Big Anime Eyes

Large eyes emphasise the youthfulness and cuteness of a character. They also make it easier to convey complex and nuanced emotions. Eyes are an important tool for emotional communication for humans; the difference between Japanese and occidental smileys (which focus the information on eye and mouth shapes, respectively) would suggest that the importance of eyes is even higher in East Asia.

Exaggeratedly large eyes are one of the most famous and recognisable elements of anime and manga. Large eyes are ubiquitous in shonen and especially shoujo, which also happen to be the two best known demographics outside of Japan. Chibi style, again common in manga and anime aimed at kids and teens, exaggerates the eye size even further. Also it has to add that older shonen (and some newer ones) avert big anime eyes, instead the eyes tend to be either narrower or realistic.

With "anime eyes" not only the size increases, but also the shape is exaggerated (and usually gives a hint whether the character is generally active or passive), the iris and the pupil grow in proportion and change shape to compliment the general eye shape, and especially in the romantic genre, the reflections are greatly exaggerated. Horizontal lines above the eyes represent the folds of the upper lid and are not necessarily realistic for Asian characters, but serve as a visual anchor that makes for a lightning-fast distinction between a narrow eye and a half-closed eye. The range and flexibility of the eyebrows is also exaggerated.

Thus big eyes are very very popular for characters intended to be cute and endearing, and in genres which rely greatly on emotion and melodrama. Even in works that employ more realistic proportions use eyes as a major tool. Only in the gag genre and some more experimental styles are eyes downplayed.

On the other hand, characters with small and possibly oversimplified eyes are usually intended to be incredibly ugly, and are used more as tools for gags rather than fully-fledged characters. Characters with no eyes at all are the faceless mass, part of the background, moving standies, or perhaps intended to be as emotionally distant from the other characters and the reader as possible.

Interestingly enough, we actually partially have western animation to thank for this. The trend of big eyes in Japanese Media was started by Osamu Tezuka, considerated by many as The Father/Godfather/God of Manga, who was based on western cartoons such as Classic Disney Shorts, Fleischer cartoons like Betty Boop, and films like Bambi to get this kind of eyes in his creations, notably Astro Boy. His works became so important for the industry (first manga and later anime) that the concept of "anime eyes" was widely accepted and much of the works use this kind of eyes until today.

"Anime Eyes" is an Omnipresent Trope in Japan, so the list of works would be huge and widely common, so this trope is about Western or non-Japanese works that use this as a resource intended to be "anime eyes". In the case of works from Japan, only should be added if it's the case of Lampshading, Subversions and Aversions.

Compare Puppy-Dog Eyes, Anime Hair and Disneyfication or Cartoony Eyes (a Western version). Strongly related to Windows to the Soul, as well with Good Eyes, Evil Eyes. See also Animesque and OEL Manga, in which Western and non-Japanese creators draw their creations with big anime eyes as a way to emulate and/or make tribute to Japanese Media.

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Examples:

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