Why are areolas so small in anime?

Big aerolas are usually a sign of maturity. Most anime/hentai girls are younger. Kind of based 😭📈

An odd topic but I'm intrigued. Not the kind I'd usually jump in on but I take it seriously like a science question or just a behind the scenes what artists design things for question and not creeped out by it. XD

Biolgoically makes sense I guess to tell where it is then sight, got to make it possible for them to do that, same as having a dummy/pacifier or the particular end for a milk bottle right? Even though yes the other chemicals transferred with the milk is beneficial.

In Hentai maybe it's different and I know in JAV it's different but depends on the person and of course the camera angle. I'd say if really want to see check Hentai or JAV and you'll find them. It depends on the character designs/camera angles. But not a bad guess to think what you have listed here it would make some biologic sense or just different preferences as well. I never know what to think between different races if they are that biologically different (and even besides different body parts different between genders of course then just thinking it's 1 type when it's multiple) or not just culturally different.

In terms of the Japanese 'preferences' in say an ecchi show or in a particular scene in others I don't know what's popular with audiences as to why they would or what the artists actually think at all. My guess is probably saving time drawing it. If it were a video game I'd say reusing assets but in an anime where the drawing counts for something I'd just say consistency between body types like you see with many characters not have that difference of features just to save on time then that much range of body types.

But your other theorises are fair ones based on what they make the characters wear or what cover up of clothes, cover up things like the pom pom like things/other stuff or tans or creams or lotion or whatever.

I myself couldn't care less, to me the chest size is more the factor then the other aspects.

I think that's just the kind of thing that varies depending on the artist, the time period, and/or the level of risqué that the anime is aiming for.

Like, for hentai, I feel that tiny areolas were much more common in older 80's-90's titles, but over the years they've tended to be drawn bigger.

And in terms of artistic style variation, in old "light ecchi" titles you would see nearly non-existent areolas in Rumiko Takahashi works like Urusei Yatsura and Ranma 1/2... but on the other hand, you would also get very realistic nipples in Satoshi Urushihara joints like Plastic Little and Legend of Lemnear.

Or, to make another example from say the mid-to-late 00's, you would see smaller areolas in tamer ecchi like Rosario + Vampire; whereas more hardcore ecchi like To Love-Ru and Maken-Ki would feature larger ones.

And then to speak of the 2010's, you... y'know what? I think I'm just gonna post this and leave it at that:


Happy to put my two cents into this incredibly intellectual discourse, btw.

@Suntanned_Duck2 Yes, well I am definitely posing this as a genuine question, Its just one of those things you can easily not pay attention too but as a hobbyist ecchi artist myself I cannot help but notice it.

Right, so I am not 100% sure what the situation is in ero-anime as I do not watch it. I do think that in the ero-doujin space at least small areolas are not nearly as common, but of course that is a very diverse environment. If nothing else it shows that people like all the sizes to some degree as you can find artists drawing all the sizes. For the JAV side of things, keep in mind, the actresses that make JAV's are not necessarily representative of the general population, but in my experience I do think there is a large number of petite actresses with small areolas, I would say many more than the well endowed big areola actresses (although I don't know if you can really draw any conclusions from that).

I don't know if I agree with your "time saving" hypothesis. It is true that in many cases characters share body types for example, which could be considered a time saving measure (they don't want to deal with little variations in the hip size, fat distributions etc.) but equally I think where it matters animators will absolutely take the time to draw details, like super detailed eyes, different colored eyes etc. I think its a really small time investment to play with the areola sizes and I think the fact that they are not doing it almost at all indicates to me they just have a preference for small areolas (similarly to how there is a strong preference for shaved crotches).

Well I for one do kind of care if its an ecchi show at least, I mean the nipple is supposed to be the "exciting" part of the breast anatomy right? I think the least they could do is make it the best it can be. As isao kondo once said "I would happily search that flat chest of yours just to find the nipple" or something like that, its been a long time XD

I wonder if smaller ones make for easier censorship in cases where an anime has a censored and uncensored version. Less real estate to cover, less of the screen needs to be covered by steam, light beams or whatever else, and thus doesn't make the censored version as garish. I also think smaller ones are easier to draw/look better when simplified. If you gave a character massive areolas that were nothing more than plain pink circles it would probably look a lot more weird than the tiny ones. Easier to draw, easier to animate, I could see why so many anime would choose the smaller option.

Also I think it's pretty hilarious how this thread unironically has a higher level of discussion than most threads I see on MAL. At least as of writing this.