Is masculinity fading?

Or in other words, "have we males started to get more in touch with our feelings?" or something like that. I ponder on this thought because lately I've seen two trends. Bronies/Ponyfags and Moebros/Moefags. Now you're probably thinking, what in the fuck does that mean? To put it simple, the first term comes from a show called "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" (Pictured below).
I've only heard about this show last year, and from the looks of it, the demographic of this show is aimed at females, mainly those that are young. While this is true, what's surprising is that there are male viewers as well. That's right. MALE. According to wiki, males of the age range between 14-35 watch this particular show. Surprising? Yes it is, hence where the term "Brony" comes from. Now I don't have a sure fire reason as to why males like this show, but I'm going to go with the assumption that it's enjoyable because of the plot, animation, and characters. One friend of mine, or a brony, likes this show because it just makes him happy, no matter what mood he's in. Another friend of mine showed me a clip of this show a couple of months back and I can honestly say, it looks like a fun show to watch. When will I watch it, I have no idea. But this is what currently holds my interest so far.

And what is this you wonder? It's an anime called K-ON! and I was first introduced to it back in the Winter of '09. The show is basically about 5 high school girls in a light music club playing music and having fun. Yup. Just like with MLP, you'd think this show was aimed at a certain demographic. Honestly, I wasn't sure if I would watch this show at the time. I thought that if I watched it, it would turn me "girly." To my surprise it didn't. I enjoyed the character interactions, the characters themselves, the art, the music, pretty much everything about it. It's a show that made me happy every time. It's actually now one of my favorite anime. Believe it or not, this anime is actually a big hit in Japan, mostly with males. Even over here in America, there are, what some call, "moebros." But what's moe? I read somewhere that moe (pronounced moh-eh) is defined as a characteristic of being cute and that you wouldn't want that character to be hurt. Something like that. That's what this anime has. Moe. All the characters in this show have it. I'm not too sure what the universal definition of moe is, but that definition is something that I've gone with for a while.

Now there are those that stay away or hate this kind of stuff. People of this kind tend to call those that like the aforementioned shows "ponyfags"/"moefags", or call the shows "ponyshit"/"moeshit." There are reasons where I see this hate/dislike. Animation is one of them. Just the design of a character can turn one off of these kinds of shows. Even moe is becoming a trend in anime these days and some say it's killing the industry.
This leads to demographics. Of course, these shows aren't meant for everyone. For example, one who hasn't seen any of these shows is introduced to someone who has seen them won't see what's good about it. People have different tastes. It'll always be like that.
Finally, there's fanbases. Fanbases, IMO, generally make up what people think the show is. People who know about bronies/anime watchers in general, tend to look down on them because of stories of fanbases. Unfortunately this is true, but like the old saying goes, "You can't judge a book by it's cover." 4 of my friends watch these kinds of shows and still act normal around others who don't (AFAIK). After all, they DO have other interests and aren't like this crazy fans out there who live for this kind of stuff.

To me and some people, this is cute and funny. To others, they think it's weird. And no, this isn't how they REALLY look like in the show. (Source: Hidamari Sketch)

Well shit, I think I just answered my question by typing up this blog. Basically, we can still have masculinity in us. It's just that some of us hold interests like these as well. Why other males always try to look and act tough just to impress and belong with peers is pretty stupid to me. You don't have to take away what you like just to belong with a certain group. Liking this kind of stuff, IMO, just makes us more human. It doesn't make us feminine or girly. Hell, I fucking love watching K-ON! and Hidamari Sketch, but I enjoy Gears of War, working out, and basketball, so what does that make me?

Top 5 Games I'm Looking Forward To

5. Blazblue Continuum Shift: Extend

I got BBCS because it had an anime art style. Pretty soon, it became a fighting game that I loved to play and it made me appreciate the genre as a whole. While I hear the story is good, I couldn't bring myself to finish it because I was so sucked into the online. If any genre can give you a sense of accomplishment competitively, it has to be fighting, and Blazblue has taught me that. I can't wait to see how Extend plays.

4. Jak and Daxter HD Collection

While I've played and completed all 3 back in my PS2 days, I regrettably don't have all 3 in my possession. Jak and Daxter were my childhood. This series is probably my all-time favorite platformer next to Crash Bandicoot (before Naughty Dog left its development for both series). The story, gameplay, and characters were all great and made me fall in love with the series. I can't wait to get my hands on this come Feb. and with Trophy support, I'm gonna be spending quite some time on this game.

3. Tales of Graces f

I first got my hands on the Tales series back in Holiday '10 with Vesperia mainly for the same reasons as BBCS. I loved Vesperia a lot and when I researched a little, I was disappointed that the "True" version of Vesperia was a JPN PS3 exclusive with no plans on taking it stateside. Thankfully, in '11, I heard Graces was coming to the states soon and after hearing it's release date, I'm more than hyped. The art, as you can see, is very colorful, the main cast is diverse and likable, and the gameplay is fast paced. Graces was initially for the Wii and f is an enhanced port of the Wii exclusively for the PS3. And if you didn't already know, I finally have a PS3 so now my game collection will probably filled with more JRPGs since they appear more on the PS3 rather than the 360.

2. Persona 4: The Golden/Persona 5

I haven't played a lot of JRPGs, but if you were to ask me my favorite one, it has to be Persona 4. The stories and characters are what make the Persona series stand out and P4 is one of them. I spent at least 150+ hours on my first playthrough and I was amazed at how much time I've spent. And after finishing it last year, good stuff has just come out of the game itself. An anime adaptation (which is great so far), a spin-off fighting game (developed by the Blazblue team), and an enhanced port for the Vita. The port is coming out this spring in Japan, and from the success of the Persona series and Catherine (which was made by the Persona team) in the states, I'm fairly sure the port will come out later this year, most likely the holidays. I put Persona 5 in there as well because while I know it may not come out this year, it will most likely be announced and have a release date as well. Just hearing it announced officially will get me hyped immediately.

1. Mass Effect 3

The last of the trilogy of one of my favorite series this generation. I liked Mass Effect 1, but definitely loved Mass Effect 2. I absolutely loved the combat in ME2 and the choice-driven narratives in both games. While there were some problems with both games, they will most likely be fixed in ME3 (I haven't read up on it since I want to surprise myself). With the addition of a co-op mode, a first for the series, I can't wait to team up with one of my friends who's a real big fan of the series. Other than Commander Shepard, the squads of both games were really likable and I can't wait to see their conclusion in this game. The beginning of the end is coming this March. Can't wait.