Moe anthropomorphism

Wikipe-tan, a moe anthropomorphism of Wikipedia.

Moe anthropomorphism (萌え擬人化, moe gijinka) is a form of anthropomorphism where moe (cute girl) qualities are given to non-human beings, objects, concepts, or phenomena; the subject of which often becomes a stylized anime girl, or bishōjo. In addition to moe features, moe anthropomorphisms are also characterized by their accessories, which serve to emphasize their original forms before anthropomorphosis. The female character here, usually in a kind of cosplay, is drawn to represent an inanimate object or popular consumer product. Part of the humor of this personification comes from the personality ascribed to the character (often satirical) and the sheer arbitrariness of identifying a variety of machines, objects, and even physical places as cute.

Many names of these girls end with -tan (たん), which is a child's mispronunciation of -chan (ちゃん), an informal, intimate, and diminutive honorific suffix for a person used for friends, family, and pets. In this case, the mispronunciation is used intentionally to achieve the contrived cute or charming effect that is commonly associated with its use by young children.

This form of anthropomorphism is very common in otaku subcultures. With the exception of kemonomimi, many moe anthropomorphizations started as dojin efforts. Many are the results of discussions on Japanese internet forums such as 2channel or Futaba Channel. Recently, the trend spread out of dojin circles as commercial anime and manga such as Binchō-tan and 090 Eko to Issho also prominently feature characters who are personifications of inanimate objects.

Types of moe anthropomorphism

Animals

Main article: Kemonomimi

Kemonomimi, literally meaning "animal ears", is the concept of drawing animals as bishōjo or having bishōjo wear animal accessories (such as ears or tails). Catgirls are the most prolific in this category, although bunnygirls, foxgirls, and doggirls are also popular. Although kemonomimi fits the technical definition of moe anthropomorphism, it is often not considered a part of moe anthropomorphism due to its abundance outside dojin.

Computers

Opera-tan, a personification of the Opera browser.

Although Chobits (2001) and Toy's iMac Girl (1998) came first, the widespread meme of turning computer-related phenomena into moe subjects did not start until Shiitake-chan (しいたけちゃん), the anthropomorphization of Internet Explorer's Stop button. The idea of Shiitake-chan came in 2001 on 2channel, starting with a poster who claims he saw the Stop button as a shiitake. Shiitake-chan has since been called the origin of moe anthropomorphism by some.

Following Shiitake-chan are the famous OS-tans of 2003. The concept is reported to have begun as a personification of the common perception of Windows Me as unstable and prone to frequent crashes. Discussions on Futaba Channel likened this to the stereotype of a fickle, troublesome girl. The personification became expanded, with the creation of Me-tan (dated to August 6, 2003) followed by the other characters. Mac OS X, Linux, and Linspire girls have also shown up on the Internet, although some non-OS male characters exist for programs and hardware. Norton AntiVirus is usually portrayed as a creepy-looking, possibly lecherous old doctor.

Since the creation of the OS-tans, other software and websites have been anthropomorphized as well. For example, the free encyclopedia Wikipedia has its own Wikipe-tan, while Mozilla applications have their own set of Moezilla.

Military hardware

Main article: Mecha Musume

Mecha Musume are girls that are drawn as hybrids with military hardware, such as tanks, ships, aircraft or even missiles. Popular subjects of this kind of anthropomorphism include World War II military vehicles; collectible mecha musume figures of these vehicles have even been released.

MS shōjo (or Gundam girls) are another type of mecha musume. They preceded the trend of turning real-life weapons into girls, as Gundam girls first appeared in print in the 1980s. MS shōjo are mecha robots that are drawn as girls, often gundams or zakus. Features of these girls often include helmets, armour, beam sabers, and/or beam rifles. MS in this case stands for Mobile Suit.

Mecha-Musume and kemonomimi crossed in the anime Strike Witches, featuring magical girls who exploited magic and technology to fight in a war. They took on characteristics of Mecha-Musume both in the Striker hardware they wore and their names/nationalities, and kemonomimi in that when they transformed, they grew animal ears.

Vehicles

Due to the abundance of railfans in Japan, anthropomorphizations of trains are also common. Though at the beginning such anthropomorphizations were just faces in front of the trains (i.e. eyes as the windshields), by the 2000s they became more and more humanoid due to the influence of otaku culture. In such cases, the girls are often drawn so that clothes worn reflect the front design of the first car and the colors of the railway company operating the train. Indeed, the personification is nearly as much about the train operator as about the train itself.

This sort of anthropomorphization arises from the fact that there is a significant overlap in railfans and otaku, and such anthropomorphizations are the products of their affection towards the trains. However, not all railfans in Japan are otakus, and thus some railfans view these anthropomorphizations with contempt.

Notable trains who were drawn as girls include the Fastech 360, often drawn with cat ears because of the train's emergency air braking plates. Called "Fastech-tan", this particular "train girl" has its own collectible figure, sold with permission from the East Japan Railway Company. Unlike Mecha Musume or OS-tans the personifications of trains rarely feature non-Japanese designs; among the few exceptions are Eurostar and KCR Hong Kong EMU SP1900.

Girls modeled as passenger jets are also popular. As with trains, the girls are often dressed up in the colors of the airline operating the aircraft.

Cars and motorcycles have also occasionally been the subject of anthropomorphosis.

Others

Other things have also been given moe characteristics:

• Celestial bodies

The celestial bodies which consist of Pluto and Charon, etc. Pluto is depicted as an unwanted child in light of its recent demotion from the list of planets.

• Charcoal

Based on Binchōtan and other types of charcoal, the anime and manga Binchō-tan uses the dajare in the Japanese word for coal (炭, tan) to create a series of cute girls.

• Cigarettes

A set of "Cigarette Girls" is drawn to represent different brands of cigarettes in Japan [1].

• Convenience stores

A series of moe anthropomorphisms of convenience stores has been classified as Conven-tan.

• Countries

As with national personifications, moe versions of various countries are present. For example, Japan is Nihon-chan[2], Afghanistan is Afuganisu-tan — both have their own webcomics in Japan.

• Food

Habanero-tan, the unofficial mascot of Bōkun Habanero; and Bisuke-tan for biscuits that KFC sells in Japan.

• Home appliances

Erotic computer games Like Life and Monogokoro, Monomusume both feature home appliances as girls. These appliances include washing machines, alarm clocks, blackboard erasers, pillows, first aid boxes, cell phones, and even post boxes, among others. The very nature of such games, however, puts the main characters in unusual situations when the sex scene happens — such as essentially "having sex with the washing machine".

Likewise, the manga 090 Eko to Issho features girls who are cell phones.

• Pokémon

Pokémon anthropomorphism/gijinka is popular among Japanese Pokémon sites, where they are featured as Pokémon Mystery Dungeon members. There is a wide variety of how each Pokémon looks like in their Gijinka form, one of the most frequently drawn Pokémon being Gardevoir, being that it is already very human-shaped. It is also very popular at deviantART's Pokédex account.

• Neon Genesis Evangelion Angels

Angel Chromosome XX is a recent series of figures from WAVE, GAINAX, and Sgt. Frog artist Mine Yoshizaki featuring the various Angels from the anime in anthropomorphic forms (except Lilith and Armisael, which are both Rei Ayanami).

1. Adam is the base for each figure in fetal form.
2. Lilith is Rei Ayanami in her Plug Suit with wings.
3. Sachiel is scantily clad with semi-exposed breasts (nothing objectable, but racy) with light-blue hair and the Angel's mask on her head.
4. Shamshel is very scantily clad with merely straps for cover, and has pink tendrils coming from her shoulders. Yellow hair with an insect-like pincer at the top.
5. Sahaquiel is shown as a small girl with the large orange features of the Angel with dirty-green hair, and is rather cute. The least exposed of all the figures, with almost no skin showing.
6. Zeruel appears as a winged girl (the wings are Zeruel's hand-like tendrils) in orange and white armor with "cat ears" and Zeruel's mask on the back of her head.
7. Arael is shown as what would be the most unusual figure. She is sitting down or floating (allusion to actually being in space), white and blue from the neck-down (no clothes), and has the Lance of Longinus through her chest as it is canon to the anime.
8. Armisael is basically Rei Ayanami with a large amount of veins protruding from her body, as it was in the anime.
9. Tabris is a small girl in Kaworu's shirt (and only that) with the Mass Production Evangelion's token battle spear. This is disputably the most odd figure since Tabris was actually male in the anime; even so, Tabris' face is similar to Kaworu's.

There is another figure called CODE:BE that seems to be a repaint or variant of Lilith.

References

• Parts of this article use the translation of the corresponding Chinese-language Wikipedia article and the Japanese-language Wikipedia article on "Anthropomorphism" and "Train anthropomorphism". Retrieved on July 31 2006.

Further reading

• Gijinka tan Hakusho (擬人化たん白書, lit. Anthropomorphism-tan Files)

ISBN 4-7572-1262-3.

Tokyo, Japan: Aspect, 2006.

External links

• Nijiura - Imageboard with a number of boards dedicated to OS-tans, Mecha Musume, etc. Template:Ja icon
• Imageboard for Mecha Musume. Template:Ja icon
• iiChan/WAKAchan imageboards - The Net Characters board on iiChan/WAKAchan is mainly dedicated to OS-tans but accepts other mascot characters such as Mecha Musume. Template:En icon