Why do they have wide eyes?

[muxec]

Why do characters of Japanese anime have so wide eyes?

[Spaztick]

Some history:

the guy that invented the big anime/manga style was copying disney's way of drawing cartoons, which was with big eyes (of course anime looks more realistic so the eyes stand out).

[Xmax]

Spaztick wrote:
Some history:

the guy that invented the big anime/manga style was copying disney's way of drawing cartoons, which was with big eyes (of course anime looks more realistic so the eyes stand out).

In both Disney and Anime-style characters, the purpose of big-eyes is to recall children's eyes in order to improve viewer affection to the on-screen characters.

There's an additional dimention for Japanese drawings, though, as eyes are said to be windows to the soul (or something along these lines) so big & shiny eyes also imply inner richness.

[hide21998]

there is a few ways to say whats right theres different ways that people think but me and a more think its for more emotion(------did i spell that right?

[Naruto721]

Eyes represent the character sort of. By the way their eyes are, you can tell what hardships that they had to overcome in their pasts! I never really notice that... It shouldn't bother you that much...

[Datadog]

What gets me is not just the eyes, but how rarely anime characters look like Japanese people. And the multi-color hair too. How the heck did that get started?

[Kei]

I like the big eyes. The first time I saw colored hair was in Macross (Robotech)

[Daisuke]

Kei wrote:
I like the big eyes.

Yeah, big eyes are an important part of the drawing style!

[haru]

ok so how did the chaning hair color come about then??

[Naruto721]

I don't know... but can you imagine people with the different colors have brown or blonde hair??? Rei from Evangelion for ex., I can't imagine any different hair color for her! It adds flavor to the character! It what makes them them!:)

[wakarimasen]

I read somewhere that in the Japanese culture, the eyes are the most important feature of the face, so the artist display that facet of the culture by enlarging the eyes to draw attention to them.

[punkgrl326]

Maybe they have different color hair because in real life japanese people have naturally black hair. I think it would be really boring for every anime character to have only black hair. The colored hair adds creativity to anime and also helps the characters break free from the norm. At least, that's what I think.

[amego]

Hmmm I found this in this saq

Q. Why do anime characters have such big eyes?
A. The practice of drawing anime characters with unusually large eyes dates back to the art form's founder, Osamu Tezuka. When he started drawing his most famous creation, Astroboy, he was inspired by the famous cartoon character Betty Boop and her enormous eyes. After the success of Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy), other manga and anime artists began to copy Tezuka, and a trend was born.

[keatonatron]

Datadog wrote:

What gets me is not just the eyes, but how rarely anime characters look like Japanese people. And the multi-color hair too. How the heck did that get started?

You should keep in mind that anime *is* created for children. When you think about what appeals to kids, exxagerated characters with odd hair color is much more attractive. If all the characters looked like real people with normal hair, kids wouldn't watch.

And please don't argue saying anime is for adults. No one over the age of 12 watches Naruto in Japan (that doesn't mean you can't enjoy it though!)

[Kates]

What I don't get is why people ask why JAPANESE cartoon characters have big eyes and they seem to forget characters like Garfield and the afore-mentioned Betty Boop. (Thank you, amego!) This isn't just a Japanese phenomenon, people.

But getting into the 'art' of it, younger, more innocent characters tend to have large, round eyes. Older characters that appear in the same stories often have smaller, and sometimes even more almond-shaped eyes. (Sailormoon is a good example of this.)

And you know what? It's true in real life! (Though manga/anime exagerates it quite a lot,) Kids really do appear to have large eyes sometimes. >_> I think the eyeball is one organ that grows very little as we age.