Bear in mind that there may also be cultural reasons. Refer to Mukokuseki for more information, but in general Japanese guys tend to have less prominent/angular/sharp noses and jawlines compared to Caucasian men. You can see this in the way that whenever a male American stereotype appears in manga, their jaws and noses and eyes are always emphasized and strengthened (and of course, are always blonde and blue-eyed).
Combine that with the fact that many manga aimed towards teenagers feature teenagers as protagonists (duh), and teenage boys usually have less well-developed noses and chins compared to adults.
Re: Manga styles are all alike
OMG! ALL COMIC BOOKS LOOK LIKE THEY WERE DRAWN BY THE EXACT SAME ARTIST EVERYBODY HAS BULGING MUSCLES AND BIG BOOBS AND FACES LIKE THEY WERE CHISELED OUT OF STONE OH WOW AMERICANS ARE SO DULL AND BORING AND UNCREATIVE AND TESTOSTERONE-OBSESSED LMAO
Look, I may have put that wrong, but I was getting that sort of implication from the replies. (Don't ask how, I started this topic at 1:00 in the morning central time or something like that.) I do appreciate Jojos Bizarre Adventure for actually trying to make something unique, though. I have another question, but it's big enough for it's own thread, so I'll just keep that for later.
I TELL YOU HWAT!I've seem art similar to Jojo's in some old manga. Fist Of The North Star, for example.
Try non mainstream things. Out of my head I think in Claymore and Monster. Not 'unique', but certainly very different from the 'anime standard'.
Oh, and Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt. Which is somewhat similar to Powerpuff Girls.
edited 4th Aug '11 8:51:57 PM by Heatth
Yeah, but I've noticed PSG reverts back to standard anime style in certain scenes, and the Limited Animation common in most anime hurts it in my eyes.
If you want something with a Fist of the North Star Style artwork, Check out Toriko. The premise kind of out there though.
Imagine Rakan applying Calling Your Attacks to doing paperwork.~Anarchy Rakan for the hell of it COMMISSION THIS BRIDGE!~EHK![]()
Limited Animation is common everywhere. It usually hurt my eyes most in (non-film) western stuff, actually. Of course, I purposely avoid animes in which such things would be more common (such as any Long Runner).
You have nothing on me. I'm just making a point about the stylistic homogenization of anime in the oughties, and the dark road it has taken the medium down.
- Angel Densetsu—the main character is on the far right
◊
- Gankutsuou—May cause
◊ headaches
◊ though
◊
- Hellsing—the main character is an obvious bishonen, but the other males are pretty male-looking
- Drifters—male enough
◊ for you?
- Drifters—male enough
- Ichi The Killer—One main character
◊. The other is on our article already.
- Mononoke—Very
◊ stylized like
Gankutsuou but more understated.
- Oyasumi Punpun—The main character's a cartoon bird, but everyone else looks pretty unique. Also, this is the face of God
◊.
- Paranoia Agent—[1]
◊
- Uzumaki—[2]
◊. Junji Ito in general, IIRC.
- Wolf Guy Wolfen Crest—I think the main character
◊'s designed to be Mr. Fanservice, and the others get kinda Uncanny Valley for me. But there's definitely lips, nose, and chin there
◊
edited 4th Aug '11 10:05:29 PM by melloncollie
Aah, I was just about to say Junji Ito.
Anyway, seconding that list and also adding I Am A Hero [1]
◊.
Ono Natsume is another mangaka with more unique art—she wrote House Of Five Leaves as well as Not Simple [2]
◊.
Oh, another great one is Children Of The Sea [3]
◊.
I'm almost behind Mononoke but the protagonist is just another generic bishy, but i'm digging Junji Ito.
I TELL YOU HWAT!^ Nobody else is though, they're pretty much gonk by other animes' standards.
Oh, almost forgot. Lady Snowblood [1]
◊. The main character gets naked in most chapters, IIRC.
edited 4th Aug '11 10:33:38 PM by melloncollie
Something else I hate is most manga artist's proclivity for drawing anyone who doesn't fall into Generic Cuteness territory as Gonk. Lady Snowblood looks pretty cool, though, and the Kill Bill connection makes it even better.
Something else; Is there an Anime/Manga with black people in it that doesn't make them a racist charicature? Because from what I've seen by their depictions in manga/anime the Japanese don't like black people. Or Jews.
I TELL YOU HWAT!Er, Afro Samurai?
I haven't seen Tokyo Tribe [1]
◊, but it's on my to-watch list.
edited 4th Aug '11 10:52:58 PM by melloncollie
The only likable black character that exists in anime as far as I can remember is Shihouin Yoruichi. Hedyeh and Ayse sorta counts too I guess.
Whether all other black characters are racist cariatures or not is YMMV. They do draw them uglily(if that's even a word), but it looks more like an attempt to let the viewers know that they're black, and not just tanned(Atem, Bakura, and Marik are supposed to be EGYPTIAN, but would you be able to tell if the show hadn't told you?)
Do note that it's very difficult to draw really dark skinned characters and make them look good at the same time in animation. If normal anime characters had their skins turned black, then the results would be the audience having difficulty clearly distinguishing the black lines that makes up a character's facial features, and if they lightened their skins, they'd just look tan. The easiest way to get around that is make them structurally identifiable.
PS - And Harribel! Yoruichi and Harribel are the only two likable black characters I can think of in anime...funny enough, they're both Bleach characters.
As for jews, I don't remember any jews in anime except in the one you potholed...and just like blacks, I don't think they hate jews(or blacks), but rather they don't care about them. There's hardly any of them in Japan. Hence there's no need to be afraid of offending them like an american company would.
I'd get flamed for this, but...racial homogeneity is one of the things that's good about that country. No racial issues. They don't necessarily hate other races, rather they don't care about other races and what happens to them. Aesthetically it looks nicer. And they don't feel like they have a forced political correctness thing going on like they do in NA...but that's a topic for another thread.
edited 5th Aug '11 12:49:43 AM by Signed
"Every opinion that isn't mine is subjected to Your Mileage May Vary."Its really hard to draw Dark anything really they lose detail in Anime which uses lined style. Which is why Purple Is the New Black Hair Color Dissonance (or blue or brown etc) with hair.
edited 5th Aug '11 12:35:27 AM by Raso
Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

For fans of chins and noses, Jojos Bizarre Adventure is a fine piece of work. Even the women have faces that seem chiseled from stone.