Is there a fine line between a moege and a charage?

[Happiness+]

Just wondering

[Ranzo]

I think Charage's have some sort of driving plot even if it is minuscule and barely referenced.

Moege on the other hand just rips up the plot and tosses you into some hotel or academy with five or seven women like you are some sort of sacrificial goat.

[Clephas]

I've explained this before, but most charage fall under the much larger 'moege' umbrella.  Where this is confusing you is probably references to the term 'pure moege' vs 'charage'. 

To be a moege, all you need is for the game to be filled with visuals and character mannerisms in the moe style (for old examples, gobi like 'uguu~', character archetypes like the classic tsundere).  To be a 'pure moege', you need this to be the primary content of the game (minimal character development, no strong central plot, character interactions based solely upon surface character qualities born of the archetype in question, etc).  A charage, on the other hand, will have more involved character development (as you get to know the heroines, their personalities become more complex, you learn about their pasts, their flaws, etc), and there is often a heroine-centric plot in each heroine path that provides at least a bare-bones framework for the romantic parts.

[Happiness+]

6 minutes ago, Clephas said:

there is often a heroine-centric plot in each heroine path that provides at least a bare-bones framework for the romantic parts.

Oh that's what I was missing.

[Yuuko]

The terms are retarded and ahould not be used

[Dreamysyu]

I don't really like these terms myself because I feel like everyone who uses them has their own understanding of what they consider moege and charage. There's a reason why VNDB rejected corresponding tags for both of them.

[Clephas]

11 hours ago, Dreamysyu said:

I don't really like these terms myself because I feel like everyone who uses them has their own understanding of what they consider moege and charage. There's a reason why VNDB rejected corresponding tags for both of them.

A valid reason... they are pretty much blanket/umbrella terms.  However, it is also the only thing that fits.

[Benji Price]

I found the explanation pretty simple yet solid. So , the pretty/lovely x cation series would fit into pure moege, and magical marriage lunatics into charage ? 

[Clephas]

21 minutes ago, Benji Price said:

I found the explanation pretty simple yet solid. So , the pretty/lovely x cation series would fit into pure moege, and magical marriage lunatics into charage ? 

Pretty much, though I have other reasons for being irritated with MML (nerfing non-human heroines always does that to me). 

[Nandemonai]

4 hours ago, Benji Price said:

I found the explanation pretty simple yet solid. So , the pretty/lovely x cation series would fit into pure moege, and magical marriage lunatics into charage ? 

Really?  Because "minimal character development, no strong central plot, character interactions based solely upon surface character qualities born of the archetype in question, etc " seems to me to describe everything that's wrong with Magical Marriage Lunatics.  Or at least of the two routes that I played.

[Benji Price]

3 hours ago, Clephas said:

Pretty much, though I have other reasons for being irritated with MML (nerfing non-human heroines always does that to me). 

Know what you mean , though in this particular case that's the appealing side of MML , or seems to me at least. However, in Saku saku 's case i was pretty much dissappointed with Ann's alter ego.

[Benji Price]

10 hours ago, Nandemonai said:

Really?  Because "minimal character development, no strong central plot, character interactions based solely upon surface character qualities born of the archetype in question, etc " seems to me to describe everything that's wrong with Magical Marriage Lunatics.  Or at least of the two routes that I played.

At least there's the back story of how the prota met the heroines. A big load of crap, yet the prota is forced to changee his lifestyle nevertheless. On the other hand there're VN in which your sole purpose from the get go is to fall in love (hatsukoi 1/1, lovely/pretty x cation series).