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does anime promote lookism?
Jul 23, 2022 2:19 PM
#1
lagom
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Jan 2009
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i mean like overwhelming majority of anime characters are attractive but in real life thats not the case so thoughts?

i voted i do not know (for now) to see good arguments for both sides if possible

so thoughts?

here is a definition of it if you do not know

Lookism is a term that describes the discriminatory treatment of people who are considered physically unattractive. It occurs in a variety of settings, including dating, social environments, and workplaces.[1] Lookism has received less cultural attention than other forms of discrimination (such as racism and sexism) and typically does not have the legal protections that other forms often have, but it is still widespread and significantly affects people's opportunities in terms of romantic relationships, job opportunities, and other realms of life.[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lookism
Jul 23, 2022 2:30 PM
#2

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Jun 2019
2090
I do not know the answer too but I know if I see another girl MC that is described as the prettiest in school, work place, whatever I am gonna roblox myself.



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Jul 23, 2022 2:34 PM
#3
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Ugly or Beauty in each eyes is different [for example someone else will say that this certain japanese girl is the cutest and hottest girl while for me she will be decent cause I am more attracted to slavic girls and I will consider them most beautiful/hottest girls etc. and so on] . In real life I don't encounter so much of "ugly" people in public, I just cross by normal looking people, which also happens in anime I don't see everyone as Beautifull but as normal looking characters (which are different from real life as some hair colors or eyes colors/other stuff are non natural which we need to accept that in this fictional world it is normal to some degree so for that I also pick the experience from convents and compare it too look like of different types of cosplayers which will only confirms my previous saying that the majority of people I see everyday are just normal looking [decent - good looking]).

About lookism only once in my life I've seen such discrimination which happened in my primary school toward a girl who was seen by majority of people as ugly and was treated worse by other students, maybe in some other places/towns/countries it might look different but from my personal pov there is no difference between anime and real life when it comes to natural look like (cause obviously I am excluding there unnatural stuff or things which are not possible in real life )

ZettaikenJul 23, 2022 2:37 PM
Jul 23, 2022 2:35 PM
#4
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Feb 2021
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Lookism is what it is. You are born with certain genetics that might fuck you over or make life easier. Height, facial symmetry, intelligence, inherited diseases, disabilities, ect. Nothing you can do. Good looking characters are more enjoyable to watch which makes them more profitable so it makes sense that average looks are better in animated fiction where creators can make characters look like whatever they want.
Jul 23, 2022 2:42 PM
#5

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May 2020
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Anime makes weebs have higher standards regarding phsyical appearance
Jul 23, 2022 2:52 PM
#6
Twintail Expert

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Feb 2019
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in that one recent thread there were a few people saying that men only care about appearances

the problem is they were talking about anime waifus where appearance differences are usually limited to hair, eyes, height, and breast size; people obviously have preferences for those sorts of things, but it's not like you're noticing whether the facial structure or skin or teeth of an anime character are attractive or not

rarely does anime intentionally create ugly characters, and as a result I think it's silly to make correlations between anime and real life in that regard
Jul 23, 2022 3:13 PM
#7
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Jul 2018
561864
Don't really know. I think it depends on the person. Because, just as with real-life, what one person may consider beautiful may not be to others. And then there's also people who strongly factor in a character's personality to their level of attractability for them.
Jul 23, 2022 3:22 PM
#8
Data Livestock

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Lookism is the strupidest fucking word I've ever heard in my life

Jul 23, 2022 3:23 PM
#9
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Jul 2018
561864
i dont know if anime "promotes" it, but it's certainly taken for granted a majority of the time.
Jul 23, 2022 3:40 PM
lagom
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Jan 2009
107502
LainPlush said:
Anime makes weebs have higher standards regarding phsyical appearance


isnt that great for solving overpopulation though since more single men lol
Jul 23, 2022 3:41 PM

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Sep 2018
14396
Lookism is a innate behavior learned in humans through our biology. Anime and media often makes use of lookism since sex sells to us. Most anime do not try to promote it outside sometimes making the villain ugly while the hero looks good.
Jul 23, 2022 3:42 PM

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Jul 2021
103
I think so, cause i mean ... sheesh all of their jawlines are like so ... perfect ... and I wanna look like that too
Jul 23, 2022 3:54 PM
lagom
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rohan121 said:
Lookism is a innate behavior learned in humans through our biology. Anime and media often makes use of lookism since sex sells to us. Most anime do not try to promote it outside sometimes making the villain ugly while the hero looks good.


ye sex sells (lookism is sexual selection stuff) so all entertainment have it too and not just anime
Jul 23, 2022 4:13 PM

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Oct 2019
6882
I mean, in movies, games, cartoo... maybe not cartoons, but in most media characters are good looking just because that's what people want to see.

now that said, there are a ton of series that don't do this. most of them are old though, but still.

look at vinland saga, or parasyte, or megalo box or pet, or monster, or GTO or Kokkoku.

I'm not saying these have an all ugly cast of characters, but they clearly aren't designed to be eye candy like most other anime these days either
Jul 23, 2022 4:22 PM

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I'm voting just to make a cock and balls with the poll results
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Jul 23, 2022 4:33 PM
I'm fictosexual so I don't have attraction to irl people. One of the reasons I prefer fictional character over real people......fictional characters look better than irl people.
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Jul 23, 2022 4:34 PM

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Literally the first time I hear that word, but I agree with Manaban above.
Jul 23, 2022 4:42 PM

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5302
I don't know, but if it did it wouldn't be worse than anything live action. In any case, lookism does exist.
Jul 23, 2022 4:48 PM

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Oct 2017
5363
Never heard that word before and I agree it sounds stupid. Though yeah obviously people are going to be drawn to attractive things whether that be physical fitness, hygiene, good facial proportions money whatever. You don't need any media for that people have been doing this naturally for thousands of years.

Anime doesn't really reflect real life. You rarely see blemishes, the proportions are really out of proportion at times etc. I don't know how you could let a cartoon reflect your own real life expectations of the world unless you were deranged. So no it doesn't because the simple fact anime characters don't look like us unless you are talking about stuff with highly realistic art styles like Vagabond.

Still I love idealism in even realistic art. Like I look at the Pieta and obviously it's very idealized depiction of the death of Christ but that doesn't deny it's beauty or emotion in representing a tragedy that would have been more ugly in real life . Doesn't mean though again I translate that beauty to thinking yeah everyone needs to have x proportions or something lol.
BilboBaggins365Jul 23, 2022 4:51 PM
Jul 23, 2022 5:01 PM

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It sure does make one realize the rather apparent dearth of fluffy tails on these modern females.

Jul 23, 2022 5:02 PM
Data Livestock

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_cjessop19_ said:
I'm voting just to make a cock and balls with the poll results

This is a great idea. I'll contribute. Right now "no" is in the lead. We need 2 more votes for the third option as of this post.

Jul 23, 2022 5:02 PM

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Jun 2022
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_FRB_ said:
rarely does anime intentionally create ugly characters


I does happen fairly regularly, tbh. However, characters are generally created as such when they're meant to be a joke or when it's intended for the audience it find the character repulsive.

----

To the question of the thread tho. This isn't anime specific. People just prefer seeing aesthetically pleasing people / characters.
Jul 23, 2022 5:09 PM
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Feb 2022
165
There isn't such a thing as """""lookism"""""", it's a made up word like "fat shaming", "toxic masculinity" or "white fragility" with the sole purpose to stigmatize or victimize people which is ironically the opposite of what the people who made up these terms supposedly wanna achieve.
The fact that most people in the comments take that word serious just says everything you need to know about your avarage MAL-soyjack.

People in TV shows, anime and art or in magazines usually look better than average people because normies will more likely buy a DVD or magazine if the people in it or on it look good (or aesthetically pleasing). It has always been like that in the history of human mankind, at least until our ages where being handicapped in whatever way is seen as a virtue and being beautiful or capable is seen as a threat for misrable people.
Jul 23, 2022 5:25 PM

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2698
Really "lookism"? What a miserable life youbhave to live to consider every last thing on earth some sort of "ism". Get off the internet, go outside and touch some grass
Jul 23, 2022 5:29 PM
lagom
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Jan 2009
107502
i guess people hate the word lookism because of the preference vs discrimination link
Jul 23, 2022 5:37 PM

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Jul 2019
4560
Based on the definition provided--this is truly new to me--anime does this to promote their products, obviously. I don't think normal people--you and me--who watch this medium form their disclosure to irl but maybe to the extremes tho.




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Jul 23, 2022 5:51 PM

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Every day I learn words in this community in English.

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Jul 23, 2022 7:05 PM

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Jan 2021
487
The reason I watch anime is to avoid seeing irl faces. They're so predictable and redundant, it's disgusting
Jul 23, 2022 7:12 PM

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Sep 2021
1311
I'd say live action promotes lookism much more than anime.
Jul 23, 2022 7:12 PM

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Feb 2021
4761
Is this a real word? The English language sure has quite a lot of -ism. First time hearing the word, and since I don't think this lookism exist, I'm going to have to say no.
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Jul 23, 2022 7:24 PM
ああああああああ

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Anime character designs are generally exaggerated. The same thing is true with most created works. Since it's absurd to expect hyper realistic art from every person, it is important for the artist to create abstractions, in order to communicate the idea that they wish to tell. The fact that "this character is pretty" might involve creating a character with traits generally deemed as attractive by most people. The inverse is true for ugly characters.

The issue is a lot more touchy nowadays, despite this being a fact of the creative process. Of course, I don't condone creating intentionally disparaging designs, like they used to make in the early 20th century. But to say that the medium as a whole promotes discrimination I think is a stretch.

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Jul 23, 2022 7:32 PM

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This one is new to me. I dont think anime promotes the mistreatment of ugly / unnatractive people. Most anime basically feature an all cast of good looking characters like everywhere. Movies, series, soap operas, games, whatever, most of the cast are people considered attractive. Even people who are not deemed attractive will try to look cool, baddass, intelectual, etc, when trying to use their image to promote themselves.

But anime really does take looks to another level. It's always funny when there is a girl that thinks she is ugly, when aside for her hair style or lenght or glasses she looks the same as "the most beautiful girl of the school".
Jul 23, 2022 8:03 PM

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Anime characters are only attractive because they're all using the same standard sort of art style. There isn't much variation in face shape, nose, etc, body type, etc.
I think that's just what we're used to. It's kind of just how it is, and I don't think it's meant to promote anything harmful.

Now, certain things I do think contribute to unrealistic standards, when you get a bit too deep into ecchi or things of that sort.

Hayao Miyazaki once said:

"You see, whether you can draw like this or not, being able to think up this kind of design, it depends on whether or not you can say to yourself, “Oh, yeah, girls like this exist in real life.” If you don’t spend time watching real people, you can’t do this, because you’ve never seen it.

Some people spend their lives interested only in themselves. Almost all Japanese animation is produced with hardly any basis taken from observing real people, you know. It’s produced by humans who can’t stand looking at other humans. And that’s why the industry is full of otaku!"

I definitely agree with this. The average anime viewer who only watches things like Attack on Titan will be able to see certain ... 'types' of anime girls and think it looks weird and hypersexualized to an uncomfortable degree. People who get used to these things, the 'otaku', don't even think twice about it and how that might alter their perception of what is normal, and what is exaggerated. I think for certain people, this could be detrimental, and absolutely change their sexual/beauty standard preferences.

I've also personally noticed a lot of hardcore Western anime fans will have an odd preference for Asian women that do gravure/modelling or cosplay. These people are often digitally or surgically enhanced, so I'd say yeah, anime definitely can promote a sort of fetishization and unrealistic standards for women in their lives. But that's just a certain subset of people who veer into that territory, and I don't think anime in general is trying to promote that at all, nor is that even exclusive to anime fans. But some people do get weirdly fixated on that kawaii, small face and big boobs aesthetic because they're balls deep into anime culture lmfao.
Jul 23, 2022 8:48 PM
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To begin with, I don't think a lot of anime characters are really attractive to me, because I don't like their big eyes too much etc. And a lot of them do look really generic.

But on the other hand I think some others are really attractive, especially those that look more real, look more mature, don't have same face-syndrome and don't look like a 14 yo generic girl with too big breasts for her age.
And I surely won't complain about sexy characters (meaning characters I think look attractive).

Also I think quite a lot of people I know in real are quite to pretty attractive. You need to look after yourself a bit, do a bit of sports and don't live from fast food, basic hygiene and all... then most people look quite good, or some don't look too bad at least.
A lot of people, who are complaining about their looks, don't do anything for themselves.
Jul 23, 2022 9:23 PM
Cranberry Sauce

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That's what incels believe, anyway. I'm more on the side of materialism, since if you have a career and success and lead a decent life ( whilst still being ugly as hell), then chicks will still willingly throw themselves onto your Rod.

P.s: Japaneses in general indeed don't have the brightest outlook, hence the existence of Otaku Culture.
SgtBateManJul 23, 2022 9:29 PM
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Jul 23, 2022 9:35 PM

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Why just blame anime ? Other kind of entertainment also always do that.
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Jul 24, 2022 3:01 AM

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well can't lookies if you cookies everyday.
Jul 24, 2022 3:51 AM

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Of course it does, anime always shows that you can behave like a complete asshole and it will be romanticized if you are beautiful while the same action will be treated as bad if an ugly looking side character does it. Fans also accept the same and beautiful characters always tend to be more popular.
Jul 24, 2022 3:58 AM

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Isn't "lookism" just biology hard coding preferences to help us find suitable partners?
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Jul 24, 2022 4:21 AM
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Another stupid Twitter b8 thread... sage.
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Jul 24, 2022 4:36 AM

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Zettaiken said:
Ugly or Beauty in each eyes is different [for example someone else will say that this certain japanese girl is the cutest and hottest girl while for me she will be decent cause I am more attracted to slavic girls and I will consider them most beautiful/hottest girls etc. and so on]

Yes.

Beauty is not something that is so objectively defined, whatever some can say.

Nature has plenty of examples of animals whose traits are usually considered defaults by the other gender but end up being a reproductive advantage over the million of rivals trying to be the best at one specific trait considered attractive.

The issue with anime and modern culture is this : conformity.

This is always the same one standard that is shown and valued, and changes our notions of what is attractive this way.

Be it the stupid chad patrician 8ft tall, hyper strong jaw line and 120kg of muscles, or the purple hair noseless 12yo looking anime girl, those models are ridiculous.

Try looking like that, and you'll just end up destroying what could be beautiful in you, should you cultivate it : your originality.
Jul 24, 2022 4:42 AM

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I mean, the villains aka the guys we shouldn't like are always the sexiest on the whole show so I'd say no. Unless anime wants us to like bad people 🤔🤔
Jul 24, 2022 4:48 AM

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Mirai said:
I mean, the villains aka the guys we shouldn't like are always the sexiest on the whole show


Hehehe, ain't it the truth. Same goes for games as well, lol
Jul 24, 2022 4:57 AM

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Not always or intentionally, but it does kind promote it. But every other medium does it too tbh.

It does irritates me sometimes when the fat or short guy/girl is comedian who never gets any girl or respect in movies.
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Jul 24, 2022 2:47 PM

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I answered "yes" but with the disclaimer that I don't think it's almost always an active promotion of lookism. It's more passive than anything. Anime does often tend to veer in the same direction in terms of how the characters look regardless of how different the art style may be. For example, characters tend to have similar face shapes and pointed noises, etc. I remember learning in psychology class that "attractive" faces usually are just a sign of how symmetrical a face is and how average it is. Average not in the sense that it's "mid-tier" but that the features of the face tend to line up in the same ways and the further the deviation from that average is the less attractive a face is seen to be. Anime rarely tends to stray from that average.

That's what makes anime distinct and easily recognizable, but it's rare to come across an artist in the animanga industry that does something new and may even depict a character outside of the norm. Not to mention when it comes to body sizes and especially when it comes to female characters. You'd be hard-pressed to find a substantial amount of girls and women in animanga that aren't skinny or a character who isn't skinny and isn't made the butt of some bad "oh they eat so much isn't that so funny" joke. Also, I think people tend to think that anime characters are supposed to be good-looking if they were a real person and it isn't the natural assumption that an anime character is meant to be ugly. I remember finding out that Kabakura from "Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii" was meant to be ugly and being very surprised by that because I thought he was intended to be a good-looking guy, but then again, there are some typical things that artists may do to show that by making the character have small pupils to show that they don't have big eyes and match that standard of beauty.

On the flipside, when a character is attractive some series are never shy about that because the character will have swarms of fans or it'll be noted by a random passerby that they're so good-looking. It's very much painted as a good thing to have a face that's conventionally attractive. You'll get praises for just looking the way you do. It's rare for an anime series to dissect that and what the consequences are. I've only seen it done in a really effective way with "Homunculus" and "Helter Skelter" and it's not as if the average anime fan has read either of those series. (I know I'm spacing out on some others.)

Of course, anime isn't the only form of media where this should be questioned, but since we're on the topic, I know that sometimes when I see panels from Western superhero comics I realize that reading so much manga has influenced the way I view the comic art style and it's not always in a positive way. To be blunt, sometimes I'll think the character design is ugly and I wouldn't really be into reading a full series where the characters tend to look like that. Also, comics go for a more realistic art style so it brings me out of things because it makes it even more obvious that most of the characters tend to have the same facial features. When it comes to reading manga, the artwork is more stylized and less trying to be true to reality so I can let it slip under the radar more, but it never escapes my notice that things tend to look the same. (And maybe I wouldn't mind the realistic art style as much if it looked prettier, which is an unpleasant realization.) I watched a video of people reacting to Gojo taking off his blindfold and some of them exclaimed about how good-looking he was, but I wondered to myself if that was even something to be surprised about. Gojo has the same "face" as the other characters, so it's not hard to believe that if he took off the blindfold that'd be the case. I tend to be jaded in that way.

This response is going in so many directions, but hopefully there's some food for thought in this and something that adds to the discussion. I have thoughts, but as you can see, it's not completely organized and I'm just trying to get some points out and am in a bit of a rush because I have been holding off on feeding my cat and need to do that. I have not read any of the other replies, but this is an interesting topic to delve into. There's a lot to unpack.



EDIT: Then again, not all anime art styles are created equal even if the majority of them go for a similar idea. I'd rather look like a "Chainsaw Man" character over a "Clannad" character any time of the day (although there's a lot series that I'd included alongside "Clannad"), but that's a whole other can of worms and more of a matter of subjective taste.
bucciestJul 24, 2022 3:18 PM
Jul 24, 2022 2:56 PM
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Dec 2019
513
absolutely, so does other forms of media to be fair. to appeal to the biggest majoritity media must adhere to a beauty standard of sort. i remember saekano criticizing this trope a bit
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Jul 24, 2022 2:58 PM

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I Straight up thought this was something to do with manhwa
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Jul 24, 2022 3:07 PM
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You cannot tell if someone is supposed to be gorgeous or average in anime because characters are usually drawn to look nice to the audience aka us. Countless shows where the drawing is nice but then the setting for the girl or the boy was that they were supposed to be just average looking.

This is probably the same for TV and movies as well. Maybe the setting is that it is just some average city gal or guy trying to find love, but because beautiful actresses and actors will attract more viewers, the characters are almost always gonna have beautiful people acting, unless it is a movie/show that is actively talking about people with visible flaws doing things or trying to find love.

So in that sense, all forms of entertainment promote lookism, if you think "because audience love to look at beautiful things, they are gonna show beautiful things, and in essence, it is a promotion of lookism."
Jul 24, 2022 3:09 PM

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May 2018
12405
"discriminatory treatment of people who are considered physically unattractive"

This goes for every entertainment media, not only anime. Even for the so called "reality TV".

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