A while back I borrowed an
anime tape from a friend of mine, I forget which
series, but at the beginning it had a little section for
newbies that did a decent job of explaining why certain things are the way they are in anime. I gave the tape back, so I can't quote it
verbatim, but here's what it basically was:
The
hair: You'll notice that many anime characters have very interesting hairstyles, comprising
bright colors,
braids,
pigtails, bows,
etc. Some of these styles blatantly defy the laws of
physics. The reason behind all this is to make characters readily
identifiable. Five girls in school uniforms tend to blend together unless one has
pink hair, one has
blue hair, etc.
The
eyes: Many people wonder why it is that anime characters have such
huge eyes. This is because early
Japanese animation was influenced by
American cartoons such as
Betty Boop,
Mickey Mouse, etc, all of whom had large eyes. Also, Japanese
culture tends to regard smaller eyes as less friendly.
The
voices: Like with the eyes, Japanese culture tends to regard higher-pitched voices as more inviting and
friendly. Thus, the
seiyuu tend to lean in that direction.
The
Uniforms: Since
World War II, uniforms have been
mandatory in all primary and secondary schools. It was only recently that the practice was eliminated for four-year
colleges, and there are still some two-year schools that require uniforms.
The lack of
pubic hair: For a long time it was
illegal in
Japan for any
photograph or
illustration to depict pubic hair. Thus, there is an informal
consensus in the anime industry to refrain from showing pubic hair so as to avoid
criticism.
That's all I can remember of it, if I find that same tape again I'll redo it verbatim. If anyone else has an explanation, by all means post it below.
And I'm pretty sure I'd remember if it was Urotsukidoji. :-)
UPDATE: 3/30/01
While the scathing
denounciation of this
writeup by
Fantastic was clever, and positively
offensive its tone, it remains utter nonsense. A comparison between
greek mythology and
anime yields nothing save an opportunity for the author to display his
dazzling intellect. ::snort::
Come on, man, get off your
horse. Its perfectly
reasonable to say that there might be pat,
logical explanations for
CERTAIN aspects of anime. If you want to talk about
plot devices and storylines and the nature of the characters, I will
gleefully concede that a simple,
straighforward answer is unlikely, and that the origins likely lie buried deep within the
japanese culture and traditions. But for chrissakes, man, we're just talking about
hair.