While Sorrow-kun may disagree, I think that the moé phenomenon has grown large enough to call it a genre. (For those of you who speak Japanese, I mean the English bastardization of the word, not the literal translation.)

The late 70s and 80s saw the massive proliferation of giant robot anime solidifying mecha as a genre. The 90s say a large influx of loser boy meets posse of girls giving rise to the harem genre. I think today is the era of moé.

Will this phenomenon cement itself in the annals of anime like the others? Looking at shows like Idolm@ster: Xenoglossia and Shakugan no Shana, I say yes.

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Pun not intended.