hontou ni
10Jan/0823

GAR for girls; MOE for men

There is GAR in MOE

One of my favourite anime fan in an anime has to be Grouseaux. (Was it future boy Conan he was watching in the FMP Tessa OVA?) Escaping from daily gore and horrors of war, he immerses himself in the sanctuary of feel-good anime to reconnect with his humanity. This may be the reason why some of us are predisposed to certain anime genres - to supplement the lesser seen facets of our lives. Man, haven't had good harem fun since high school...

In the same vein, it'd also explain why we avoid certain series. I'm sure Grouseaux despises most war-themed anime because as an insider, he knows how silly most of them are. Having served in the army like most Singaporean males, I too have a higher bar for war anime. One of the reasons why I strongly recommend Iriya no Sora, UFO no Natsu over Saikano is the ludicrous manner the armed forces were depicted in the latter. Extrapolating this train of thought, this is also the reason why I have low regard for GAR in anime. Would one admire GAR anime characters if HE IS GAR in RL? (That said, of course there are well-crafted GAR characters in anime, worthy of respect though they are are far and few.) Like frivolous anime wars is to Grouseaux, so is anime GAR to real men.

This conversely explains why real men worship moe - it's everything they are not and will never be. Moe mostly invokes a protective response which only the most honourable of men are capable of. They see a precious fragility that is extinct in RL and sought to preserve/honour the anime remnant with their all. Open adherents of moe are likely to be folks so comfortable with their masculinity that they care not what others think. Now that is GAR.

In conclusion, we remember what a half-mad otaku-tanuki once said - To GAR is MOE.

(Incidentally, the most GAR thing I believe a man can do in RL is to undertake childbearing in place of his wife. Not just the delivery but the whole ten months ordeal. Now that is a GAR I can never hope to attain.)

Disclaimer: I'm not calling anyone's masculinity (or femininity) into question. Vote in SaiGar, SaiMoe, SaiLoli passionately since it's all positive community-building in the name of anime fun as this post hopes to be.

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Comments (23) Trackbacks (5)
  1. double
    January 10th, 2008 - 09:14

    GAR is something I respect, because its something I’ll never attain.

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  2. cyw1988
    January 10th, 2008 - 10:13

    Can someone explain to me what GAR means? Coz i keep hearing it around but have no idea what it means lol… anime vs RL i mean the answer is there… Anime pwnz RL coz of the unreality of it… sort of why a show like LOTR can own the shit out of curse of the golden flower…

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  3. kei-clone
    January 10th, 2008 - 10:15

    this post wins…again

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  4. STi
    January 10th, 2008 - 12:48

    Pardon the n00bness but I too would like to know what GAR really means…

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  5. kaz3phyrous
    January 10th, 2008 - 12:49

    so true…
    only the garrest of men can earn respect from the gar…
    but having a tiny bit of moe can make the gar swoon…

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  6. isok
    January 10th, 2008 - 13:04

    Grouseaux was watching the legendary Conyan – The Future Detective Boy!

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  8. vexx
    January 10th, 2008 - 13:46

    A lot of people glance at “gar” and think “posturing shouting ball-waving juvenile idiocy” memes. However, like “moe” has cheap and pure strains, there is a “true gar” that ascends above the “my kung foo is better than yours because I believe it more strongly” bullcrap. I’m trying to think of a “true gar” example, but honestly all the examples I can think of are from films of the mid-20th century (e.g. some of John Wayne’s roles). True gar includes compassion and knowing when NOT to fight or to use it only when no other solution presents itself.
    People like to point at Kamina of Gurren-Lagann as an epitome of “gar”…. he exhibited it on occasion but frankly some of the time it was more idiocy than gar. Even his great moment was basically unneeded if he’d shown some tactical clues (that may have been just poor writing by a staff with no battle clues though).

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  9. Zyl
    January 10th, 2008 - 14:24

    And goth-loli-imouto for tanukis!

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  10. ron~
    January 10th, 2008 - 15:45

    I don’t think girl otaku worship gar like men worship moe..

    It’s more like “YAOI for girls; MOE for men” ^^;

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  11. ron~
    January 10th, 2008 - 15:45

    I don’t think girl otaku worship gar like men worship moe..

    It’s more like “YAOI for girls; MOE for men” ^^;

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  12. Xellos-_^
    January 10th, 2008 - 16:08

    good examples of Gar is Harlock whch is what Gar came form and Roy Fokker form Macross. THose are the epitome of Gar.

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  13. Stripey
    January 10th, 2008 - 22:21

    double: heh , don’t worry the army is solve that. :)

    cyw1988:/STi it probably means different things to different people. When I was 21, I thought the most gar thing I did was being the top frag on Counterstrike using only the CT .45. Now I think telling my wife I will mop the floor tomorrow is the gar-est thing I can manage XD

    kaz3phyrous: that’s a chinese saying that “heroes can’t beat bishoujos” well paraphrased a little. XD

    vexx: LOL! There are so many moments in Kungfu shows and shounen anime where I turn to my wife and ask, “Was that really necessary? He has balls for brain or what?”

    Zyl: The tanuki-nemesis, Dreadlord Zyl knowth too much! He must be disposed off.. but before that I need the password to that backup plugin XD

    ron~: heh, I generalise. There are girls who worship moe too but wholely different reasons. :)

    Xellos-_^: It’s interesting that my examples of Gar in anime are mostly women. Namely the Claymores XD

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  14. holyman282
    January 11th, 2008 - 02:45

    Omg dammit I hate GAR! The plot device has been overused to much that everytime i see it, i can’t hold back a snicker at how unrealistic that was. It’s just a ex machina means to give a character their powerup…. Let’s compare what happens if you go GAR in real life and if you go GAR in anime:

    Scenerio: You are on the frontline of a war. You and your fellow troops are bunkered in your ditches, the enemy is pushing far better then your side expected and your side may have to retreat. Making all the sacrifices so far go to waste.

    GAR situation in Anime: Realising the sacrifice of your fallen comrades, you don’t want their deaths to be in vain. You suddenly start getting angry, yelling patriotic crap, while the people around you comment on how you seem to be stronger, or have powered up somehow. You rush out of the ditch with only a pocket knife. The enemy troops are shooting you with their gattling guns, but for some reason you move so fast that it just looks like they are purposely shooting on either side of you and missing. You reach the enemy camp and take them all out with that one single knife as the enemies stand paralysed to your awesome garness. They realise too late and start running, but instead of concentrating all their efforts in escaping, they pause here and there to comment on how super ultra GAR you are as you mow more of the enemy down with that one pocket knife. You then kill all the enemies and win, the end.

    In Real Life:Realising the sacrifice of your fallen comrades, you don’t want their deaths to be in vain. You suddenly start getting angry, yelling patriotic crap, while the people around you think you’ve lost it. You rush out with only a pocket knife charging at the enemy shouting, “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!”. The enemy realising your one man charge, aim their gattling gun at you and fire. You are shot and die a bloody slow death, while the enemy stares and laugh thinking, “what an idiot, GAR only happens in anime”….

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  15. suguru
    January 11th, 2008 - 12:15

    > Incidentally, the most GAR thing I believe a man can do in RL is to undertake childbearing in place of his wife. Not just the delivery but the whole ten months ordeal. Now that is a GAR I can never hope to attain.

    Quoted for great truth–my wife and I are looking forward to having kids, but the more I learn about the actual event of childbirth the more impressed I am that my wife has the guts to want to go through with it. Maybe women are really more GAR than men, since I don’t think even Kamina is GAR enough to handle things like “third-degree tearing” when delivering…

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  17. Stripey
    January 13th, 2008 - 09:30

    holyman282: LOL! I like those RL parallels. It’s when people die that they realised they ain’t the lead in the show call “life” :P

    suguru: Oh my… ‘third degree tearing’.. maybe ignorance is bliss :P After hearing things about childbearing, I have come to understand why motherhood is typically more venerated than fatherhood in most cultures. :)

    vexx: LOL! I need to watch GL soon. XD

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  18. JP
    June 3rd, 2008 - 10:03

    quote – I don

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  19. Viny
    June 4th, 2008 - 15:56

    Of course, having an anime where it’s a GAR X MOE relationship is cool too XD

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  20. gwen2
    September 2nd, 2008 - 09:23

    hello what do you think about boy be? Is it a good books?

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  21. Zeek
    February 20th, 2009 - 15:52

    Kenpachi Zaraki of Bleach is perhaps a more Gar-ish type. His character is odd. He thinks about fights more than he lets on. He ends the fight when he believes it to be over but not to dishonor his opponent but because it is no longer interesting to him. He often leaves his opponents alive hoping to fight again for the enjoyment. He does what he does for no other noticeable reason than his own interest and entertainment. Also, in the end, he is raising a very Moe girl as his essentially adopted daughter though she can come off Gar at times as well.

    I could be wrong and this could come from my love of the character. Alternatively perhaps Ginko of MushiShi, or Natsume Takashi of Natsume Yujincho are real Gar. Though Nyanko-Sensei(Mandara) of Natsume Yujincho is most likely my favorite character of all anime I have no idea what type of category he may be placed in, though at times he feels much like comedy relief, mixed with the wise one.

    This is an old blog of yours I know but I’d still like to hear your thoughts if you are familiar with the characters I mentioned.

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  22. Stripey
    February 21st, 2009 - 21:51

    oops, it’s unfortunate that I haven’t seen any of the series you list. But it does look like you have given more thoughts than usual on the issue of Gar and moe. Will look out for these chars should I pick up those series some time :)

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  23. Zerotaku
    April 18th, 2009 - 02:16

    Another great example of Gar I think would be Sagara Sanosuke from Rurouni Kenshin. What’s more Gar than taking on swords/guns with your bare fists…c’mon?! He’s got the hair and the attitude not to mention the unbuttoned shirt with a kickass symbol on the back.

    He does take a backseat to Kenshin himself, a very Moe character, although Kenshin can be pretty Gar when he’s provoked…

    ( REPLY )

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