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To Draw or Not to Draw: Anime Directors Discuss Their Stances on Male Nipples

"When you work as an anime director, at some point during any given production you will have to face the question 'Do you or do you not draw the male nipples?' head on," wrote Grimoire of Zero and YU-NO: A girl who chants love at the bound of this world. director Tetsuo Hirakawa on Twitter on Saturday.

This comment sparked discussion among various anime industry members on Twitter regarding their own thoughts and experiences with the male nipple dilemma. As an example, Hirakawa brought up Fist of the North Star, which doesn't feature male nipples. The protagonist has seven scars on his chest, so in order to prevent him from accidentally being drawn with nine scars, it was necessary to "proactively turn it into a nipple-less anime."

Osamu Yamasaki (Hakuōki, Time Travel Girl, Toward the Terra) noted that he'd also had to make a decision one way or the other in his own experience. The animator SNIPES recalled an occasion when he had to draw nipples for the 2003 anime Gad Guard. "There weren't even any mysterious lights or unmoving steam," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Mecha animator and director Masami Ōbari (Super Robot Wars OG: The Inspector, Detonator Orgun, Gravion) affirmatively declared: "I'm the type of director who mandates nipples for the male characters."

In the manga world, Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju creator Haruko Kumota once jokingly remarked that one of the differences between boys-love (BL) and regular manga is that in BL you draw the men's nipples, but in normal manga you don't.

What's your stance on male nipples in anime?

[Via Otakomu]