Moé Idolatry Article
Moé Moé Series
MMMmmmmmmmoooooé~! Welcome to another long article of Moé Idolatry.
Today I’ll be showing you guys a series of books that just epitomises the word èŒãˆ (moé).
These Moé Moé books have been going on since… 2005? Anyway, enough chatter, onto the main course~
The Whole
So what are these books about? Well, they’re an informative/educational series that lure us with cute pictures that compliment the accompanying item of interest. At the back of the books are usually a more comprehensive showcase of the subject. The books are also usually split up into sections to make it more logical to read through. The earlier editions are a bit more on the intangible such as a proverb dictionary and how to make a good blog whereas the later books focus more on items of interest like firearms, melee weapons etc.
The First
èŒãˆèŒãˆå°±å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé jyuuki jiten) or Moé Moé Firearms Encyclopedia was the first one I purchased while I was in Japan in August 2006. My friend and I saw a shelf of military and firearms books at Asobit City H (Hobby) in Akiba, and I spotted a few books I wanted, one being the Moé Moé series.
One of the “fetishes” I have is for girls with weapons, so naturally I had this on the “to buy” list. It goes through handguns, sniper rifles, shotguns, assault rifles, sub machine guns and others. The book is also filled with snippet articles of other guns such as Gatling Gun and Ammo types. There’s also a short story named “Loveroid Hunter” which I can’t understand XD
The images are drawn by a few artists, such as Points and SLeeVe and for the most part, they’re wonderfully drawn with the respective firearm.
The Batch
After the initial purchase way back in 2006, I accidentally (through an artist’s website which I was looking for ages with only a handful of images to go on) came across the Moé Moé series homepage… my wallet is now quivering in fear.
Moé Moé series, rollcall!
èŒãˆèŒãˆå°±å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé buki jiten) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia
èŒãˆèŒãˆæ¦å™¨äº‹å…¸II (moé moé buki jiten II) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia II
èŒãˆèŒãˆå¹»æƒ³æ¦å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé genso buki jiten) – Moé Moé Fantasy Weapon Encyclopedia
èŒãˆèŒãˆå¥³ç¥žäº‹å…¸ (moé moé megami jiten) – Moé Moé Goddess Encyclopedia
Let’s get started!
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The Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia is a fairly old book in release date in my collection, older than the Firearms book I got. As the title suggests, it’s all about weapons, specifically melee weapons. This book covers weapons of swords, knives, polearms/poleaxes, throwable/projectiles, blunts and miscellaneous. Examples of the weapons featured are Morning Star, Shotel, Claymore, Kukuri, Whip and BOOOOMERANG~!
Artists include よã—☆ヲ – yoshio (ã‚ãšã¾ã‚„æ¾é¢¨), ã‚ã‚ã„ ã™ã‚ã‚‹ – Amei Sumeru (ã¦ã‚“ã¶ã‚Š), Maruto! and others. The illustrations are also great, but most have no background or very little if any, still awesome tho :3
èŒãˆèŒãˆå°±å™¨äº‹å…¸II
This second book of melee weapons is the latest in the series. Sections of the book are modified and are much more clearer in showing the weapons with diagrams and a text heavy section at the back. The categories are fairly much the same from the first book, with new weapons such as the trusty club, cat-o-nine-tails, 仕込ã¿å‚˜ (shikomikasa, Umbrella sword), pike, bagh nakh and nunchucks.
Each of these weapons comes with the usual complimenting illustration, but now also with a diagram of the weapon. Each section of the book also has a little detail on the weapons in general, and at the back of the book it details more of Japanese troop tactics and also the making of Japanese swords from smithing of the ore to the shape of the tip.
The artists featured in this book include Ushi (CWGP), Higuma (HIGUMAX) and Kantoku (5å¹´ç›®ã®æ”¾èª²å¾Œ) among others.
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Fantasy Weapons! This book focuses on the mythical weapons of legends from various countries. Since this book is also one of the newer ones, it features diagrams of each weapon and also a text heavy section at the back. Categories are listed as mythologies, which include Japanese, Chinese, Hindu and Norse among others. Some weapons featured are Excalibur, Mjolnir, å¦‚æ„æ£’ (Rú Yì Bà ng, Monkey King Bar) and åƒé³¥ (chidori, no, that that skill from Naruto >.>).
Since this is a book on fantasy weapons, most of the artists have taken on a very modified view on what the weapon should look like, so most of the weapons don’t even come close to their usual universally accepted appearance. The back of the book features various information about mythologies, which I can’t really understand ^^;
Artist involved in this book include æ—¥å‘æä»‹ (スタジオ☆ã²ã¾ã‚り – Studio Himawari), å±±æ ¹çœŸäºº – Masato Yamane (NURSERYTALE)
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Ah! My encyclopedia of Goddesses! All over the world there’s various goddess within the different mythologies. Japan, being Japan, have taken upon themselves to moefy the various goddesses, which is all fine in my opinion :3
Categories are all sectioned off by country, from India, Japan, China to Europe, and then some in between. Goddess featured are usually the more well known deities, such as Athena, 嫦娥 (Cháng’é), लकà¥à¤·à¥à¤®à¥€ (Lakshmi) and Ometeotl. All of them are drawn very very nicely. Along with the goddess, the book has a text heavy section to the back like the other newer books, it details the goddesses influences and such (I think).
The awesome artists in this book include å¤§å ´ã€€é™½ç‚Ž – Ooba Kagerou (Dadacha), Yomogi (よもãŽãŒãã¾Î²) and Shikorusukii (ã‚°ã‚°ã‚°ã‚°ã‚°), along with a LOT of other delicious artists :3~
The crystal ball
Those are only some of the books! I’m planning to get some more of the series, such as the èŒãˆèŒãˆå¤©ä½¿äº‹å…¸ (Angel Encyclopedia) and èŒãˆèŒãˆæ‚ªé”事典 (Devil Encyclopedia) which also have a nice list of artists. I’m especially looking forward to the devil version >:3
It will hurt my wallet quite a bit as well… which moves onto:
Details
Names
èŒãˆèŒãˆå°±å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé jyuuki jiten) – Moé Moé Firearms Encyclopedia
èŒãˆèŒãˆå°±å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé buki jiten) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia
èŒãˆèŒãˆæ¦å™¨äº‹å…¸II (moé moé buki jiten II) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia II
èŒãˆèŒãˆå¹»æƒ³æ¦å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé genso buki jiten) – Moé Moé Fantasy Weapon Encyclopedia
èŒãˆèŒãˆå¥³ç¥žäº‹å…¸ (moé moé megami jiten) – Moé Moé Goddess Encyclopedia
Series
èŒãˆèŒãˆ (moé moé)
Publisher
Eagle Publishing/Turning Points
Place of purchase
èŒãˆèŒãˆå°±å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé jyuuki jiten) – Asobit City H, Akihabara, Japan
The rest – KangaKanga, Melbourne, Australia
Retail price
1,470 to 1,575 yen
Bought it for
èŒãˆèŒãˆå°±å™¨äº‹å…¸ (moé moé jyuuki jiten) – $17.50 AU
The rest – $31.45 – $33.30 AU
Availability (at time of writing)
Should be easy to order from your local Japanese bookshop! :3
Woho! That looks excellent. I’d like to have the fire weapon and the first melee weapon books T_T
not exactly covers my moe, I don’t really into firearms or weapon :p but buki jinten looks good :O it has disgaea look, maybe I’ll get this one next month when I go to japan :D
I scare myself in the fact that I DID look through those…and was spending most of my time criticizing the technical aspects of the firearms–i.e. ignoring the girls altogether.
sad, ain’t it…
looks pretty nice ^_^;
OH, while we’re on the subject of cute girls in maid dresses and weapons… :)
http://www.atsai.co.jp/arthobby/page059.html
Argh, can’t edit your posts. Again somewhat related, a summary of Random Curiosity’s commentary on the Sky Girls 1st EP, edited by me:
flat chest moe mode, check
schoolmizu moe mode, check
high socks moe mode, check
miniskirt moe mode, check
catgirl moe mode, check
shoulder exposure moe mode, check
:p
Sorry wavehawk, you are wrong.
The 3 main characters of sky girls isn’t flat.
they got speed bumps! muahahaa
Watched the first episode and Otoha had some decent puppies when she was stripping to change to her Kendo Uniform.
I believe that in Sky girls, their chest seems flat when they wear the suit to pilot Sonic Diver
Hehe, this seems perfectly like you =)
Good to see another post of you. Hope to see some new outdoor shootings in the future^^
I’m trying to arrange a photoshoot within the next week, but i’ve been busy with a few things >.< I try to post every now and then here to keep it alive but the posts have to be relevant instead of some rant ^^; Thanks for visiting as well~ XD