LAUAN501: Moe Manifesto by Patrick Galbraith

One of the most challenging part about doing this topic of bishojou and moe is that due to it going very deep into Japanese sub-culture, you rarely find a Western-based acedemic text that focus on this, and that the one that do tends to be in Japanese /from Japanese authors. Fortunately enough, I managed to found this work by Patrick Galbraith which focus specifically on the topic of Moe, which will form some of the core opinions within the essay. After reading through it , one can say that this book are much less about criticizing moe sub-culture like the cast majority of other western-based work, but are more about the analysis of its origin and functionality in Japanese society, although one can not deny that there is a slight bias towards the positive side of moe more than the negative, through the Patrick himself, and the guest he interviews. This is actually also a positive thing about this book is that , its like a collection of various different interviews of Japanese people from all walks of life, which include, an artist, a sci-fi critic, a voice actress, a game developer. It makes for a much wider range of understanding for moe and its purpose in different context, as well as a deeper insight to the Japanese culture and pysche. Undoubtedly, it has benefited me greatly.