Adaptational Attractiveness in Anime & Manga.
- In Agatha Christie's Great Detectives Poirot and Marple, Captain Hastings is depicted as younger and better looking than usual. Miss Lemon, on the other hand, was described as ugly, but in the series, she has some good-looking features.
- In Anne of Green Gables, Anne has unflattering appearance
◊ with a small face covered in freckles and she constantly bemoans her looks throughout the series. In the 1979 World Masterpiece Theater, she's an adorable Miyazaki-esque girl,◊note making her complaints about her appearance even more ridiculous. Her adoptive guardians Marilla and Matthew are also nicer-looking and younger than they were described in the book. Of course, the majority of book illustrations depict Anne as attractive as well. - In Avengers Confidential: Black Widow & Punisher, Elihas Starr is Natasha's good-looking ex. In Marvel Comics, he's the pudgy, bald, conical-headed Egghead.
- Happens to Ruiko Saten from A Certain Scientific Railgun. In the manga she's short, rather plain, and flat-chested. In the anime she is taller, has a figure, and is overall much prettier. Shinobu Nunotaba, much more jarringly, was very creepy-looking in the manga, but was changed into an attractive woman in the second season of the anime.
- In the original Cyborg 009 manga and early media, it can be jarring for new viewers to learn that 008 was depicted in an exaggerated manner reminiscent of the blackface caricatures seen in old cartoons (with Ishinomori's color artwork even having his skin inked pitch black). He received a more realistic design in the 1980 film "Legend of the Super Galaxy", and by the time of the 2001 series and 009 RE: Cyborg, any resemblance to blackface was long removed. The 2013 American comic book adaptation by Archaia even utilizes his 2001 design for their continuity.
- 006 was generally depicted as a short, rotund guy with an exaggerated nose and a case of Eyes Always Shut, looking more cartoonishly stylized as well. This carried over to most adaptations, although 009 RE: Cyborg and the Archaia comic depict him somewhat more realistic in proportion and design.
- 002 was originally drawn to be somewhat odd-looking, with a large Gag Nose being his most iconic feature. In 009 RE: Cyborg and the American comic, he has a much smaller nose (though it has an aquiline shape in some shots), and his wild gravity-defying red hair has become blond and depicted in a more realistic style. While these changes make him look much more readily attractive, they've also been contested as some fans feel he became TOO "pretty" and unrecognizable.
- In Dear Brother, Mariko's mother Hisako is very homely-looking (lampshaded by Mariko in the manga, as she says she wasn't the prettiest girl ever but still stayed by her father's side before he ditched her). But in the anime version, Hisako is an outright hot mom.
- In the film versions of Death Note, the character of L, originally designed to be dishevelled and unattractive (but still gained a number of fangirls) is played by the rather handsome Kenichi Matsuyama. And then we have the TV drama version, which not only has L played by the very cute Kento Yamazaki, but gives him a Shower Scene as well. The American remake continues this trend, casting the handsome Lakeith Stanfield as L. This goes a step further, since the American L doesn't even sport the perpetually tired and disheveled appearance of his predecessors.
- The Deltora Quest anime (and the preceding manga by Makoto Niwano) gives this treatment to several characters from Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest books:
- Lief's appearance isn't remarked upon in the book, the implication being that he's a plain looking brown haired boy. In the anime, he's a blonde Pretty Boy. The Nintendo DS game Deltora Quest: The Seven Gems makes Lief a fair-haired pretty boy as well.
- Jasmine in the books is very unkempt-looking, with wild, messy hair (she grew up in a forest) and a small face with slanting brows and green eyes. While Jasmine does have a Cleans Up Nicely moment while disguised in Maze of the Beast, she's generally not considered beautiful, at least before she becomes queen. In the anime, Jasmine is gorgeous◊ even when not dolled up. The DS game even removes Jasmine's messy hair, giving her silky long hair instead.
- This applies to Jasmine's outfit as well. In the books, Jasmine wears a ragged grey cloth that she scavenged from the Grey Guards. In the anime, she has homespun but attractive garments with a skirt and even Zettai Ryouiki.
- Fili, a tiny creature (later revealed to be a Siskis) who Jasmine keeps as a pet, really isn't cute at all◊ in official book art. In the anime, however, Fili◊ is a Pokémon-esque adorable little fluffball.
- Barda, while young, is described as having grim and unfriendly features in the books. In the anime, Barda is ruggedly attractive with a beard and long hair, making for a more pleasant appearance. Even the illustrations of Barda on the Japanese versions of the books are in line with the anime version◊.
- Played with Doom. In the book, he's described as muscular like Barda. He’s skinny in the anime, and manages to be Tall, Dark, and Handsome, unlike his book counterpart, whose appearance actively made people dislike and distrust him.
- In the books, Dain rapidly loses his delicate attractive features when he reveals he was Evil All Along and a Involuntary Shape Shifter in Return to Del. In the anime, he keeps his pretty face while his body becomes monstrous. It’s only when Lief kills him that his face melts as well.
- Minor characters Battle Couple Orwen and Joanna from Rithmere Games are described as tall and muscular, but in the anime they are quite attractive (especially Joanna) as well.
- The Ralad Tribe and Dread Gnomes get this as well. The Ralads are described as having wrinkled blue skin and button-like black eyes◊. In the anime, they have smooth blue skin and normal looking eyes◊. The Dread Gnomes are described as unattractive in the books, while in the anime they're pretty cute, particularly the female one Gla-thon.
- Doraemon movies which are often an Adaptational Expansion of the manga shorts will do this to the new characters:
- The brain of Zanda Claus in Doraemon: Nobita and the Steel Troops is a blue, featureless robot bowling ball in the original manga and 1986 movie, until the 2007 remake have the robot ball being revealed to be an egg, who then into an adorable alien chick.
- Fuuko from Doraemon: Nobita and the Windmasters, loosely based on a manga short called "Typhoon Fuuko", who went from a cyclone-cyclops with barely any features (save for a single floating eye) to becoming a fluffy, living pile of sentient cotton candy. She (confirmed to be a girl in the remake, unlike Ambiguous Gender original) even gets a cuter appearance when Doraemon puts her into a costume-making machine, looking like a chibi dragon-cat cartoon animal.
- Kibo from Doraemon: Nobita and the Green Giant Legend, a movie adapted from the manga short "Goodbye, Kibo!", where the original Kibo is a sentient walking grass. The remake gives Kibo a far more humanoid appearance looking close to a human child.
- The brain of Zanda Claus in Doraemon: Nobita and the Steel Troops is a blue, featureless robot bowling ball in the original manga and 1986 movie, until the 2007 remake have the robot ball being revealed to be an egg, who then into an adorable alien chick
- Dragon Ball:
- Dragon Ball: The Path to Power does this to the entire cast. While they were mostly all attractive in the original manga and anime, the polished artstyle of the film makes them even more so. Bulma in particular is somehow even more gorgeous and curvaceous◊ than she was already◊ * . Goku and Yamcha are also more tan and muscled than were in the original series, and the villains, especially Staff Officer Black (whose original appearance◊ resembled Blackface), are more comely as well.
- Broly wasn't designed to be attractive in his original film design◊, being skinny, sickly, and dour-looking in his base form (likely as a result of his father's Mind-Control Device). In his canonization film, Broly has a much healthier redesign with tan skin, more muscles, and a handsome face◊. This can be attributed to his less horrific upbringing compared to the original. Also serves as Beauty Equals Goodness due to Broly's Adaptational Heroism.
- Inverted with his father Paragus, who in the original film still had his Saiyan dark hair, while his canon appearance is grey-haired. This is due a Setting Update, as the original film was set around the Android/Cell Saga time period, while the new film is set some decades after the Buu Saga.
- Dragon Ball: The Path to Power does this to the entire cast. While they were mostly all attractive in the original manga and anime, the polished artstyle of the film makes them even more so. Bulma in particular is somehow even more gorgeous and curvaceous
- The anime adaptation of Fatal Fury 2 turned Wolfgang Krauser from a mustachioed middle-age man to a clean-shaven young man who is only a few years older than Terry. According to Word of God, this was done deliberately to show just how much more of a threat Krauser was than Geese in the first OVA. Whereas Geese aged naturally (and gained quite a few scars to boot), Krauser retained his youthful beauty as a visual representation of his power.
- Kariya Matou from Fate/Zero has a hideously disfigured left side of his face as a result of the crest worms in his body. The anime adaptation toned it down a bit, however; he now looks like he's just somewhat scarred, but not half as much as he's supposed to be.
- A hilarious example happens in universe in Franken Fran. One of Fran's cases had her transplanting the brain of a dog into a human body, who proceeded to save the life of its mistress. In "real life", the girl is generically cute, while the dog is in the body of an unattractive middle aged man. The movie based on the events has the girl become gorgeous and the dog in the body of a young attractive male actor. This (among other changes) leads Veronica to calling bullshit and throwing a chair at the projection screen.
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- Scar is younger in Fullmetal Alchemist (2003).
- Ed, while not ugly at all in the manga, doesn't quite have the same sort of facial structure as his manga counterpart originally did; it's less square, which makes him look prettier. While Ed in the manga and second anime hits a growth spurt eventually, towering over Winry, in the anime he becomes taller by The Movie but is barely taller than his biologically thirteen-year-old brother, despite the fact that he's 18-19 (the movie takes place 2 years after the series). He isn't even Winry's height.
- Envy gets a subtle hit of this in Brotherhood, where he's drawn notably more muscular than the 2003 anime version.
- King Bradley has softer features in the 2003 anime and looks a bit younger.
- While the suit of armor that houses Barry the Chopper's soul looks identical in both versions, his human body is younger and more handsome in the 2003 anime. In the manga and Brotherhood, his actual body appears to be a good deal older, and has unkempt hair.
- Tetsuro Hoshino from Galaxy Express 999 was given this treatment. In the original manga and anime, he is depicted with a cartoonish appearance. The 1979 film, however, depicts Tetsuro with more realistic features more in line with most shounen protagonists at the time. His original appearance was used for his younger self in a flashback.
- Neko Musume from GeGeGe no Kitarō is a strong example. In the original series, she looks like a potato with a bowl cut and a mouth full of needle-like fangs. In the 2007 anime, she's a conventionally attractive young redhead. In the 2018 series, she looks like the character designer was trying to stay true to Shigeru Mizuki's original artistic techniques by doing everything with only one arm.
- Chief Aramaki from Ghost in the Shell. In the original manga, which was more of an action-comedy, he's drawn as a cartoon Japanese Macaque wearing a three-piece suit. In the more serious movie version, he's more realistic-looking but still has a slightly monkeyish face. By the time Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex rolls around, he's actually quite handsome for an old guy. Ghost in the Shell: Arise dials this back somewhat and has him looking closer to the movie version, though. In the 2017 American live-action film, he's played by Takeshi Kitano, who is Hollywood Homely at worst.
- One of the students in Gokusen is described as Gonk in the manga, but he is a player in the live action series.
- In Harmony, Tuan remarks that while she isn't ugly, she's not attractive either, and at several points in the narration explains that she looks really rough in comparison to the perfectly healthy people in the admedistrative society, and the combat gear she's wearing is described in ways that make it seem similar to real-world military uniforms, albeit with scifi elements. In the anime film adaptation, she's depicted as a strikingly gorgeous skinny red-haired woman in a skintight plugsuit.
- Played with in the Hellsing adaptations; few, if any, appearances were outright changed in the initial TV run (before the plot took a sharp left turn from the manga), but they got rid of the chibi and other off-model moments, as well as far fewer disturbing expressions and evil grins from most everyone except for Alucard himself; even he had some of his inherent horror toned down. Then along comes Hellsing Ultimate, which takes all those factors and puts them right back in, with a vengeance.
- Howl and Sophie in Howl's Moving Castle were already attractive in Diana Wynne Jones's book (although Sophie thinks she's homely, which is why she gets cursed to be an old woman). But in the Hayao Miyazaki movie, they are even more attractive than they were described in the book, especially Sophie, who, despite her doubts about her looks, gets harassed by two soldiers in an alley.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- Phantom Blood:
- This Part gets revamped heavily in the anime to fix the originally inconsistent character designs of the manga. Jonathan, Dio, and Erina become more obviously attractive as a result.
- Plant, one of Dio's zombie minions, looks like a deformed mess in the manga, while is the anime, his design is a lot more compact and reptilian.
- Stardust Crusaders:
- Diamond is Unbreakable: Yoshikage Kira is already attractive in the manga. But whereas his face in the manga is more skeletal, his face in the anime is a lot more chiseled.
- Stone Ocean: Kenzo is far from a sight for sore eyes, but compared to how he's drawn in the manga with shriveled wrinkles, he's sort of given easier skin in the anime.
- Phantom Blood:
- The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords (2004) depicts Link's Evil Twin, Shadow Link, as a regular human boy instead of a dark gray Living Shadow.
- The anime and manga adaptations of Les Misérables unsurprisingly does this to several characters from Victor Hugo's novel.
- Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette does this mostly to Cosette herself as a child. True Cosette does become very beautiful when She's All Grown Up later in the novel but as a child she was ugly, starved and wretched due to the abuse Thenardiers put her through. In the anime she and Gavroche are adorable◊ from start. Although most depictions, even the book illustrations◊ have Cosette be cute.
- Dialed up in Arai Takahiro's (of AR∀GO: City of London Police's Special Crimes Investigator fame) manga version of the novel, which despite being Truer to the Text than the aforementioned adaptation still does this to several characters from Hugo's novel.
- Valjean is a short and stocky old man◊ in the book and even the previous anime depicted him as old◊. In Takahiro's version Valjean is a tall and handsome Shōnen Hero-esque hunk of man, whom is still attractive even when he's grey haired◊. Not to mention Valjean's appearance when he was young which was described as "sluggish and insignificant", whereas in the manga he's an utter pretty boy◊.
- Javert is described as having an unpleasant brutish ever scowling face◊ in the book and Shōjo Cosette depicted him as ugly as well. In Takahiro's manga while he's still intimating in the manga he's still far less ugly and looks more like a gentleman◊ with lighter hair which covers one eye. Possibly justified as he and Valjean appear to be the same age in this version.
- Éponine, Hugo describes as scrawny, dirty and barely feminine◊ and Gavroche with wild, tangled hair and a hideous wide mouth and jutting chin◊ in the book. In Takahiro's version Éponine is a completely beautiful dark haired hottie and Gavroche is a handsome lad◊. Although most adaptions do this to Éponine and Gavroche.
- Grantaire one of the Barricade Boys is described by Hugo as "frightfully ugly" with women being literally revolted by his appearance, in the manga apart from a large nose and Drunken Glow Grantaire is pretty decent looking◊.
- Averted with M. Thenardier and Mme. Thenardier who are just as gonkishly hideous◊ as they were described in the novel. This is most likely a textbox case of Goodness Equals Beauty.
- Valjean is a short and stocky old man
- Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette does this mostly to Cosette herself as a child. True Cosette does become very beautiful when She's All Grown Up later in the novel but as a child she was ugly, starved and wretched due to the abuse Thenardiers put her through. In the anime she and Gavroche are adorable
- Marvel Anime: Wolverine: Logan is even younger and prettier than he is in the other Marvel Anime series, and they are subject to the Hugh Jackman effect (see Film) and the way the character has gotten Progressively Prettier. The result is a Wolverine that comics fans would have a hard time recognizing.
- In the X-Men comics, Mastermind is a gaunt, middle-aged man who used his telepathy to disguise himself as a younger, handsome man in "The Dark Phoenix Saga". In Marvel Anime: X-Men, the handsome form is his true form, best seen when Emma Frost is in diamond form, which blocks her telepathy and shields her from the powers of other telepaths, sees through Mastermind's disguise as "Jun".
- In the Mazinger Z manga, Koji's Grandfather, Dr. Juzo Kabuto had a gravely looking appearance, and is missing an eye. The 1972 anime however gives Dr. Kabuto a more normal appearance and has both of his eyes intact. The Mazinkaiser OVAs and Shin Mazinger opted to use his original manga appearance.
- Quite a lot of Metal Fight Beyblade characters had their appearances changed from the manga to make them more attractive in the anime. One of the most notable is Ryutaro Fukami. He went from looking like a bratty kid with buckteeth◊ to actually being quite pretty◊.
- Mob Psycho 100 has an odd variant of this in Reigen. Though his actual character design is no different from the original manga (though his proportions are more consistent), he's often shot in the fashion of a Mr. Fanservice, his mannerisms further this, and sequences involving him have a noticeable Animation Bump. The closest way to describe it is that he's still accurate to the original, but he's drawn to be as attractive as possible without looking inaccurate.
- Kenzo Tenma from Monster is a milder example. For whatever reason, he gets better looking as the manga progresses, while in the anime, he is good-looking from the start. It seems that Tenma's change is meant as symbolic.
- Moriarty the Patriot presented young, attractive versions of Sherlock Holmes, Professor Moriarty, and most of the rest of the cast of the Sherlock Holmes novels. Even Milverton is pretty.
- Downplayed in My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! Anne has a large burn scar on her back in the original light novel, while the anime moved it to her arm and made it a lot smaller. This was probably so it'd be easier for the audience to see when getting into the details of her backstory without having to come up with an excuse for her to take off her outfit (given that the series doesn't really have any fanservice).
- Naruto:
- In the Distant Finale, Temari is still attractive as an adult but has noticeably aged and has wrinkles. Her appearance in Boruto: Naruto the Movie makes her look several years younger despite taking place several years after the epilogue. This redesign is also used in the spinoff series Boruto.
- The Boruto manga also makes Sakura look younger than she does in the manga. She barely looks any different than she did at the end of Naruto.
- Given the artstyle of the original webcomic, this is bound to happen to everyone in One-Punch Man save for a few examples. Special mention:
- Fubuki is far more attractive in the manga. In the original she was androgynous at best; in the redraw she has a much more curvy figure.
- Saitama past-self three years ago in the manga. He's not actually that bad looking bald either, but the majority of the time he's so lazy that not even his artist can be bothered to finish his artwork making him look like a Muppet or a doll for some reason.
- Mosquito Girl. In ONE's style, she is essentially a woman's head and upper chest stuck onto a mosquito body, with her arms and legs being far more shriveled and insectile. Murata designs her more as an attractive woman with mosquito features, with a defined lower body and even hips.
- Downplayed with Tatsumaki. While her design in the manga is usually as well-drawn as the rest of the cast, she'll occasionally revert to being drawn in the "lazy" drawing style much like Saitama.
- The One Piece Hungry Days ads makes every single character (from a large cast, mind you) supremely attractive compared to the main series. Among the Straw Hats Usopp, Franky and Brook◊ are much more conventionally attractive (although in Brook's case it helps that he's not a skeleton). The ads also make Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Vivi and Robin even more better looking than they already were, with Luffy, Zoro and Sanji becoming outright pretty. Even Blackbeard, one of the most Gonk characters got a handsome makeover◊.
- Pokémon: The Series:
- Ash isn't nearly as scrawny or unruly looking as Red originally was, though they appear to be the same height.
- Charles in Pokémon Black and White is an out of shape biker with a scruffy face. In Best Wishes, he is a slender pretty boy - and a superhero!
- Clemont is given traditional glasses rather than the Opaque Nerd Glasses he wears in Pokémon X and Y. This means his blue eyes are seen constantly and he looks less creepy or nerdy, though occasionally he has Scary Shiny Glasses in the anime for comedic effect.
- A very minor case, but Lillie lacks her thicker, near perpetually furrow brows from Pokémon Sun and Moon, giving her a much gentler expression.
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1971) portrays Dong Zhuo as a lean fellow, rather than the Fat Bastard as he was in the novel.
- Examples from Sailor Moon Crystal.
- The show goes so far as to give this treatment to its Monster of the Week. Act 1's Morga is withered and cadaverous in the original Sailor Moon manga, with added shriveled brown skin and Black Eyes of Evil in The '90s anime. In Crystal she's given an Adaptational Dye-Job with a rainbow of soft pastels, an hourglass figure, and most strangely, offscreen Clothing Damage that grants full view of her cleavage.
- The Daimon grunts from Season 3 are a lot less nightmarish, and somewhat cuter then in previous adaptations.
- Usagi's dad, Kenji, also got this. While in the manga is as handsome as any other male in the show, he is designed with a more mature looking appearance: Thick glasses, eyes with little shine and a simple comb over that lacks detail. In Crystal much effort is done to make him look younger and more bishie, complete with fashionable glasses, a trendy cut and a softer, youthful voice.
- Even Umino got revamped. While still the short guy with Spiky Hair and Opaque Nerd Glasses, his face shape and haircut look more akin to the standard character designs of the other characters than to the more cartoonish, round-faced messy-haired kid he is in the manga and 90's anime.
- Usagi herself was probably initially meant to be average-looking schoolgirl, but here goes◊. It's a matter of opinion, regarding the choice of style. Indeed, there are those who prefer the cuter designs of the 90's anime, to Naoko's more supermodel/stick like look.
- The Samurai in Samurai 7 are all much more attractive than their more average-looking original counterparts, save for Katsushiro, who was always a pretty boy, Heihachi, who was kind of cute in his own way, and Kikuchiyo, who was changed from a ruggedly handsome ruffian to a cyborg whose face we never see.
- The anime of Sands of Destruction shifts Kyrie from being a pretty boy to cute, though he's still recognizable and other characters look more or less identical to their game counterparts. The manga, on the other hand, gives the characters a complete makeover; male characters become pretty enough to be women and female characters double their bra size (perhaps to better differentiate them from the exceptionally pretty men).
- The anime and novel designs don't transition much between attractiveness levels in Slayers, but Zelgadis' design in the original novels, while not ugly, can be a bit unsettling to look at, even devilish. In the anime, on the other hand, he's ridiculously pretty, even though, as a chimera, he technically shouldn't be. Also, Amelia looks younger and more round-faced in the anime than in the novels.
- Downplayed but Shoya Ishida the protagonist of A Silent Voice besides his Spiky Hair is unremarkable in the manga and he personally thinks he's quite ugly. In the animated adaptation he's got very nice features◊ along with shinier hair. This would partly explain why Shoko and Ueno are so head over heels in love with him.
- The animated movie does this to about everyone, not only is Shoko Nishimiya cuter◊ than she already was◊ but Ueno is more attractive◊ than the manga where she had a slightly unhealthy looking appearance◊.
- The animated movie does this to about everyone, not only is Shoko Nishimiya cuter
- Therru from Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea books is so disfigured by third-degree burns as to make people unwilling to look at her. In the Studio Ghibli adaptation Tales from Earthsea, she's a cute young girl with some bad sunburn.
- While Jonah Matsuka in Toward the Terra was far from ugly, he was not quite the pretty boy that he became in the anime◊.
- In the Warrior Cats books, half of Brightheart's face is destroyed due to a near-fatal encounter with a dog: covered in scar tissue, and she lost an eye and an ear. In the Graystripe manga, she's normal-looking except that one of her eyes is closed, making it look like she's constantly winking. (Averted in the full-color remake, where she's been redesigned to have the scars that she's supposed to.)
- Yo-kai Watch's usage of this trope is lampshaded in Yo-kai Watch: Shadowside - The Return of the Oni King. When Natsume and Akinori meet Enma, the Buddhist gatekeeper of hell, they're surprised to see he's a young-looking Pretty Boy. Enma just says that they know an older representation of him.
- Kimba/Leo from the Osamu Tezuka manga Kimba the White Lion is typically cute and cheerful as a cub. The 1989 series gave the titular character a more attractive and handsomer design, while keeping his cute appearance. Kimba's body is notably muscular (mainly around his shoulders and chest) compared to the original manga and 1965 series.
