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 萌え (moé).
These Moé Moé books have been going on since… 2005? Anyway, enough chatter, onto the main course~

The Whole

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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

萌え萌え就器事典 (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.

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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!
萌え萌え就器事典 (moé moé buki jiten) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia
萌え萌え武器事典II (moé moé buki jiten II) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia II
萌え萌え幻想武器事典 (moé moé genso buki jiten) – Moé Moé Fantasy Weapon Encyclopedia
萌え萌え女神事典 (moé moé megami jiten) – Moé Moé Goddess Encyclopedia

Let’s get started!

萌え萌え就器事典

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~!

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Artists include よし☆ヲ – yoshio (あずまや松風), あめい　すめる – Amei Sumeru (てんぶり), Maruto! and others. The illustrations are also great, but most have no background or very little if any, still awesome tho :3

萌え萌え就器事典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, 仕込み傘 (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.

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The artists featured in this book include Ushi (CWGP), Higuma (HIGUMAX) and Kantoku (5年目の放課後) among others.

萌え萌え幻想武器事典

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, 如意棒 (Rú Yì Bàng, Monkey King Bar) and 千鳥 (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 ^^;

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Artist involved in this book include 日向恭介 (スタジオ☆ひまわり – Studio Himawari), 山根真人 – Masato Yamane (NURSERYTALE)

萌え萌え女神事典

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), लक्ष्मी (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).

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The awesome artists in this book include 大場　陽炎 – Ooba Kagerou (Dadacha), Yomogi (よもぎがそまβ) 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 萌え萌え天使事典 (Angel Encyclopedia) and 萌え萌え悪魔事典 (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
萌え萌え就器事典 (moé moé jyuuki jiten) – Moé Moé Firearms Encyclopedia
萌え萌え就器事典 (moé moé buki jiten) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia
萌え萌え武器事典II (moé moé buki jiten II) – Moé Moé Weapon Encyclopedia II
萌え萌え幻想武器事典 (moé moé genso buki jiten) – Moé Moé Fantasy Weapon Encyclopedia
萌え萌え女神事典 (moé moé megami jiten) – Moé Moé Goddess Encyclopedia
Series
萌え萌え (moé moé)
Publisher
Eagle Publishing/Turning Points
Place of purchase
萌え萌え就器事典 (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
萌え萌え就器事典 (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