In the world of Japanese anime, many slang terms and character archetypes exist so fans can neatly label and categorize their favorite characters and make them more intuitive. An example is the many -dere types, such as tsundere and kuudere, but there's more. The "gap moe" trend is another popular way to create a stock character for an anime to use -- with some tweaks, of course.

Usually, "gap moe" describes a single character, with examples ranging from Gun Head in My Hero Academia and Ryuk in Death Note to more recent examples such as Kirishima Toru in The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting. Curiously, it's also possible for an entire anime to become gap moe, with the gap moe protagonist merely leading the way. This can make a series far more appealing to viewers, expand its audience and even add some emotional or thematic depth.

RELATED: The Five Best Underrated Seinen Manga

How Gap Moe Works In Anime & Manga

Tatsu prepares a bento box for his wife in The Way of the Househusband.

For those unfamiliar with gap moe, the concept can be explained in two parts. To begin with, the concept of moe -- not to be confused with the actual name Moe -- can describe when a pop culture fan adores the cuteness and wholesomeness of a fictional character. There are some variants to that idea, but "moe" usually refers to such a character -- often cute girls in anime, manga, visual novel games and the like. Common examples such as Naruto's Hyuga Hinata and Demon Slayer's Kamado Nezuko can help make it clear how moe works, with many fantasy and slice-of-life anime featuring moe characters, typically female ones.

Gap moe puts a twist on this basic concept by making the character's inner moe nature and their exterior completely different from one another. A gap moe character has a tough, scary or standoffish appearance, but their personality, behavior and interests are more traditionally moe, and that contrast is what amuses anime fans. Gap moe characters can feel like two people in one -- for instance, an imposing thug on the outside and a cuddly friend or lover on the inside -- and examples range from The Way of the Househusband's Tatsu to Spy x Family's superspy hero Loid Forger.

Western media sometimes uses gap moe too, such as Harry Potter's Rubeus Hagrid. Even if Hagrid is an imposing bearded half-giant living by the woods like a storybook villain, he is actually a kind, gentle and even paternal figure for Harry. Hagrid even has a pink umbrella and a flowery apron to add some visual flair to his gape moe nature. However, at times, an entire anime might be gap moe, not just the main character, and that can benefit the story in many ways.

RELATED: Komi Can't Communicate Katai Makoto Is All About the Gap Moe Trend

How An Entire Anime Can Be Gap Moe To Broaden Its Appeal

toru with yaeka school happy

Once in a while, an entire anime series will be gap moe, and usually, the anime's protagonist will also be gap moe, allowing that protagonist to serve as an avatar or embodiment of the show's nature. Not many anime take this route, with most series being entirely comedy, entirely drama or entirely action thrillers, but some manage to have two genres and two personalities at once, and if done correctly, this can greatly broaden the anime's appeal and even add unexpected emotional and thematic depth. Done wrong, the anime may be tonally confusing or inconsistent, awkwardly switching back and forth between friendly and brutal.

However, when done right, an entire anime can be gap moe by having a wholesome, optimistic core premise while having a tough, scary setting or subplot to balance things out. Ideally, gap moe involves a scary aesthetic and a good heart for a character, and if the whole show is like that, the same idea is simply scaled up. A proper gap moe anime will have an uplifting, wholesome and innocent plot to appeal to viewers, but the anime's setting and aesthetic will be different.

Recent examples include Spy x Family, The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting and The Way of the Househusband -- all stories that involve violence, organized crime and other PG-13 elements. Based on their settings and the nature of the supporting characters, such anime could be like Black Lagoon or Pulp Fiction, but as gap moe anime series, their plots and core messages are the total opposite. It would be as though Black Lagoon's Revy fought as a mercenary to fund her own flower shop, for example.

Put another way, gap moe anime is a twist on "cute girls doing cute things," tweaked to instead become "scary guys doing cute things." At heart, these are wholesome slice-of-life stories with unusual vehicles, and that allows an anime to appeal to more than one demographic. Fans of Cold War intrigue and domestic comedy will both love Spy x Family, even if their other favorite anime are totally different, and fans of true-crime stories and comedy fans can both enjoy The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting and The Way of the Househusband. Now that's some slick storytelling and marketing, all in the name of gap moe.