Art & Fanworks
When fat characters are drawn in a completely different art style
1: Tomohiro Nagatsuka from A Silent Voice (looks like he’s from a kid’s anime)
2: (Flashback) Yuko Ozawa from Jujutsu Kaisen (she’s a realistic depiction but like too realistic… why are her eyes so small)
Besides from the fact that it alienates heavier characters (even when there is more to the character than them being fat), the inconsistency of the art style is just annoying. Fat Gum from My Hero Academia is sorta understandable since the art style allowed for varied designs, but the sources I chose from this post have a much more uniform art style, so it looks jarring when they draw one character super different.
To be fair, they would lighten up with Twogami. He's still fat, but the joke is that if you've played Danganronpa 1, you're spending the first chapter wondering why Byakuya is here and why he let himself go. They play it completely straight as if he actually is the real Byakuya (except for the fat jokes) until the twist.
Obviously I didn't mean "normal" in terms of realism, but "normal" in terms of the style that the series established as normal, the style of eyes and facial proportions most characters have.
Hifumi for instance, could still be fat but with the similar styled eyes the rest of them have and without the weird cat-like cleft lip thing. He looks more like a caricature than a character if we compare him to the rest of the cast is what I'm saying.
It's not about plausible aesthetic/character design normalcy, it's about art style normalcy. Sakura still has the eyes and the facial features relatively similar in style to the other characters. Which was the point of the post, that the fat characters look like they don't belong in the same show in terms of art style.
Absolutely diabolical to put the fat kid in the ice cream Pokemon shirt. You had like, what, 700+ Pokemon to choose from at the time and you assigned him Vanillite?
Lida: "Then there’s my brother—well, half brother. We’ve got different moms. [...] Well, I’ve never met him or talked to him...but his name’s Tierno, and he’s a successful dancer."
Thank you, i played the DLC in spanish so i might pass this dialogue, im really surprised lol but honestly they have different mom, im curious if the dad is plus size, kids can come different depending on Genes and bunch of stuff.
For example, My father was plus size but my mom was more fit, so i am pear shape, while my sister is more fit because she takes more of my mother.
Yes, Lida mentions that Tierno is her half brother in the DLC. It was also foreshadowed in the main game, they have the same spikes in their hair, they both like dancing, they have similar color schemes, and they both have water type partners.
He doesn't really look like he's in a different art style, his eyes look different from other characters but other characters also have unique eyes like lana who is also from pokemon sun and moon
I honestly don’t really know how to explain it, it’s mostly just a vibe thing. Maybe look up some Kasane Teto meme animations, and then just pay attention to Teto (the red haired one) and that should give you the vibe.
i mean, Japan literally has a law that requires people to go engage in "diet reeducation" programs if their weight and waistline hit a certain threshold
it's no stretch to say that Japan is certainly less forgiving that the US in terms of being overweight
Crazy how this gets upvoted this much on Reddit. They just advise you to improve your lifestyle and it’s not anything forceful. Why do you folks always over-exaggerate things about us? Please tell me
There's a bunch of short form videos that spread a bunch of misinformation about Japan. Those videos get more views when they exaggerate or lie about Japanese culture. Many people on the internet have a problem with believing everything they see online without verifying the source.
Or you’re just on the English side of Reddit and only see a glimpse of other sides, like I’m sure you’ve seen Indian subs, heck I just found out there’s a German WSB
While a full fledged law is intense, it's kind of hard for me to be that upset at the idea simply because how fucking bad health education has tanked in my country (the good 'ol US of A.) People embrace being as unhealthy as possible here. The president is one big Mac away from death and brags about it and it's all for the sake of letting food companies make more money. I'm never going to body shame anyone but simply, being overweight (and underweight!) Is bad for you. It will damage your health. It's not like sexism or transphobia where those things generally don't matter. Being a woman won't increase your risk of a heart attack but overeating certainly will. At one point I would've been all up in arms about letting people do what they want, and all that individualism and such but now that I've seen the effects of that it just leads to a bunch of sick people and that sucks tbh. I wouldn't want a full on anti fat law like in Japan, but I'd like to see unhealthy businesses be made to give warnings simular to how nicotine products are forced to advertise the negative effects on packaging.
They would point to the requirements that they list calories by each item as doing their due diligence to inform the consumer. We let them get rich, which isn't inherently bad - people start businesses to make money - but then we let that wealth affect the decisions we make thereafter at the expense of the people we are suppose to protect. We're just massively under the thumb of these companies and people and it's hard to dig ourselves out. We've done it before with tobacco and by God I hope we do it again, but who knows. It feels damn near impossible to find an individual that a majority of people will listen to when it comes to any sort of public appeal
Diet reeducation sounds amazing, like they actually care about their citizens knowing how to maintain a healthy diet. Here in the USA they don’t even give you an initial diet education.
Prime example. They're literally the same person. She starts off fat but after her favorite character died she stopped eating for days/weeks, became skinny and got a reverse harem anime. Loved this anime when I was younger but ...yeah
Maybe I'm not seeing it for the first one, but the first one looks very much the same artstyle, same way they draw eyes, same way to draw eyebrow, same way they draw noses and the mouth.
I feel like you guys are projecting.
It's the same way they draw eyes, the in this example the hair is same way drawn like others the guy in the first one just has an different hair texture, the mouths are drawn the same, the noses are drawn the same.
It's not a different artstyle in the first picture.
They are just.....fat? Of course they stick out, but the way they are drawn is the same.
Wait, wasn’t (what’s her name?? The girl with very short hair that volunteered to learn sign language when she was younger) that girl, wasn’t she on the heavier side as a kid? She didn’t have that ‘cartoony look’ to her, did she?
It’s just not straight hair, everyone else in this image has straight (if a little messy) hair. There are all sorts of different types of hair in life.
Japan dont like fat people. The moment you learn "fat" "skinny" and "diet" in genki (the popular japanese learning textbook) they bring up dieting at every opportunity.
I also hate when English dubs give fat characters that voice. Yall know the one. Hikaru Kagemori is the most recent example I can think of. I hate his dub voice. I’m built like him and I sound nothing like that. No fat person sounds like that.
It’s a stupidly old cliche, old enough that I did that voice pretending to be a fat(ter than I, also a fat kid) in elementary school 35 years ago one day I decided to be a little jerk. The nerve my slightly less tubby ass had HA.
Guess who’s only just getting their weight down all these decades later? 🤡👈
Tbf, the skinny one also doesn't fit. I think you're just not supposed to pay attention to them OR you are supposed to pay as much attention to them as possible.
i think the only problem is that most characters have the skinny style so with similar head shapes + facial features, so whenever the author needs to make someone with a different body style they end up looking like their from a different show
I keep saying comments of people using the photo comparing fat Yoko to like post weight loss and I feel like the narrative point is being completely lost
Like, this is done for a reason. Her extreme change is meant to make her not look like the same person because she didn't like herself. She tried to be someone different, but to Yuji, she's still the same person. In his eyes, he can recognize her, whereas everyone else, even you, the viewer, wouldn't. This is meant to reinforce the type of person Yuji Itadori is. It may seem drastic, but it's meant to! Her drastic change is made as a point to accentuate his character. shes supposed to be unrecognizable.
Counterpoint: There’s no design resonance between them. They don’t even look like they’re related. It’s too different for the sheer difference to make sense.
Yeah, I feel like anyone who has seen that moment in the anime would recognize that the purpose wasn't to diss fat characters but to try and give the perspective that now that she is not fat, she is pushing the same ideology on past her that everyone else around her, including the viewer pushed.
Kamado Ueshita from Future Diary. I could put up with the terrible writing in a shut your brain and dont think too much kinda way, but when this Looney Toon looking character showed up, just couldnt take the anime seriously anymore. The worst part is I know some adults who think the anime is "peak"...like I understand liking it as a teenager cause of the edgyness, but as an adult? Gotta watch better shows bruv
This anime is the Star Wars of trash anime. It starts (and continues!) with lazy writing, silly concepts, and offensive edgelord tropes, and the fascination is with how seriously it takes itself in building a cohesive narrative arc with these terrible pieces.
It is like a Disney castle constructed of feces. Fascinating to look at and impressive in its awfulness.
Honestly I loved that anime as a teenager. Went back and watched it again and it's real.... Okay. Like it's an anime that really didn't need a beach episode but they added one cause it was made for teens.
I don't think the 2nd pic shows a "completely different art style: Her clothes are drawn the same, her hair doesn't seem out of place with the art style and she just has small eyes.
In the first pic, the fat guy's hair does seem to be out of the norm as his hairline isn't as defined as the MC's and I can't remember if there are other characters with similar hair as him in the movie. And his clothes may look simple but I wouldn't say it was drawn in a "different art style".
Off topic, but what was the point of that flashback? It had no relevance to the story and this character is never seen again. Same with Nobara's flashback.
I think it works if they're a minor character or if they switch up the style for a gag, but when you're consistently seeing everything else in one style and a member of the main cast is drawn differently it goes from funny to distracting
The heavier version was a memory shown from her pov. I’m pretty sure it was a purposeful difference to show how she sees herself vs how Yuji (the guy in op’s initial post image) saw her because he’s describing what he likes about her while he thinks she isn’t around to hear him, defending her to guys who reduce her to just her eight like she has begun to do herself. I think op kind of missed the point with that example.
I think that was intentional though. They make a point to say that Yuji somehow recognises her despite how different she look, it's taken as a very sweet moment and is honestly a core part of Yuji's personality
I’m fat and don’t get why so many fat people get so offended by this stuff lmao. Yall really wanna delude yourselves into thinking you look better than you actually do fr lol
Easier to get mad over the worlds supposed cruelties to you instead of just losing the weight ig, spent 20s as an obese fatass and every other overweight bugger really just lived in their own delusional bubble. Would've probably gone on like them if I hadn't gotten gotten a reality check from my siblings
I really dont get people like you who cant fathom ppl not being like you. A lot of people arent fat bc they eat too much or they laze about. It's metabolism, medication, medical conditions. A lot of ppl really cannot help it. Hell all I do is sleep and eat and I'm still thin. It's not something thats controllable for a lot of ppl. You got thin, good for you, but people who can't and dont want every character who looks like them to be treated like an ugly less than creature aren't "living in a bubble" or "delusional"
Just because it’s not fair doesn’t mean it’s not controllable. I lost 100 lbs by walking 10000 steps a day and not eating more than 20g of carbs a day. To anyone reading: it’s not hopeless; you are capable and I believe in you.
Oh please. The fat characters usually look fine. Most fat people who want better “RePrEsEnTaTiOn” will always want “fat” characters that are extremely curvey, small wastes and small beautiful faces thin arms and then “fat” curvy thighs and upper torso. They wanna delude themselves into thinking that’s what they look like lol
It's harder to draw realistic fat bodies. They are not as well represented when studying art and anatomy as a more "average" body is. And for Japan "average" probably means "skinny".
You want characters to be distinct from each other, so their distinguishing characteristics are gonna be a bit exaggerated. Add to the fact that it's probably not so realistic an art style to begin with (you're probably just used to the cartoonification of skinny people) and the larger people get a little exaggerated
Artist here, if you want to draw fat or just chubby people, or hell even all the various body types humanity can offer while still landing on the same BMI, references and life drawing exist for that reason.
It's same as failing to draw a horse, basic perspective, anatomy, or anything because someone is lazy. There is an understanding if it's not something in an artist's default wheelhouse, but not an excuse to do your homework. And it smells when an artist is clearly just feeding into negative stereotypes.
honestly it's the eyes for me. They almost never give fat characters the same classic anime eyes. Goes a bit beyond the difficulties if drawing fat bodies imo.
In My Hero Academia, the main character’s mom (Inko Midoria) looks like she became a different species in the time it took for her kid to go from elementary school to high school.
I wish I could remember the name of it, but it was an anime I saw a long long time ago where the main character was drawn almost like a little pig boy. The main girl had a crush on him and they were in mechs I think. It seems common, Dan Da Dan doesn’t do a different art style for Kinta but he looks a lot different from any of the other characters whilst also being overweight. Japan is not very forgiving to the larger crowd.
Okay, the example that the people here in comments shown are pretty great, but I'm curious whats the best example of someone being drawn as overweight person correctly and not being far from it art style?
I'm still mas that Pokemon ORAS made Tabitha, who they gave a cool anime design this egg-shaped dweeby design when they could just made him cool AND fat. Like, I like a fat guy that's cool and hot too, but they never give them to me in media.
Reminds me of that I think shojo manga series ( that might have an anime ), where a shut-in, "loser fujo", heavyset girl, suddenly lost a ton of weight due to getting physically ill due to her favorite idol passing away or something. She wasn't able to go to school for weeks/months, came back, all the "hot guys" at school she was interested in were also then suddenly interested in her, and then let the shenanigans insue.
She still had her dorky, "loser" personality, fujo self and all, but was able to manipulate the hot guys who were suddenly her friends into doing "gay-bait" things for her. And eventually as well, a foreign exchange tomgirl student joined their cast and was a lesbian.
This is something Ed Hall points out when discussing differences between Japanese and American cultures.
Japan is MUCH less concerned with "sets" as Americans are. Americans want coherent groups - this makes Japan feel extremely chaotic to Americans.
In cartoons, this manifests as "inconsistent" art styles. One character is drawn realistically, one character is ridiculously stylized.
You see this just in daily life in Japan. Like, in my neighborhood, you can find a 70 floor luxury condo tower and next to it is a literal corrugated steel shack.
Online urbanists love jerking off over "mixed use zoning," but in real life that just means houses with doors three feet from the road opening directly onto the highway, and factories snd strip malls built literally a few feet away from housing - which, again, might be a luxury home or a run down shack.
Things are often just kinda thrown together in Japan. The commercialization of shrines and temples is a more abstract example - like, you'll show up at this World Heritage temple and there'll be signs all over with their cartoon mascot, a massive gift shop, and a little minimall of food stalls.
There's much less division of sacred and profane. And space in general is less clearly defined and divided (Hall called that "polychronic" culture).
So stylistically, when designing characters, Japanese media will make the character match their stereotypical role, with a loser "design bible" for how characters should look.
in anime, fat people only exist as a joke, or they draw 'fat' characters as girls with enormous breasts and hips. IDK what the tell ya, it's just a miserable part of our reality where people who are fat are considered less human than others.
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u/Sleepflower00 3h ago
Danganronpa is pretty guilty of this. A lot of the fat characters look very mascot-esque, like they can still be fat and look normal lol.