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Hello, I'm looking for some insight into an aspect of anime; specifically, the pervasive use of extremely exaggerated, over-the-top, and/or unrealistic responses that anime characters tend to have to a wide variety of situations. From mundane casual converstaions, to being slightly startled or embarassed, it seems nearly every anime employs ridiculous (or what would be considered ridiculous in any live-action media) character reactions.

First, some generalized examples to illustrate the issue to which I'm referring:

A) A character is home and answers the door to find that someone they know and habor undisclosed affection for has made a surprise visit for some reason. In response, they become poorly drawn in black and white, yell nonsense, fall over, and have a 10 second delay to any verbal response they offer to the visitors questions/comments.

B) A character is nervous about a relatively trivial decision that has to be made. They internally monologue for a good bit, and then, having made of their mind, slam their hands down on a nearby object, stand up abrubty, eyes watering, and announce the decision to whatever random passerby happen to be close.

C) A character is angry at another character, or rather, mildly frustrated (perhaps over a mishap!). Their response is to hit the offending character, sending them flying into a wall or other object in such a way as it would most certainly severely/permanently injure them and count as felony assault.

D) Two characters are having a conversation, but one of them is flustered for some reason. For the first part of the conversation, they barely respond to any question directed at them, at best simply saying the other person's name seemingly with no purpose. Finally, they begin to cry and yell while making non sequitur comments. This example is somewhat different from the others as at least inititially, the response is unrealistically muted rather than exaggerated.

I'm sure I come up with other hypothetical examples, or even specific ones if needed, but hopefully these at least convey the issue I'm discussing here. I should also note that this issue is absolutely pervasive among all genres of anime, not simply shows that one could point out are clearly meant to be over-the-top.

So, after that long-winded but hopefully clear setup, anyone have thoughts/insights into the reason behind this trend/feature/etc. of anime? Is it just to cover for laziness? Writers that aren't able, or are unwilling, to write dialogue strong enough to convey strong emotion, or animators unable/unwilling to draw realistic facial expressions and body language that can convey said emotion?

Or is it a cultural thing? I can't believe actual Japanese people respond in any similar way in real life, but does all Japanese media (TV, Movies, Books, Plays, etc.) share this feature?

Or have I just been very unlucky with the anime series I've tried so far, and in fact there are lots of series that don't have these overblown/unrealistic reactions? Of the literally scores of series I've tried to watch in the past year or so, the only one that readily comes to mind that didn't suffer from all this was "Spice and Wolf", at least not to the point of it detracting from the show. Am I sampling anime from the wrong places? (I've been using Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll) Is there a host of serious--and I don't mean "non-comedy"--anime out there that I've just missed?

Thanks for reading. Insights, comments, questions, and/or advice are all welcome!

JimmyJoJo wrote:

I should also note that this issue is absolutely pervasive among all genres of anime, not simply shows that one could point out are clearly meant to be over-the-top.

That's bolonia. Go watch more anime.

JimmyJoJo wrote:

So, after that long-winded but hopefully clear setup, anyone have thoughts/insights into the reason behind this trend/feature/etc. of anime? Is it just to cover for laziness?

Anime uses the possibilities provided by animation. Exaggarated facial features and such are an age old stylistic issue. It's not meant to imitate live-action anyway. Most of the time you find this stuff in any mainstream shows, since the audiences demand comedy. There are plenty of shows that don't have this. Go watch LoGH or something.

There are a number of culprits, ultimately. Perhaps the most important one is traditional Japanese theater. Noh and kabuki theater, as I understand it, are exceptionally exaggerated in both movement and dialogue, and have undoubtedly continued to influence Japanese cinema and television, including anime. Secondly, there's anime's influence from early and mid-twentieth century Western animation, including works by Walt Disney, Max Fleischer, and Chuck Jones. These were works like Steamboat Willy, Popeye, Betty Boop, and Tom & Jerry (the latter of which, for whatever reason, is still massively popular in Japan today, probably moreso than it is here), and are of course known for highly stylized and exaggerated movement.

Lastly, there's the issue of anime and animation quality. For the most part, anime productions are given only a modest budget, and are required to make due by creative use of cutting corners. It's known as limited animation, and is perhaps most famous in the Western world from Hanna-Barbera's incredibly liberal use of it for their television shows. For Hanna-Barbera, it involved things like recycled backgrounds when characters are running (where they pass the same rock and tree five times), only animating a part of the character if most of the body isn't moving (lampooned in The Simpsons when Bart buys an authentic Itchy & Scratchy animation cel, only to discover it's part of Scratchy's arm), and translating a still image across the screen to simulate movement (for example in Jonny Quest when Race Bannon would swing in heroically on a rope; they didn't animate each frame of that, they just made a cutout of Bannon and slid it across the screen). For anime, some of those techniques are used in some form or fashion (such as anime's famous "speed lines" and "lip flaps"), as well as numerous other tricks such as slow scenery pans set to offscreen characters conversing (Evangelion was especially bad about this), and things like sweatdrops, anger veins, & nosebleeds to convey basic emotions as opposed to actually acting them out on the characters' faces. Limited animation has been a staple of anime since anime's inception, as postwar Japanese film & television studios didn't have the money to throw at animation like Hollywood did, and has become so universally ingrained into anime and definitive of anime's style (even big eyes, which allow for more emotional display on a face without actually having to move much else) that even big-budget anime productions will still use limited animation techniques, simply because that's the style.

Also, to be fair, many of the examples you pointed out are more common in comedic/generally light-hearted or children's anime. Serious adult dramas like Cowboy Bebop, Black Lagoon, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, or The Twelve Kingdoms, will typically avoid such things.

JimmyJoJo wrote:

Or is it a cultural thing?

In my minimally-educated opinion, yes it is definitely a cultural thing.

Also this is not a bug. It is a feature. Remember that most anime is really meant for Japanese viewers -- not tooled specifically for export.

A typical Japanese person is generally taught to be very reticent about showing emotions. That doesn't mean they don't feel them.

What the exaggerated reaction in anime is showing is not intended to be taken as a literal physical depiction but as a representation of what the character is experiencing inside. That is why the other characters, in the presence of someone turning blue or sweating bullets or having their jaw drop to the floor, typically don't react to it. If they do it is generally a mildly puzzled expression.

That's my take anyway.

JimmyJoJo wrote:

it seems nearly every anime employs ridiculous (or what would be considered ridiculous in any live-action media) character reactions.

But how much in the line of Japanese Live action television sit-coms have you watched? Actually, over reaction and exaggerated responses are common in Japanese Television comedy. If the Live action version of Moyashimon is any guide, it can even be worse.

JimmyJoJo wrote:

B) A character is nervous about a relatively trivial decision that has to be made. They internally monologue for a good bit, and then, having made of their mind, slam their hands down on a nearby object, stand up abrubty, eyes watering, and announce the decision to whatever random passerby happen to be close.

For the record, I've always took this to be them announcing their decision to themselves, and passersby just happen to be there. I know I've reasserted myself through speaking my decision, and I doubt I'm rare in that regard.

The nervousness comes from the decision itself. It may seem trivial in retrospect and to an outside observer, but having experienced many of those 'trivial decisions' it's hard to convince yourself it's trivial while you're making the decision.

But aye, as has been said, this is just the animation style. It's an easily recognized form of expression - everyone knows what the large teardrop forming on a character's head means, even if they can't physically explain it - and why try creating another form of expression when one works well enough to get your point across?

@Haruhi: I take the less exaggerated reactions to be actual reactions - the sweating bullets is usually noticed, for instance - while 'being floored by a comment' to be the character's internal reaction and nothing that is seen by the other characters.

HaruhiToy wrote:

A typical Japanese person is generally taught to be very reticent about showing emotions. That doesn't mean they don't feel them.

That's what I heard as well, although I thought that it wasn't so much a representation of what they were feeling inside as it was basically a joke to show how out-of-control and wild the character in question was.

HaruhiToy wrote:

What the exaggerated reaction in anime is showing is not intended to be taken as a literal physical depiction but as a representation of what the character is experiencing inside. That is why the other characters, in the presence of someone turning blue or sweating bullets or having their jaw drop to the floor, typically don't react to it. If they do it is generally a mildly puzzled expression.

Part of that is likely an effort to overcome the limitations of relatively cheap and simple animation in expressing emotions and characterization. Even the best 2D animation only comes close to approximating the expressiveness shown by actual, live-action actors - and most anime series aren't even close.

Last edited by JimmyJoJo on Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:01 pm; edited 1 time in total

Thanks for the helpful replies. It sounds like the consensus is that a mixture of all three of my original guesses is the culprit. That is, a combination of budget-minded shortcuts, cultural influence, and even unlucky anime selections on my part.

To reply to a few responses directly:

@Haruhitoy - That certainly makes sense, what you said about the extreme reactions being internal and thus not triggering an equally extreme reaction from observers. I hadn't thought of it that way, though I think I'll still find it very distracting.

@Nagisa - Thanks for your thoroughly in-depth and well explained post. I also hadn't considered early western animation's influence, and very interesting about Tom and Jerry being popular there. I wonder if they still broadcast the early ones, where it wasn't uncommon for Tom to be smoking!

It has been some years so I had forgotten it until you mentioned it, but I also enjoyed Cowboy Bebop, as well as a more recent show called "Death Note". I'll check out the others you mentioned as well. I think perhaps I've been having bad luck because I tend to enjoy shows focusing on character interaction over plot progression, and it happens that romances, comedies, "slice-of-life", and light-hearted shows do that more, while unfortunately also having the unrealistic reactions occuring far more frequently.

Spastic Minnow wrote:

But how much in the line of Japanese Live action television sit-coms have you watched? Actually, over reaction and exaggerated responses are common in Japanese Television comedy. If the Live action version of Moyashimon is any guide, it can even be worse.

I couldn't watch past the first episode of live-action Moyashimon because of all the mugging even though I heartily enjoyed the anime version. I've had the same reaction to watching the live-action Nodame Cantabile. While there's slapstick humor in the anime, especially in the early episodes, the live-action production is way more over-the-top.

JimmyJoJo wrote:

it happens that dramas, comedies, "slice-of-life", and light-hearted shows do that more, while unfortunately also having the unrealistic reactions occuring far more frequently.

Dramas? I'm not sure what you consider drama, but my list includes shows like Monster, Seirei no Moribito, Twelve Kingdoms, and House of Five Leaves, to name just a few. They don't contain the sorts of things you're talking about at all.

Last edited by Kruszer on Wed Mar 23, 2011 3:10 pm; edited 1 time in total

I would just say it's there to add humor and make you laugh/chuckle, and no more reason than that. It's a stylistic choice by the manga's author or the shows director and isn't in every anime. If they really want you to take things really seriously they won't use it.

@yuna (sorry, I don't know how to do the "Person's Name Wrote" quote feature you all are doing) - Yes I mistyped there, I meant the more specific category of "romance" instead of "drama".

I also saw parts of Monster, and it was clear it was a very well done anime, just not my taste. I'll have a look at those others you mention though, especially Twelve Kingdoms, as its been named twice now.

yuna49 wrote:

Spastic Minnow wrote:

But how much in the line of Japanese Live action television sit-coms have you watched? Actually, over reaction and exaggerated responses are common in Japanese Television comedy. If the Live action version of Moyashimon is any guide, it can even be worse.

I couldn't watch past the first episode of live-action Moyashimon because of all the mugging even though I heartily enjoyed the anime version. I've had the same reaction to watching the live-action Nodame Cantabile. While there's slapstick humor in the anime, especially in the early episodes, the live-action production is way more over-the-top.

I got stuck on 3 or 4, still have them in my hulu queue. I still want to watch them in the hopes that it at least tells parts of the story the anime hasn't, as I haven't been able to read the manga.

Quote:

JimmyJoJo wrote:

it happens that dramas, comedies, "slice-of-life", and light-hearted shows do that more, while unfortunately also having the unrealistic reactions occuring far more frequently.

Dramas? I'm not sure what you consider drama, but my list includes shows like Monster, Seirei no Moribito, Twelve Kingdoms, and House of Five Leaves, to name just a few. They don't contain the sorts of things you're talking about at all.

Actually, Japan seems to use the word "drama" (using the actual borrowed english word) for any live action show. It doesn't make sense to us but that's how they use it. Coincidentally, I learned that during the early promotion for Moyashimon, which kept calling it a "television drama."

I posted this exact picture in another thread, but it works all the same to answer your question:

The bald dude outside the car. Fairly obvious in the exaggeration - and in that episode of that certain show, you can literally see his head floating around somewhere as long as the action is within the car. With the exact same expression.

Why? Well, cause it's damned funny. It doesn't work all the time - hell no. But that doesn't stop animators/writers/artists from trying. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but in a lot of cases, it's a safe bet if you don't want to go with risky, obscure humor.

John Casey wrote:

I posted this exact picture in another thread, but it works all the same to answer your question:

.

This is one of the most funniest pictures I have ever seen. I hope it's printed on my coffin and tombstone.

Quote:

Hello, I'm looking for some insight into an aspect of anime; specifically, the pervasive use of extremely exaggerated, over-the-top, and/or unrealistic responses that anime characters tend to have to a wide variety of situations. From mundane casual converstaions, to being slightly startled or embarassed, it seems nearly every anime employs ridiculous (or what would be considered ridiculous in any live-action media) character reactions.
......

....

Or have I just been very unlucky with the anime series I've tried so far, and in fact there are lots of series that don't have these overblown/unrealistic reactions? Of the literally scores of series I've tried to watch in the past year or so, the only one that readily comes to mind that didn't suffer from all this was "Spice and Wolf", at least not to the point of it detracting from the show. Am I sampling anime from the wrong places? (I've been using Hulu, Netflix, and Crunchyroll) Is there a host of serious--and I don't mean "non-comedy"--anime out there that I've just missed?

those just normally, even serious anime will have those things. that's just how Japanese media and alot of Asian media works.
No, those are not consider ridiculous in live-action media you just don't watch enough Japanese live action yet.

if you compare anime to mainstream American shows, then you are comparing apple to orange. That;s why anime that popular in US.

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