In Ottawa? Check out the "Oniichan, what does 'moe' mean?" conference

by Chris MaGee

If you're in the Ottawa area (that's the capital of Canada for all you international readers) then here's something that you may want to check out. The University of Ottawa will be hosting a one day conference on January 8th dedicated to Otaku culture called "Oniichan, what does 'moe' mean?". It will be hosted on two authorities on the subject of otaku, manga, and anime culture - Patrick Galbraith, the author of "The Otaku Encyclopedia: An Insider's Guide to the Subculture of Cool Japan" published by Kodansha (above left), and Thomas LaMarre, the author of "The Anime Machine: A Media Theory of Animation" published by the University of Minnesota Press (above right).

For those of you not up on your otaku lingo moe, literally "budding", is a slang term used by young manga and anime fans to refer to someone who has an obsession or fetish with a certain type of character, for example loli moe for someone who has a thing for Lolita characters. The conference actually takes its name from the quote on the cover of Galbraith's book (as you can see above) and both he and LaMarre will be discussing "the potential, and limits, of moe."

Thanks to Anime News Network" for the details on this story.