be used to refer to characters who you find cute but not in a sexual way. I say so because I think I remember someone saying about the onsen scene in k-on that they didn’t think the steam would be removed in the DVD version a la Gonzo, because it’s a MOE show.

That could be a lead, I guess, so if anyone wants to do the research…

Hmm, that’s pretty much how I use “moe”, too. At the most, any girl who can induce an apocalyptic squeal-fest out of me and make me want to bear-glomp the life out of them I would consider moe. Then again, moe is a largely different level of “cute” and I use the latter more than the former so it really depends on the character. I find that I’m more fond of girls when I perceive them as just “SOO CUTE~! <333" than "OMG, MOEEEE~!"…is what I'm trying to say? lol, sorry for the confusion. XD;

Regarding the "protectiveness" deal, I can see where the definition for that comes in but more often than not, the girls I find the most (sensibly) moe are usually the ones I don't have any protective feelings for. Actually, I don't think I even have any at all. It just seems like a general consensus among the fans that "Ok, this girl is moe” and I’d usually agree with the majority (granted I know enough about the girl first).

Fail comment. T3T;