Your favorite OS-tan

[NewYinzer]

Here's what gets me about Japanese art, as it pertains to anime/games/manga characters and possibly by extension to the OS Girls: How come all the gals have flat butts? Why are their legs too long? What's with the pointy chins? Why the fixation with the combination of laughably-huge breasts, skinny legs and matchstick arms? How can they breathe or eat with such tiny mouths?

Hmm...indeed. Yes, anime girls have such small butts and excessively large breasts as a result of what I call the "Two Sheds" paradox. You see, it all depends on the artist. Only two characteristics of the female form can be captured at any time. Quite often it is the breasts, other times it is the buttocks or the legs. Some are fond of the feet, others of the hair or hands. Some believe that females need pe...I'll leave the rest to you.

[MisterCat]

Thanks for the input, NewYinzer.  I guess in Japan butts, thighs and legs just aren't considered sexy ââ,¬â€ or something.  Either that, or they just haven't figured out how to draw them.  They're not really keen on muscle definition, either.  But breasts, wow!  Big, big, bigger than big!

o_o

I can see some Japanese guys now, staring at a rendering of some female anime character:  "Flat butt!  Ooh!  Shapeless legs!  Ahh!"  All right, yes, I'm obviously exaggerating (but not by much).  I noticed from :::: ALIEN1452.COM:::: that Korean artists have a much better handle on human anatomy than do their Japanese counterparts.

Anyway, that's all a digression from the OS Girls.  The OS-tans I've seen are, in the main, nicely drawn; and for that, I'm thankful!

;019

=^..^=

[CaptBrenden]

its copensation. japanses girls are obsesed with larger american chests and ass.

[NewYinzer]

Either way, every culture likes what it likes. Large breasts are fine, but once you go beyond 38GG, things become somewhat...er...comical.

[MisterCat]

I fully agree with both of you.  Anyway, I'm sorry about my tangential journey into anatomy!

;013

=^..^=

[C-Chan]

Oh now, one more tangent....!
Please....!  
With Aspartame and a Marschino Cherry on top!  ^.^

thats right, you all keep liking those other oses, means more 3.1sama and DOSkitty for me.

Speaking of which, whatever happened to LoooooooooooooooongDOSKitty?  `v'

Here's what gets me about Japanese art, as it pertains to anime/games/manga characters and possibly by extension to the OS Girls: How come all the gals have flat butts? Why are their legs too long? What's with the pointy chins? Why the fixation with the combination of laughably-huge breasts, skinny legs and matchstick arms? How can they breathe or eat with such tiny mouths?

HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!  Somehow this reminds me of the "tiny torsos" debate I had with Darknight a while ago....  -v-

I'm very glad to see the OS Girls aren't necessarily afflicted by these artistic clichés; and that's one reason I like them! If it were up to Japanese artists the OS Girls would all have mouthless hatchet faces, blimp-like breasts, no butts and dowels for arms and legs. Three cheers for Occidental fan art!

Well, I have my own explanation to offer in a little bit.  ^__^
But in the meantime, I figured it'd be worthwhile to note that there are exceptions to the rule.  Certainly the Studio Ghibli stuff makes more of an effort to produce slightly-more-realistic female anatomy, not counting all the independent artists who think as you do and thus try to follow the occidental approach.

Hmm...indeed. Yes, anime girls have such small butts and excessively large breasts as a result of what I call the "Two Sheds" paradox. You see, it all depends on the artist. Only two characteristics of the female form can be captured at any time. Quite often it is the breasts, other times it is the buttocks or the legs. Some are fond of the feet, others of the hair or hands. Some believe that females need pe...I'll leave the rest to you.

*raises hoof*  Hair guy, right here!  ^__^'
Also have a taste for height, too....  -v-'

I can see some Japanese guys now, staring at a rendering of some female anime character: "Flat butt! Ooh! Shapeless legs! Ahh!" All right, yes, I'm obviously exaggerating (but not by much). I noticed from :::: ALIEN1452.COM:::: that Korean artists have a much better handle on human anatomy than do their Japanese counterparts.

Almost there!  See below....  -v-

its copensation. japanses girls are obsesed with larger american chests and ass.

Though interestingly-enough, they seem to want that without inheriting the larger american height (or more appropriately, Dutch/Swedish/Montenegran, etc.....  Ã,¬__Ã,¬).
You can't hope for better extremeties without growing the rest of you along with it.  It just doesn't work that way....  -v-

Either way, every culture likes what it likes. Large breasts are fine, but once you go beyond 38GG, things become somewhat...er...comical.

Had Anime originated from Truk island, Micronesia instead, the breasts wouldn't be the only thing that'd be large.  ^^;

==================

Okay, time for C-Chan's Official Cost-Benefit Analysis!  ^v^

*plays music from on-hold conference call*

To put it bluntly, Japanese Animation is meant to be cheap and efficient.  You want to be able to churn out full-length series quickly and on a budget (relative to, say, live-action tv shows/movies).  Fortunately for the Japanese producers, the Japanese themselves were never traditionally very demanding about the quality of the artwork itself (although of course, beautiful animation still remained much-appreciated eye candy).  In contrast, at least before the onset of full-CG animation, parents in the US would raise hill if Disney ever subjected their precious children to 15 frame-per-second crap.

So yes, it's a little bit of regional morphology (e.g., flat butts, short heights, low obesity), a little bit of taste (e.g., balloon cleavage on 70% of all female characters, vast prevalance of "Sailor Moon"-style stilts-for-legs) and a dab of culture (pointy chins based off the "shi" kana, which was probably predates 20th century work).

But the oversimplification of these features, plus the lack of muscle definition, matchstick extremeties and large eyes, is purely cost-driven.  It's easier to animate and more efficient to get your point across; in the case of the eyes, emotions become indisputably clear, wheras in the case of breasts, highlighting them in such a way increases their marketability to target audiences.  I don't recall that tiny mouths were overly-prevalent in early Anime, but the moment it became apparent that "cute" female characters were hot sellers, BEHOLD...!

Now nearly every female character in contemporary Anime has a tiny mouth, tiny nose, memorable eyes, a charismatic demeanor (= not a smartass), and cute legs-arms-breasts-hands-feet-ass-etc....

And obviously it works if it's hooked so many fans around the world.  
(Just ask the Captain what he wants for his birthday.... -v-)

More importantly, however, Anime is ultimately successful because it views the art portion as a means to the end, and not the other way around.  Cheap animation is used to ultimately convey a tantalizing story and rich characters (well, for the most part,... I admit that, just like with regular movies, there's an awful lot of crappy titles floating around).  And it's precisely because the artwork is so efficient, there are enough resources left over to embellish the presentation of said artwork.  Full-motion battle frames and shading/shadowing effects are drawn with equal simplicity, but applied in such a way that it often adds stunning, dramatic and at times breath-taking detail to a scene.

To use an old stereotype, the drawing style has a particular "zen" quality to it: simple, but elegant in its simplicity.

Oh, and I should note that manga often follows this same paradign as well, since it's often a single artist that draws the whole thing himself/herself.  Given the size of the task, and the suffocating competition within the Japanese market, corners must be cut somehow....
Or you get yourself a staff......  

Or, if need be,... you cheat....^__^

[SleepyD]

that was really long and I don't think i read through it thoroughly, but I'll go out on a limb here, and agree with C-Chan.

They don't all look like that.  Many Japanese artists will base their drawings on what they see.  Namely, Japanese people and American people.  Cuz you the Japanese love American culture.  Why else do they love baseball? And many artists have their own style, too. Some like to go realistic, others cute, others exaggerated sexy. Most are somewhere in between.

Just gotta look for em.

I try to go for more realistic proportions meself.  But Jeff needs to learn how to draw real people first. Even though anime is a simplified form of the human body, a good understanding of the real human body is almost required for the amazing anime artist.

[MisterCat]

Thank you very much, C-Chan, for your clear and witty explanation of what's what anatomy-wise in the anime genre!  I forgot to mention the impossible cranial hair some characters have, but that oddity doesn't bother me anywhere near as much as the ridiculous anatomy.

Again, that's one of the big reasons I like the OS Girls:  They tend to look like human beings ââ,¬â€ very nice-looking humans, to be sure, in most cases.  So, artists of OS-tans, keep up the good work!

Your explanation regarding the ways in which budgetary restrictions result in renderings which are one small step away from matchstick people is very interesting.  Let's just hope those corporate bosses don't take this trend to its logical conclusion (see "matchstick people" above).  Two huge eyes on some talking stilts?  Help!

I appreciate your taking time to acquaint me with the lay of the land, art-wise!  I'll continue to cringe at what the Flat Butt School of Art produces, but at least now I know it's simply a money-making gimmick.  Perhaps some parody art of the above-mentioned school is in order:  "A Day In the Life of a Flat-Butt Artist:  How I was taught to unlearn the concept of shape."

;012

=^..^=

[NewYinzer]

Very good argument, C-Chan. In a way, every culture is in love with another culture. The Japanese love American and Russian culture, some Americans love Japanese and British culture, some British like Indian culture, some Indians love American culture. It's all a part of the big cycle...

[C-Chan]

Very good argument, C-Chan. In a way, every culture is in love with another culture. The Japanese love American and Russian culture, some Americans love Japanese and British culture, some British like Indian culture, some Indians love American culture. It's all a part of the big cycle...

We'll call it "The Grass Is Always Greener On The Other Side" approach.

Or "Exotic Becomes Erotic" for the more hentai-centered material..... T_T'

Your explanation regarding the ways in which budgetary restrictions result in renderings which are one small step away from matchstick people is very interesting. Let's just hope those corporate bosses don't take this trend to its logical conclusion (see "matchstick people" above). Two huge eyes on some talking stilts? Help!

Funny you should mention it....
Compare early 90's enemy with most of the contemporary stuff, and you'll note that there has generally been a signficant reduction in character detail.  However, since there is still a demand for at least baseline-quality animation, the simpler style is compensated with additional eye-candy (rasor-sharp detail, vibrant color, computer-assisted special effects, beautiful music, more dramatic story-telling, etc.).  In this case, I'd recommend comparinig 'Ah! My Goddess' the original OVA with 'Ah! My Goddess' the new TV series.  -v-

In contrast, American animation studios (and for that matter, Canadian ones) are a lost cause.  Budget restrictions, coupled with the child-centric approach, ultimately leads to the travesties that kids are made to watch these days.  In most cases, literally two huge eyes on some talking stilts....  Ã,¬__Ã,¬

Gone are the days of 80's cartoons and Gargoyles, perhaps never to return for a very long time...... -___-

Okay, that concludes my tangent.  Thanks for listening.  ^__^

*trots off thread*

[NewYinzer]

In contrast, American animation studios (and for that matter, Canadian ones) are a lost cause. Budget restrictions, coupled with the child-centric approach, ultimately leads to the travesties that kids are made to watch these days. In most cases, literally two huge eyes on some talking stilts.... Ã,¬__Ã,¬

Ever heard of Pixar? The genius Brad Bird? Matt Groening? Trey Parker? Matt Stone? Things aren't as bad as Family Guy makes it seem...
*trots off thread*

[C-Chan]

*trots back in*

Awww man, why do you keep dragging me back here....  >_<

*sighs*

Pixar/Brad Bird:  CG animation, the new "thing" that's "in".  -v-'
Not bad in itself if done right, but certainly displaced traditional 2D animation here.

Matt Groening: cheaply drawn also, but it's a comedy so it compliments it.  Unfortunately it could still classify as an an adult cartoon, so kids still won't necessarily be exposed to it.

Parker/Stone: even MORE cheaply done, but again compliments the comedy and helps their series go on endlessly.  (Plus their last movie was with CG and puppets.)  Even LESS for kids.

Family Guy:  same reasons above.  Besides I kinda like this one.  Never did say we couldn't do comedy (even if it is crude) -- just said we've let the artist quality of our animation, especially for children's programming, degrade... A LOT.

Considering what I watched when I was a kid, I worry that my own kids will have nothing to watch but shallow animation with shallow stories.  That's why I stock up on excellent titles now.  That includes really old Disney, as well as Miyazaki and the like.  -v-

[NewYinzer]

I agree! New Disney sucks! Cmon' science! Unfreeze Walt Disney ASAP! Kids animation is sorely lacking, not just in Disney, but in Nickelodeon and and Cartoon Network! What is all this crap about Invader Zim being cancelled for Fairly Odd Parents? That series was off the hizzle!

On a lighter side of things, does anyone know why I see so many Rozen Maiden characters mixed with OS-Tans?

[C-Chan]

Whatever the explanation is for the Rozen Maiden thing, surely its roots can be traced back to whatever the nice people at Futaba are smoking.  -v-'

But anyway, not that I'm in the Favorite OS-tan topic, here's a good way to slide us back on track....  -v-

Two little facts outta the way first:

1) My favorite Windows OS-tan happens to be Windows 95 OSR 2.5-tan.

2) Although i think that title might be taken by the new vintage Windows-tans I'm drawing, the fact is I'm having a lot more trouble concentrating this time around.  I hope I'm not getting burnt out with all these chibis....  ^^;

So... I spent some time drawing this little tidbit of fanart just to see if it can get me back in the Windows mood:



It's an icon I made for 95 OSR 2.5-sama's entry on Wiki, a bit of insurance against her possible deletion for being just too darn obscure.  ^__^

But since I don't know how to edit Wiki and don't feel like registering on to yet another site....  -v-

*light incense*

*performs holy piggy dance over a sacred altar*

[dramatically] Oh Great Alfamille God, hear me!
Thy Mortal Pig Servant humbly requesteth that ye upload thither piece of fanart to The Wiki!!  ^0^

*pauses*

...........Wait a sec,... I'm not in the fanart section, am I.....?  T__T'

...................Oh sonuva-- >__<

*marches out of thread*

[NewYinzer]

Sweet avatar...cool possibilites for OSR2.5-sama. Perhaps a rivalry between her and OS/2-tan. Just like Secchan and Me-tan.

Still, I know someone who wants what the people on Futaba are smoking. For example: