Hey, Answerfans!

by Zac Bertschy, Aug 1st 2008

so due to some circumstances outside of my control, I ran out of time to do a proper Answerman column this week. We're gonna do a dedicated Hey Answerfans column instead, with some questions from the "which anime world would you live in" and also responses to the last question about moe. I'll be back in proper form next week. See you then!

The Question:

From "Marioman":

I'm going to go with Bleach.
Sure, there's Hollows and stuff like that running around, but at least when you die, there's an afterlife.
And to boot, even If you were a failure before you died, you get a second chance.
Being able to run insanely fast and shoot lighting If you're lucky enough to have spirt power is another plus.

From Ronald Huffine:

Frankly, if I'm going to be stuck in an anime world, I want to be in one that fulfills what my childhood dreams would be.  Therefore I must pick the Leijiverse.  After a childhood spent looking up at the heavens while wondering what was beyond our world and an adulthood with the tragic conclusion that I won't know the answer to that in my lifetime, life in the sea of stars is too enticing.  Boarding the 999 (or the Arcadia) with pistol slung to my hip, landing on the vast expanse of a new planet, meeting new people or even new races;  I don't know of another anime universe that I would prefer more.  You can keep your generic harems, fights and love stories; stepping on board the Galaxy Express 999 for a journey and the adventure it will bring is the very definition of romance.

If for some reason the Leijiverse is unavailable, you can substitute Cowboy Bebop, The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, or Crest of the Stars.  Really anywhere with spaceships and a long list of places I have yet to see.

From Kayla Milner:

Since I'm the kind of girl who can't pick just ONE fav. anime, this is a fairly hard decision for me to make. But in all honesty, of all of the animes I've watched over the years I would hands down want to live in the world of IGPX. When I first the previewed the show IGPX I called it the "Futuristic Version of Speed Racer" and considered watching it. Once I started to watch the first three episodes I was in love with the show for three reasons, 1: it's set in the future, how cool is that? (Yes, Bebop is set in the future but I'm terrified of outer space. But the show in general is awesome.) I mean the show's got everything that I imagined what life would be like in the future, if not ten times better. There's the really cool houses and the really cool futuristic version of a Nintendo DS. (My own personal joke.) You can even communicate with your pet in a way, that's something that I always wished that I was able to do.

2: A totally wickedly awesome futuristic sport, the Immortal Grand Prix. I for one, am not that big of a sports nut, but watching this show changed my entire outlook on sports. It actually made me wish that I was in a sport, despite my atheletic handicap. Another reason that I find it totally awesome is the mechanics that went into the whole series of IGPX. At first I thought that machinery as a whole was a boring hobby and a complete waste of time, after I watched the show my whole attitude towards mechanics and machinery changed. I actually learned that it can be an interesting and unique hobby, if you take the time to understand it.

As for the final reason? I liked how the animation made the future seem more clean and livable, unlike the current world we're living in today. It seemed to give a sense of hope of our planet being restored to its formal glory, unlike some shows that are set in the future where Earth is too toxic to live upon. Maybe I'm just being a hopeless environmental enthusiast who's delusional and needs to wake up and realize that things are never going to get better? Maybe so, but like I've said time and time again (amongst my social circle): A girl can dream.

From "Slacker Magee":

It may be useful to think of the things I would not want in a world (with example series):
>Compulsive individuals with destructive/supernatural/special powers (Hellsing)
>Angsty teenagers allowed to run rampant with destructive/supernatural/special powers as they "learn" about them (Bleach)
>Small children whose terribly... unpredictable moral compass (and total lack of BRAINS) guides their use of destructive/supernatural/special powers (Naruto)
>Tyrannical, evil, malicious, or overbearing regimes whose presence I must fight for King and Country (or Hearth and Home, etc. etc.) (Escaflowne)
>Malicious regimes that find it convenient to raze my farm and hang my family to prove a point to neighboring towns, cities, and countries (Bastard)
>Groups of super powered bigots/elitists/others allowed to raid and ravish the populations of the universe to satisfy whatever whims/desires/compulsions come over them (Dragon Ball)
>Small cadres of fighters being given access to elite weaponry for any purpose and the rest of the world being given what amount to tracer shells to try and fight them off (Gundam... all of them?)
>Small shadow governments guiding the world to oblivion and an equally small organization existing to stop their attempts with angsty, incompetent teenagers (Evangelion)
>list continued ad nauseum. 

In brief, I would not want a world in which the best possible position in life (or the ability to survive at all) comes from being blessed with "special" powers from birth, as the chance of such a power being bestowed upon me is = [(population of "specials")/(population of planet)].  You might guess that it would be pretty rare to, in an anime world, be able to fly around and launch fireballs, magically fix machinery, or even summon small creatures to do your bidding.  In fact, you'd be luckier than a PowerBall winner, given the ~7 billion individuals currently existing (or even the 100 million that would probably exist internationally in one of the smaller, more medieval animes). 

A nice peaceful world with some strange twist to keep things interesting and engaging as I struggle to adjust would be grand.  Something like the quaint town out of Haibane Renmei with its odd people, strange rituals, and forboding landmarks.  It may feel somewhat boring after a while but at least I'm not sweating through a three day life or death ritual to unlock the secrets of my inner demon: the monsters here don't take kindly to lead, fire, or gas.

And now, our previous question:

From R.A.:
Yes, Rob H****, last summer, and I'd rather not go in to details because it ended with me starting a two month extreme depression.
But when I was moe for him, it was awesome. Completely. It wasn't sexual at all, it was just warmness and feeling awesome being around him and doing stuff.
Oh wait, that's the text book definition of a crush. I suppose that applies to "moe" too, except it's for 2D?

From Peter LaLiberte:

Have I felt moe for a real person? Yes, and so has everyone else. Like emo, moe is a word that has lost its meaning due to constant and improper use. Moe is slang, and like most slang it's a cut down version of an actual word. Moe is short for moeru, which means 'to burn.' It's meant to describe that warm and fuzzy feeling you get inside. This feeling is akin to a fire in your chest, hense the 'burning.' It doesn't even have to be sexual in nature. Thus, 'moe' can apply to many things. It can be felt while looking at Answerman's cute animal pictures, and it can be felt by seeing a hot girl/guy walking down the street. Your milage will vary. So when you see that special some one you like, and your heart beats faster and your face heats up, know that that is moe.

From Maggie:

Have I ever felt moe for a real person? Yes... and I had it bad. In my senior year of high school, I was sort of just getting past my extreme, life-long denial of my homosexuality and embracing the fact that I liked girls--- a lot. Generally speaking, I liked athletic, tall girls with dark hair and big noses (don't ask) but there was a girl who defied my "type" with whom I took the bus every day to school. I can only describe her as a real life "moe" girl. She was easily a foot shorter than me, with long blonde hair and adorable bangs, big green eyes and always wore cute clothes. Suffice it to say, I was smitten immediately.

Since moe is a term for burning, I can agreeably say I burned for her-- or at least my face did every day when she would board the bus we both took to school. I constantly dreamed of being her "onee-sama" and having a very Maria-sama ga Miteru "sempai-kohai" relationship. It was really stupid, I know, and I'm not usually like this, but her moe-ness changed me into a bumbling idiot... I'm usually not shy or awkward, but she really rattled me up... in fact, the first time we really spoke was when I was invited to her suprise birthday party by her sister (who I was actually friends with.) I bought her a stuffed sheep as a present, basically because it was cute and she was cute... and she loved it! Snuggling up to it, she was the most moe thing I had ever seen! If nosebleeds from cute were possible, I would have had one.

Now that we are actually friends, I've sort of tried to calm my moe-love of her to a slight smouldering as opposed to a raging inferno. I hope that the next time I meet a truly moe person, I will be prepared... and my brain won't turn to mush!

From Numinor29:

I have. "Moe" is, of course, a very difficult term to describe exactly, but one that most people seem to agree with is that things that are "moe" turn on Otaku. It also tends, in my experience, to gravitate towards young and cute rather than older and busty (the girl next door over the school nurse, for example). Despite the oft-mentioned lack of interest many otaku have in "real" girls, not all of us are completely hopeless. One girl I know in real life is, to me, extremely moe. The sort of girl you want to literally tackle-glomp and kidnap for being almost illegally cute. Not beautiful, mind you, but cute. Moe does indeed occur in real life. And no, I'm not planning to kidnap her...

Finally, from Charles Dawson:


The answer is NO, as your question is oxymoronic.

Sorry, Charles. This one's for you.

Okay, so here's your next question:




Believe it or not, I'm genuinely curious what you think.


Welcome to Hey, Answerfans!


We do have a few simple ground rules to start with.

Things To Do:

* Be coherent.
* Be thoughtful.
* Be passionate.

Things Not To Do:

* Be unnecessarily rude or use a lot of foul language.
* Go off-topic.


See you all next week!

Howl's Moving Castle © Nibariki * GNDDDT




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