The Ethics of Imaginary Violence, Part 2: "Moexploitation" and Critique in Revue Starlight

Abstract:Advancing an argument on the ethics of imaginary violence previously published in the U.S.–Japan Women's Journal (no. 52, 2017, 67–88), this article develops lines of critical inquiry into "moe media," or manga, anime, and related media and material forms featuring characters intended to trigger an affective response. As in that first article, the central analysis builds on writing by Sasakibara Gō, an influential thinker and outspoken consumer of moe media. Following from Part 1, this article continues the discussion of objectification and its relation to sexual violence both imaginary and real. It primarily focuses on Revue Starlight (Shōjo kageki revyū sutāraito), an anime series released in the final years of the 2010s. This decade was marked by the expansion and intensification of affective economics surrounding characters; moe media such as Revue Starlight deploy characters to affect and move fans, who are sold a franchise and buy into it as they follow characters across media and material forms. In this sense, Revue Starlight is "moexploitation," which refers to exploitation of not just fans but also characters in moe media franchises. Revealing the dynamics of objectification and subsequent exploitation, the Revue Starlight anime internally critiques itself, but ultimately must forget its intervention in order to allow for business to continue as usual. The article explores this facing and forgetting of violence as part of what Sasakibara calls the "I-becoming-gaze." Read in contrast to seemingly similar offerings, Revue Starlight illuminates how moe media can contribute to cultivating an ethics of imaginary violence, as well as how that process can be limited and contained.