History Main / StylizedForTheViewer

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' often jokes that the choppy, cutout animation is ''only'' perceived by the audience, and the characters see ''themselves'' as real people. The ninth season's ''Free Willzyx'' pulls off a FourthWallPortrait [[https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/southpark/images/c/cd/The_Group.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081104180729 of the main characters]] and the eighteenth season's ''Grounded Vindaloop'' ends in a MediumShiftGag where the live-action boys suggest the ''South Park'' animation style is just crummy graphics in a virtual reality setting. There are exceptions, like the freshly-shaved boys being unable to distinguish one another in ''Super Best Friends'', which are done for RuleOfFunny.

On the other hand, if any of the characters happen to have MediumAwareness, all bets are off.

Usually we're meant to take character designs at face value but this is not the case. In-series characters see each other in a different way from how we see them, even ignoring art styles.

* Also subverted in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', which frequently jokes and implies that the characters aren't stylized and really are supposed to look exactly the way they're drawn. The most obvious example comes in "O-Ed Eleven", when Ed figures out that Eddy's head in profile forms the basis for a treasure map, with the three black dots behind Eddy's temple filling in for a neighborhood landmark and the little indented "x" in his ear denoting the spot where the treasure is buried.

* Also subverted in ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'', which frequently jokes and implies that the characters aren't stylized and really are supposed to look exactly the way they're drawn. The most obvious example comes in "O-Ed Eleven", when Ed figures out that Eddy's head in profile forms the basis for a treasure map, with the three black dots behind Eddy's temple filling in for a neighborhood landmark and the little indented "x" in his ear denoting the spot where it's buried.

* DeepImmersionGaming: Characters playing a video game through normal means appear to the viewer to be acting as their characters.

* Often on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' Older Ted confesses that things look different in his flashbacks because that's how it seemed to him at the time. For example, when Robin dated an older man, he is first introduced as being in his late forties, but then Older Ted says that to him and his friends he looked much older, and the boyfriend appears as a senior for the rest of the episode.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': Although Koichi Hirose is canonically 157cm (roughly 5'2"), he is always presented to the audience as being comically small, sometimes barely taller than the protagonist's knees.

* In an episode of ''Series/{{Bones}}'' the VictimOfTheWeek, when we finally see her headshot objectively, is superficially similar looking to Brennan. However, Brennan sees her as her exact double and therefore so do we, until the end of the episode. When other characters look at the headshot they don't see any similarity, which confounds Brennan and confuses the viewer - since we see the headshot the way Brennan does.

* ''Literature/RebornAsAVendingMachineINowWanderTheDungeon'': Boxxo's eyes only appear to humanize him, as otherwise his face is just transparent glass.

* ''Webcomic/GenocideMen'': The titular {{Super Soldier}}s are drawn with [[ProphetEyes all-white eyes]]. In-universe, their eyes are normal, just unfathomably cold and dead from witnessing decades of atrocities.

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': It's a very good thing that [[Characters/JujutsuKaisenRyomenSukuna Sukuna]] has [[AxCrazy no interest in subtlety]], because while his FacialMarkings and extra eyes are an obvious sign to the audience that [[SuperpoweredEvilSide he's taken over Yuji]], the other characters can't see them or hear the change in his voice. As far as they're concerned, he still looks and sounds just like Yuji.

* ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': The ringed eyes that mark the [[spoiler:HorsemenOfTheApocalypse]] are not visible or noteworthy to other characters—not even [[spoiler: other Horsemen, since Yoru (the War Devil) does not recognize Fami (the Famine Devil) despite seeming to have the same eyes.]]

* Chibi-Neko from ''Manga/TheStarOfCottonland'' is a regular kitten and the human characters treat her as one, but she's only ever depicted to the audience as a CatGirl due to her strong desire to become human.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation: It is supposed to be impossible to photograph Dr. Alto Clef's face. His official profile photo shows him with a spider's head, but he apparently appears human in-universe.

* Subverted with WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls. Multiple jokes and references make it clear they really ''don't'' have fingers or noses, and have abnormally large eyes. In fact, they're ostracized by their classmates for this very reason.

* Ai of ''Manga/OshiNoKo'' has [[ExoticEyeDesigns pupils drawn like six-pointed stars]], and her two children Aqua and Ruby [[AllGenesAreCodominant have one eye each]] the same. In-series, her eyes are mentioned as having '''a''' distinct look, but nothing so completely obvious as to connect the three characters (even by one person who notices their family resemblance). When Akane imitates Ai for her on-screen persona, ''her'' eyes [[NarrativeShapeshifting look the same to represent how close a match she is]].

* The Nakano sisters of ''Manga/TheQuintessentialQuintuplets'' have their whole gimmick based on the fact that no one can tell them apart, [[AllegedLookalikes even though they have different hair colors and voices]]. As such, their having different hair colors is only for the reader's convenience; in-universe it's all the same shade.

* ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'': In the anime, Kumoko's ResidualSelfImage means that when seen from her point of view she's a cute-ish spider with a highly expressive face and body language. Later perspectives from humans show us what she really looks like: A horrifying spider abomination with a nightmarish face that jitters about unusually.

* ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'': The protagonist is reborn in the body of a spider monster, but she is presented in illustrations and in the manga and anime adaptations as a relatively cute animal: big anime eyes, human mouth, humanoid movements using her frontal legs as arms. The viewers are led to believe this is her true appearance; however, whenever the story is shown from someone else's perspective, it's revealed that she is actually as monstrous as the other spiders, and her cute traits are just there for the viewer to have an easier time empathizing with her.