In live-action media, frequently used in combination with Serkis Folk. Strongly related to Good Eyes, Evil Eyes. Seinen and Josei do have more proportionally accurate drawn eyes (although they are still slightly enlarged).Ĭompare Puppy-Dog Eyes, Anime Hair and Disneyfication or Cartoony Eyes (a Western version). It is a stereotype that all anime and manga do have characters with anime eyes however, because of their expressive nature, it is much more common for media aimed at young children to have large eyes than other demographics. In the case of works from Japan, examples should only be added if they are cases of Lampshading, Subversions and Aversions. "Anime Eyes" is an Omnipresent Trope in Japan, so the list of works would be huge and widely common, and this article will only list Western or non-Japanese works that use this as a resource intended to be "anime eyes". His works became so important for the industry (first manga and later anime) that the concept of "anime eyes" was widely accepted and much of the works use this kind of eyes until today. The trend of big eyes in Japanese Media was started by Osamu Tezuka, considerated by many as The Father/Godfather/God of Manga, who was influenced by western cartoons such as Classic Disney Shorts, Fleischer cartoons like Betty Boop, and films like Bambi to get this kind of eyes in his creations, notably Astro Boy. Interestingly enough, we actually partially have western animation to thank for this. Characters with no eyes at all are the faceless mass, part of the background, moving standies, or perhaps intended to be as emotionally distant from the other characters and the reader as possible. On the other hand, characters with small and possibly oversimplified eyes are usually intended to be incredibly ugly, and are used more as tools for gags rather than fully-fledged characters. Only in the gag genre and some more experimental styles are eyes downplayed. However, out-of-context- or over-use of large eyes can, intentionally or unintentionally, place a portrayal in the Uncanny Valley. Even works that employ more realistic proportions use eyes as a major tool. Thus big eyes are very very popular for characters intended to be cute and endearing, and in genres which rely greatly on emotion and melodrama. The range and flexibility of the eyebrows is also exaggerated.
Horizontal lines above the eyes represent the folds of the upper lid and are not necessarily realistic for Asian characters, but serve as a visual anchor that makes for a lightning-fast distinction between a narrow eye and a half-closed eye. With "anime eyes", not only does the size increase, the shape is also exaggerated (and usually gives a hint as to whether the character is generally active or passive), the iris and the pupil grow in proportion and change shape to compliment the general eye shape, and especially in the romantic genre, the reflections are greatly exaggerated.