Why does most anime look similar to the same four or five styles vs Western animation where everyone has their own style?
| I'm mostly talking about the way characters are drawn. In the west most animation looks distinctly different based on the series and who it was made by. Sometimes it's by studio but often even within the same studio there are drastically different art styles employed in the design of characters. This doesn't seem to be as true in Japan. I have found anime where there characters are drawn a bit differently but they are few and far between. A lot of Masaaki Yuasa animations look unique. Cat Soup, Kaiba, Mind Game. Also some studio 4C stuff. Nothing looks like Tekkonkinkreet, for example. Does anyone know why, for the most part, studios and animators in Japan are frightened from straying too far from a typical "anime" look? Is it a marketing thing? Will anime fans be less likely to watch anime that doesn't look like anime? |
bobbybinby said: Most anime have different styles,they just aren't huge like western cartoons. That doesn't really answer my question. I mean, yeah, I've seen that they might just change an eye shape slightly or use a thicker outline or something like that but for the most part it's the same formula for drawing characters. There's slightly realistic proportioned one with smaller eyes and heads, chibi style, a sort of halfway between chibi and normal, and then one that tends to be aimed at teenagers where they are more realistically proportioned but with bigger eyes. If I took the time I could probably list 50 anime series that look almost identical in their character design. I wouldn't be able to do that with Western animation. |
patchworkpants said: bobbybinby said: Most anime have different styles,they just aren't huge like western cartoons. That doesn't really answer my question. I mean, yeah, I've seen that they might just change an eye shape slightly or use a thicker outline or something like that but for the most part it's the same formula for drawing characters. There's slightly realistic proportioned one with smaller eyes and heads, chibi style, a sort of halfway between chibi and normal, and then one that tends to be aimed at teenagers where they are more realistically proportioned but with bigger eyes. If I took the time I could probably list 50 anime series that look almost identical in their character design. I wouldn't be able to do that with Western animation. Without doing any research I would go with the fact that that is what defines anime. It is the established base of the artstyle that rarely changes. It's also consistent that way so the industry is able to keep spitting out so many of them per season. |
Overlordk231 said: Western animations are usually more unrealistic. More cartoony. I think there are more opportunities for variations in that regard. It is more difficult to make unique human looking character. Even if you try to make a unique one, chances are that kind of character already exist due to the large no of animes. Or if you're really desperate for a unique character design, you end up with a Senku. I don't know if that's the reason either as you could easily go for a more realistic animation style than most anime, and some western animation does do that (usually not big budget comedy series). Also there are tons of anime series that have unrealistic looks while still sticking to a generic anime style. Anime is pretty stylised! "It is more difficult to make unique human looking character. Even if you try to make a unique one" I don't think that's true if you break out of the flat way of drawing that tends to be used in anime. All you have to do is look at illustrations by various non-anime style artists to see that you can draw characters in a lot of different ways that are more realistic looking than most anime. Whether it would be possible to actually animate like that is another matter because obviously you have to be able to draw lots of frames in a reasonable amount of time. |
AdamozoCZ said: patchworkpants said: That doesn't really answer my question. I mean, yeah, I've seen that they might just change an eye shape slightly or use a thicker outline or something like that but for the most part it's the same formula for drawing characters. There's slightly realistic proportioned one with smaller eyes and heads, chibi style, a sort of halfway between chibi and normal, and then one that tends to be aimed at teenagers where they are more realistically proportioned but with bigger eyes. If I took the time I could probably list 50 anime series that look almost identical in their character design. I wouldn't be able to do that with Western animation. Without doing any research I would go with the fact that that is what defines anime. It is the established base of the artstyle that rarely changes. It's also consistent that way so the industry is able to keep spitting out so many of them per season. Yeah. I think that's probably true, although anime that does have a distinct art style is still regarded as anime. Aku No Hana, Tekkonkinkreet, Mind Game, Tatami Galaxy, Mononoke, Cat Soup. |
| My opinion is that anime shouldn't be realistic. Anime is anime, reality is reality and the two shouldn't be interconnected. The art style of anime was deeply influenced by Disney(look at Tezuka for example), and everyone in anime industry was influenced by Tezuka. Is the art style realistic? No. Should it be realistic? No, at least not for me, because i want anime to not be realistic and that way I can enjoy it more, because the stories aren't realistic and anime characters don't behave like real people. |
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Overlordk231 said: patchworkpants said: I don't know if that's the reason either as you could easily go for a more realistic animation style than most anime, and some western animation does do that (usually not big budget comedy series). Also there are tons of anime series that have unrealistic looks while still sticking to a generic anime style. Anime is pretty stylised! "It is more difficult to make unique human looking character. Even if you try to make a unique one" I don't think that's true if you break out of the flat way of drawing that tends to be used in anime. All you have to do is look at illustrations by various non-anime style artists to see that you can draw characters in a lot of different ways that are more realistic looking than most anime. Whether it would be possible to actually animate like that is another matter because obviously you have to be able to draw lots of frames in a reasonable amount of time. There are various animes with unrealistic looks but very few of them have hit off. Compared to a generic anime style going that much out of the box with animation style can be a big risk. On the other hand, i think you are right. I sometimes myself think that the repetitive characters are just artists being lazy, but consider this, the artist community working with studios is pretty overworked and always fighting deadlines along with budget constraints. Throw them a million dollars, a score of artists and i am sure that every character will start to look different and we may get great animation style and unique artworks. Oh yeah it's definitely not laziness on the animators part. Animation is hard and laborious! Especially when you're doing a lot of frame by frame which you have to with anime unless it's 3D. Studio 4C's Genius Party shows what happens when you throw money at individual animators and tell them they can make what they want. Most of them made very unique looking short films. (Edited to fix youtube link) |
patchworkpants said: Well that's why Tatami Galaxy is objectively a masterpiece.AdamozoCZ said: Without doing any research I would go with the fact that that is what defines anime. It is the established base of the artstyle that rarely changes. It's also consistent that way so the industry is able to keep spitting out so many of them per season. Yeah. I think that's probably true, although anime that does have a distinct art style is still regarded as anime. Aku No Hana, Tekkonkinkreet, Mind Game, Tatami Galaxy, Mononoke, Cat Soup. |
AdamozoCZ said: patchworkpants said: Well that's why Tatami Galaxy is objectively a masterpiece.Yeah. I think that's probably true, although anime that does have a distinct art style is still regarded as anime. Aku No Hana, Tekkonkinkreet, Mind Game, Tatami Galaxy, Mononoke, Cat Soup. I really want to watch it but the dialogue is so fast which means I have to focus on it so much that I can't appreciate the gorgeous visual style. I ended up just giving up halfway through the first episode because it was too frustrating. I feel like I need to learn Japanese to be able to watch it and appreciate it properly. |
| I can kind of see where you're coming from, but also... I kind of disagree with the claim that "In the west most animation looks distinctly different based on the series". Western animation has its own elements typical to it. Anatomy is often very simplified, it mostly consists of very round or sharp shapes. Eyes are often big white round balls with black dots in the middle(sometimes with some color). I can think of many western cartoons that look pretty similar to each other, and that I can easily see someone unfamiliar with them confuse with each other. I took a quick look at the top 50 anime in both Top rated and Most popular section, and many of those have an art style distinguishable from each other. I agree that there's a lot of anime that fall into the generic anime art style where they look pretty much the same, but I think there's way more variety than you make it sound like. |
 Does these look same to you... Hunnn!? |
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What is the anime in the middle? I can't quite place it. |
| Donquixote D. Oflamingo |
patchworkpants said: You should definitely finish it someday. Seeing you have Kaiba pfp, chances are you'll really like it. It is kinda trippy, but not confusing and really fun.AdamozoCZ said: Well that's why Tatami Galaxy is objectively a masterpiece. I really want to watch it but the dialogue is so fast which means I have to focus on it so much that I can't appreciate the gorgeous visual style. I ended up just giving up halfway through the first episode because it was too frustrating. I feel like I need to learn Japanese to be able to watch it and appreciate it properly. |
| No they don't. I'm not sure what your point is. I already said that it's possible to find some that looks a bit more unique. |
| Don’t feel like quoting you tbh. The dialogue in tatami might seem a bit fast at first, but it’s something you get used to with time. It should start being a non-issue by the start of the 3rd episode or maybe even before that. |
| To judge others by your own standard is the height of folly. |
It's the artist's own art style, their ig account is here |
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| It's obviously because asian cultures are collectivist while western cultures are individualistic. But seriously, I don't even know if the premise of this thread is actually true but even if it is I know that it's definitely NOT because anime is defined by one artstyle. It never was and never will be. It's more likely that people simply don't recognize the difference in art styles unless they are polar opposites from each other. If you actually pay attention, there are a lot of differences, even in anime. But our brains probably focus on a few similarities, since brains love patterns, reducing those different styles to their similarities and ignoring their differences. |
| I probably regret this post by now. |
| Because the "average" artstyle is aesthetically more pleasing for many people, I guess? I have a hard time to like, or at least accept, some of the so-called unique art styles. I have a problem liking most cartoon art too. In fall I watched at least Gravity Falls with friends and I appreciate the series for what it has been and themes and so. The art style grew on me a bit and was okay to me then, but I still don't like it too much. Others like Avatar or The Dragon Prince are incredibly beautiful to me (more so Avatar), but they look more like an anime. Avatar has one of my absolute favorite art styles too. I can watch something like that one Batman movie with Harley Quinn too and like the art style there. It looks a bit more realistic, but like.. not too much? That's also the mix in anime I often like the most. I also dare to say that there is a huge difference between Attack on Titan and Made in Abyss for example. And there are also two "huge different sides" in cartoon too: the cartoons that look more realistic like the superhero comics etc, and the cartoons that are very over-stylized. Since many anime are adapted from manga, I don't think it's about marketing alone. The mangaka just likes their own art style, maybe they appreciate this art style and want to draw something similar. patchworkpants said: No they don't. I'm not sure what your point is. I already said that it's possible to find some that looks a bit more unique. I guess the point is that almost everyone has their own, unique art style. I see huge difference between the anime I love as well. They just aren't fundamentally different, but they are very unique nonetheless. patchworkpants said: Studio 4C's Genius Party shows what happens when you throw money at individual animators and tell them they can make what they want. Most of them made very unique looking short films. Anyway thanks for the trailer. 1, 4 & 5 look amazing! Not sure about 2. The color set looks very good to me, but not the rest. 3 is for me an example of art being way too overstylized. Artstyle-wise and I also guess, from what the trailers could tell me, story-wise, I might like nr. 1 the most. |
removed-userJan 3, 2020 3:32 PM
patchworkpants said: I wouldn't be able to do that with Western animation. Oh hoooo I definitely could. Look at the Disney princesses and then look at all the knock-offs of the Disney princesses. Look at all the superhero designs in comic books. They ALL look the same to me, personally. The men are all ripped. The women are all curvy. And because they're in that realistic style, everyone's face looks the same too. Then look at all the comic strips and cartoons featuring a family: Husband: Probably fat, more than likely stupid, and short-tempered. Wife: Attractive, big boobs and ass, way smarter than the husband...yet she chose him for some reason. Kids: smart-ass brats or emo teens. Anime's variety of characters and styles CRUSHES most American animation. Though it's getting better since anime fans are now making their own animation. For example, why everyone draws mouth as a single line and noses are almost inexistent? Because noses look ugly and are a pain in the ass to draw realistically? xD |
ChiibiJan 3, 2020 3:57 PM
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Chiibi said: patchworkpants said: I wouldn't be able to do that with Western animation. Oh hoooo I definitely could. Look at the Disney princesses and then look at all the knock-offs of the Disney princesses. Look at all the superhero designs in comic books. They ALL look the same to me, personally. The men are all ripped. The women are all curvy. And because they're in that realistic style, everyone's face looks the same too. Then look at all the comic strips and cartoons featuring a family: Husband: Probably fat, more than likely stupid, and short-tempered. Wife: Attractive, big boobs and ass, way smarter than the husband...yet she chose him for some reason. Kids: smart-ass brats or emo teens. Anime's variety of characters and styles CRUSHES most American animation. Though it's getting better since anime fans are now making their own animation. For example, why everyone draws mouth as a single line and noses are almost inexistent? Because noses look ugly and are a pain in the ass to draw realistically? xD That's a good point actually with a lot of mainstream western comics. The superhero ones anyway. There are some pretty generic styles there too. |
Maneki-Mew said: Anyway thanks for the trailer. 1, 4 & 5 look amazing! Not sure about 2. The color set looks very good to me, but not the rest. 3 is for me an example of art being way too overstylized. Artstyle-wise and I also guess, from what the trailers could tell me, story-wise, I might like nr. 1 the most. Yeah. That's a trailer from the second anthology too. The first one has most of my favourites in. Masaaki Yuasa directed one of them. I just found that trailer first. They aren't consistently good but there are some gems in there. |
| Have you seen the big shitshow which ensued when Aku no Hana dared to be as different as it was, back in 2013? To this day, even weeks or days ago on these boards or other comment sections, I routinely hear people decry the series as "ugly", "hideous", "too ugly to watch", and just cannot comprehend all the hatred for it. I love the unique atmosphere created by the rotoscoping and that it doesn't feel like anything else I've seen in anime in that respect. Some people seem to really actively despise novelty and breaking from convention, and that extends to breaking from established art styles. I thought if anything that show would be recognized for cultivating such a distinct atmosphere which tonally matched the plot and made it feel both more serious and surreal, but it received a torrent of hatred and abysmal DVD/Blu-Ray sales effectively killing all chances for a second season in the womb. The reaction to radical breaks in art style from those who consider themselves general anime fandom seems to more often be "Ew, it's different. Burn it!" than either acceptance or enthusiasm. |
Lol no. Anime has the same spammed no nose, no lips, triangular chin design for female characters.  Moana and Elsa look completely different. Different artstyles are used for superhero cartoons a lot of times and everyone doesn't have the same face fyi. |
DrGeroCreationJan 3, 2020 5:04 PM
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patchworkpants said: Chiibi said: Oh hoooo I definitely could. Look at the Disney princesses and then look at all the knock-offs of the Disney princesses. Look at all the superhero designs in comic books. They ALL look the same to me, personally. The men are all ripped. The women are all curvy. And because they're in that realistic style, everyone's face looks the same too. Then look at all the comic strips and cartoons featuring a family: Husband: Probably fat, more than likely stupid, and short-tempered. Wife: Attractive, big boobs and ass, way smarter than the husband...yet she chose him for some reason. Kids: smart-ass brats or emo teens. Anime's variety of characters and styles CRUSHES most American animation. Though it's getting better since anime fans are now making their own animation. Because noses look ugly and are a pain in the ass to draw realistically? xD That's a good point actually with a lot of mainstream western comics. The superhero ones anyway. There are some pretty generic styles there too. But they are very well-drawn, even if mostly not my style. Serious question now: Does it matter to you? And how much does it matter to you? I mean, since I'm not an expert on art, specifically here not classic art, for example there are many artists I couldn't tell apart. On the other hands there are artists I can point out where they come from in one second. Everyone knows what Van Gogh's paintings look like, but I couldn't tell apart a lot of other stuff, even if I have seen other paintings of them before. Same for more recent traditional or other artists I know. Does it matter then? Since they look very appealing (to me / many people)? Is then (for example) an unappealing yet incredible unique art style preferable? By the way, I can tell my favorite anime apart any day, even if they might look a similar art style at first. They still have their own way of drawing characters and their own color set and atmosphere for example. patchworkpants said: Maneki-Mew said: Anyway thanks for the trailer. 1, 4 & 5 look amazing! Not sure about 2. The color set looks very good to me, but not the rest. 3 is for me an example of art being way too overstylized. Artstyle-wise and I also guess, from what the trailers could tell me, story-wise, I might like nr. 1 the most. Yeah. That's a trailer from the second anthology too. The first one has most of my favourites in. Masaaki Yuasa directed one of them. I just found that trailer first. They aren't consistently good but there are some gems in there. Thanks I check them later too. ^^ Tbh I don't get along with Yuasa too much so far. I have seen Devilman Crybaby and a short from him and have mixed feelings about him so far. DrGeroCreation said: Lol no. Anime has the same spammed no nose, no lips, triangular chin design for female characters. Moana and Elsa look completely different. Different artstyles are used for superhero cartoons a lot of times and everyone doesn't have the same face fyi. The last anime I have seen with same face syndrome was K-on. Before and after I haven't seen that for a long time that all male and female characters had the same face. |
removed-userJan 3, 2020 5:01 PM
| Western cartoons arguably have more direct competition and lower budgets so they have to have characters with incredibly simple designs yet distinct enough to stand out from the crowd. Because there's only like 3 channels that actively run cartoons and they often have really high standards to be continued. Such as requiring toy and merch sales that outweigh the cost of making the series or they get delegated to terrible time slots or outright cancelled. Anime on the other hand tends to be following a baseline for adaptations and have the backing of a production committee. Which then inspires other similar ideas further extending the baseline for commonly used features which then creates a cycle. |
GamerDLMJan 3, 2020 5:09 PM
Maneki-Mew said: You can find similar designs with recent anime as well. The term anime style exists because anime characters have specific facial features, only in certain anime like what the op mentioned allows for the facial character design to be changed up from the norm.The last anime I have seen with same face syndrome was K-on. Before and after I haven't seen that for a long time that all male and female characters had the same face. |
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| While the comparison to western animation is not the best since western animations have usually at least twice the budget Japanese studios have, it is interesting because when you compare different manga, they have generally more distinct styles than what is seen in their anime adaptation. And the reason for that I think is (again) the budget. Contrary to manga -- the work of a single man helped with a few assistants -- anime is a team work so it makes sense that, as a whole, studios that can be indiscriminately hired by any production comittee would develop some sort of standardisation, just from the sheer number of people involved in the production chain. Like for shorts (like Genius Party) it's easy to mantain a level of individuality, but doing this for featured movies is the exception as you noted (like Tekkon kinkreet). But again anime movies have usually a higher level of unicity compared to series, because, once again they also have a higher budget than anime series. |
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DrGeroCreation said: Lol no. Anime has the same spammed no nose, no lips, triangular chin design for female characters. Oh yay. Gero's back. Anyway, you're cherry-picking again. That poor example you posted is from the same works. And why pick on their FACE specifically? How about we address body type instead? Also, way to ignore Phokat's excellent chart. You are WRONG, dude. Moana and Elsa look completely different. Sure but all the WHITE Disney girls do have the same face. :/ AND the same body. |
ChiibiJan 3, 2020 5:38 PM
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| @Chiibi Face is the first thing you see so it's more important than body. Including body also just reinforces the op's point. No they don't . |
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| Most of them look different enough to me, at least as far as facial features go. Though I will admit you're a lot more likely to find anime characters with similar faces and hair styles than you are cartoon characters that look a like. But western cartoonists tend to focus less on realistic designs outside of comic book adaptations, so this gives them more freedom ti create more weird and unique looking characters than anime does. |
DrGeroCreation said: No they don't . Lol bro...they totally do. I dare you to look at the Disney princess line up and point out all the differences between characters of the same race. You won't find much. Don't pretend anime is just as limited; people in this thread have already proved that it isn't. |
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Chiibi said: A few might have similarities but to say all have the same face and body is ridiculous. Also Disney princesses are a small sub set of western cartoons compared to anime girlsDrGeroCreation said: No they don't . Lol bro...they totally do. I dare you to look at the Disney princess line up and point out all the differences between characters of the same race. You won't find much. Don't pretend anime is just as limited; people in this thread have already proved that it isn't. |
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| @Maneki-Mew I did not pick two random harems. Okay but that doesn't change that the facial character design I mentioned is common. Lips are drawn subtly for close up shots like for kissing but not prevalent throughout. I agree the eyes would have to be drawn smaller to allow for both the nose and lips. Rapunzel and Belle have sharper almond eyes than the other white ones and Snow White has a more round chin. |
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| i see you joined in 2011 but maybe you have not seen much anime, it has been constantly changing and evolving since the 50s. it just all looks "anime" to you because you're not familiar with the growth and nuances of the art style |
| If you start reading manga you'll notice a much bigger difference in artstyles. The anime often tend to lose a bit of the authors style and look a bit samey, especially the lower budget ones. |
DrGeroCreation said: Rapunzel and Belle have sharper almond eyes than the other white ones and Snow White has a more round chin. So? Plenty of anime girls (and boys) have varying eye shapes as well. Some girls have much rounder faces than others; like try comparing how a Madoka character looks to a female character in Violet Evergarden?   See, I can do it too. :) (the really funny part is they're supposed to be the same age. |
ChiibiJan 3, 2020 9:06 PM
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| @Chiibi Madoka's chin is triangular like the character from Violet Evergarden despite the fact that she has a wide face. |
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DrGeroCreation said: @Chiibi Madoka's chin is triangular like the character from Violet Evergarden despite the fact that she has a wide face. They still don't like anything alike which is my whole point. They look far less alike than the princesses, that's for sure. |
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Chiibi said: They have big eyes, barely any nose, no lips and triangular chins which is the anime style I've been talking about.DrGeroCreation said: @Chiibi Madoka's chin is triangular like the character from Violet Evergarden despite the fact that she has a wide face. They still don't like anything alike which is my whole point. Chiibi said: That's an unfair comparison since Disney princesses are done by the same company while both of those characters are from different studios.They look far less alike than the princesses, that's for sure. |
DrGeroCreationJan 3, 2020 9:28 PM
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DrGeroCreation said: They have big eyes, barely any nose, no lips and triangular chins which is the anime style I've been talking about.  ................................................................................................... NOSE. LIPS. So wrong again. :/ |
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| because one is actually cute/sexy etc and the other isn't |
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| Barely any nose and no lips. There is barely a bottom lip there. |
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| western animation is more cartoony and that's why they get away with drawing non-human looking, unrealistic body shapes and sizes. Most anime are just trying to draw humans as life-sized and not for comedic purposes. Anime is usually more focused on storytelling rather than character interactions which is the bread and butter of western animation. |
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