Thursday, November 2, 2017

LAUAN501 - Study task 3 : Images and Theories

Selected terms :

Bishoujo : "pretty girl", the characteristically Japanese style of design beautiful-looking female characters which made up much of the majority of the current anime / manga media

Moe: meaning a burning passion for a particular subject , that subject here being the characters
=> a slightly abstract series of design traits that make the character more appealing to a particular group.

These 2 concepts are created and geared toward the Japanese/ Asian audience in mind , as it aligns more with what many Asian culture considered as the "standard" of beauty, however it has start to slipped more and more into Western media as well

   
 


 Typical examples of "bishoujou" characters : 2B from Nier Automata and Asuna from Sword Art Online. Although designed to be in different mediums (3D and 2D) they all share the same "bishoujou" traits that again are considered real-life beauty standards in asian culture :

+ Big eyes
+ Slender figure / arms and legs 
+ V-line jaws
+ Petit mouth/ nose  (particular for Asuna and other 2D characters
+ Smaller more petit bodies => larger heads. 

Age is also an important aspect, as bishojous are typically very young characters or if are designed to look younger than there actual age, which relates to the controversial topic of the obsessiveness of Japanese culture with young girls / schoolgirl, which you can observed from mangas to Idol groups.
This also tides in with the concept of "Moe" as younger characters like the above usually invokes in the audience a sense of protectiveness and loving - similar to how you would react when seeing a cute puppy perhaps => the design/ characters are regarded as very Moe.

The fact that how Japan and Asian cultures have becomes such avid supporter of and where to lines when it comes to political correctness , feminism, Western ideals and difference in culture can be an interesting theoretical debate, while on a more practical aspect, we can ask how effective this style is in creating an appealing characters. 

 


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