げ

1. 1Seeming to be in a certain state or to have a certain quality, as judged from outward appearance or manner.Ex. 2
2. 2As たげ, looking as if one wants to do something without actually doing or saying it.Ex. 1

Describes how someone or something appears from the outside: a person's face, eyes, voice or behaviour, or the look of a place or thing (よさげな店, a shop that looks good). Most forms sound somewhat literary and are common in narrative and descriptive writing, though よさげ and なさげ are widely used in casual speech. Compared with the more everyday そう, げ focuses on present outward appearance rather than predictions.

• そうに / そうなN4「そうに／そうな」is neutral in register, attaches broadly, and can also follow verbs to mean 'about to...'; 「げ」is more literary and is mostly limited to emotion words and forms like 「たげ」. When describing someone else's emotions the two are interchangeable, but 「そう」sounds more natural in conversation.
• めくN1「めく」mainly attaches to nouns and indicates a season showing signs of arriving, or speech/behavior and atmosphere resembling something, as in 「春めく」「謎めいた」, conjugating as a godan verb; 「げ」attaches to emotion adjectives and forms like 「たげ」, describing emotions another person shows. They are generally not interchangeable.
• っぽいN3「っぽい」is colloquial, conjugates like an い-adjective, and means having a certain quality (often negative), being prone to doing something, or having too much of a color element; 「げ」is more literary and describes emotions revealed in one's expression. They are generally not interchangeable.
• びるN1「びる」forms an ichidan verb and is used only in a few fixed words like 「大人びる」「古びる」, describing a person or thing giving the impression of being... or becoming old with age; 「げ」describes emotions or thoughts showing in one's expression. They are not interchangeable.
• 気味N3「気味」indicates that oneself or someone else has a slight undesirable tendency, as in 「疲れ気味」「風邪気味」, attaching to a verb's ます-form or nouns, with a neutral register; 「げ」describes emotions showing in one's appearance and is more literary. They are generally not interchangeable.
• ぶるN1「ぶる」means deliberately pretending to have a certain status or air, carrying a critical, negative nuance; 「げ」only objectively describes emotions or states showing in one's expression and carries no criticism itself. 「ぶる」conjugates as a godan verb and can attach directly to nouns; the two are not interchangeable.

Unlike the everyday そうに/そうな, げ is more literary, describes only present outward appearance and never predicts events. It also differs from めく and びる (taking on a quality, e.g. 春めく, 大人びる), っぽい (casual '-ish'), 気味 (a slight, usually undesirable tendency) and ぶる (pretending to be something).