“Voe” Movement in The Japanese Cryptocurrency Market
On September 29th, ALIS, one of the successful ICO projects in Japan, gave a presentation at Serverlessconf 2018. However, when a lead engineer in ALIS began his performance, what surprised people was not the presentation itself, but the image he used.
It was of this moment that people recognized how popular “Voe” has become.
What is “Voe”?
Voe is a type of Japanese cartoon. The word, Voe, is a Japanese onomatopoeia which means “Eeeeww!” To put it another way, you could explain Voe are images that make people feel bad nausea.
Illustrations of Voe typically feature the abundant use of vivid and psychedelic colors and dots that create an effect of characters’ having a mustache. Many different colors are utilized such as green, blue, and gray for human skin and hair color. Voe is sometimes depicted as human beings but also as objects like Oden (a kind of traditional Japanese food), Strawberry, and Kappa (a frog-like fairy in old Japanese myth).
Voe As the Symbol of Diversity
Why do people love the depiction of Voe so much? Is the reason just its funny and colorful design or are there other reasons?. One reason people might be attracted to Voe is for their diversity. Characters appearing in Voe art pieces have colorful skin, hair, and eyes colors. The art style is far from the general sense of beauty, but unique.
Mikehige, the original creator of Voe art explains “Voe is the opposite concept of Moe.” Moe (萌え) is a Japanese slang that refers to feelings of strong affection mainly in connection with female characters in anime, manga, and other media. While Moe is accepted broadly in Japan, the representations, typically girls with unnaturally colored-red cheeks, big eyes, and overly sexualized bodies, are controversial as it perpetuates stereotypes about female in order to stimulate men’s sexual desires. “Current trend in Japanese pop culture indicates an increased preference for “Moe” or “Kawaii” culture. I also like them and don’t want to deny these expressions, but also believe Japan needs a more open-minded sense of beauty. Why should we only value cute childish faces with big eyes?”
The Connection to The Cryptocurrency Market
Voe itself is not the project of cryptocurrency. Many people, however, recognize that this new art genre has a strong connection with the cryptocurrency market. Voe first gained in popularity inside the ALIS community. ALIS is an emerging token-based blog service in Japan like Steemit. After ALIS launched closed beta version, Voenista, people who like the art, began to evangelize, and the unique art immediately attracted ALIS users. Some users changed their profile icons to Voe art and started to support the concept of Voe.
Voe is also decentralized. Although it does not have any organization or hierarchy, the community successfully created their website, original token, and dApps game. “I don’t even care who the creator is. Voe is a concept so that everyone can be a creator,” Mikehige says. Because Voe is royalty-free, people were able to utilize and arrange the art pieces thoroughly and then create these various contents.
The cryptocurrency market was born partly because of the cypherpunk movement. People in the market tend to prefer liberalism and believe a decentralized society. Considering these preferences, you can easily imagine that people in this market promptly understand the concept of Voe and support it. Thus, this unique art concept is a part of a culture in this cryptocurrency era.
Voe is still a small movement inside Japan. It is, however, rising and expanding its field from inside ALIS community to everywhere. As cryptocurrency spreads across borders, Voe could appear everywhere. Voe is unstoppable. If you feel it is attractive, unique or worth seeing more, you are already a Voenista.
For more information…
- Web: Voenista Website
- Online Shop: Voenista Shop
- Instagram: voenista_2018
- Line Stamp: Funny Voenista
