Why do anime/manga characters have big eyes?


Going as far back as _Astroboy_ , anime and manga characters have had big
eyes.

What is basis of this trend? How and where did this originate?

![Go Go Atom!](https://i.stack.imgur.com/fYMCd.jpg)




Anime characters having large eyes is generally attributed to [Osamu
Tezuka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka){1}, an artist prolific
enough to be called the "father of manga", and the creator of _Astro Boy_ ,
the source of the image you shared in your question (among other manga).

At the time of _Astro Boy_ (1952), Tezuka was inspired by precursors in
animation, largely those of Walt Disney, but including others as well, before
adapting them to a more Japanese stylization. Two such characters who served
as inspiration were Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop:

![Mickey!](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2xExNm.jpg)
![Betty!](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kn0kYm.jpg)

It is from _Astro Boy_ and Tezuka's other works that a lot of modern manga and
anime style evolved, and the big eyes are one of the things that stuck around.
Fred Ladd, the man responsible for bringing _Astro Boy_ to the United States,
corroborates this, saying that Betty Boop was indeed one of Tezuka's favorite
characters. The "runaway" success of _Astro Boy_ was what led other studios to
imitate Tezuka's style.{2}

It is also the case that the large eyes tend to look "cuter", much like they
were intended to on characters like Mickey Mouse and Bambi. This continues in
anime and manga; younger characters tend to have the largest, "cutest" eyes,
while older characters generally have smaller (and often sharper) eyes, which
can be seen in this image containing _Hunter x Hunter_ characters:

[![Hunter x
Hunter](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mQIAP.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mQIAP.png)

So, while the style Tezuka used—which has carried on in new anime and manga
media ever since—was largely based on Western animation style, the eyes can
still serve as a good way to indicate personality or the feel of the character
that the viewer is supposed to have.

**Sources and other Links**

  1. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka#Works) sources this to " _Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews_ ".
  2. [MIT Anime Resources: Big Eyes (2008-07-23)](http://web.archive.org/web/20080723120859/http://web.mit.edu/anime/www/culture-notes.html#big_eyes)
  3. [TVTropes on Anime](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Anime) (a very brief mention)
  4. [Wikipedia on anime eye styles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime#Eye_styles)




Anime characters having large eyes is generally attributed to [Osamu
Tezuka](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka){1}, an artist prolific
enough to be called the "father of manga", and the creator of _Astro Boy_ ,
the source of the image you shared in your question (among other manga).

At the time of _Astro Boy_ (1952), Tezuka was inspired by precursors in
animation, largely those of Walt Disney, but including others as well, before
adapting them to a more Japanese stylization. Two such characters who served
as inspiration were Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop:

![Mickey!](https://i.stack.imgur.com/2xExNm.jpg)
![Betty!](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Kn0kYm.jpg)

It is from _Astro Boy_ and Tezuka's other works that a lot of modern manga and
anime style evolved, and the big eyes are one of the things that stuck around.
Fred Ladd, the man responsible for bringing _Astro Boy_ to the United States,
corroborates this, saying that Betty Boop was indeed one of Tezuka's favorite
characters. The "runaway" success of _Astro Boy_ was what led other studios to
imitate Tezuka's style.{2}

It is also the case that the large eyes tend to look "cuter", much like they
were intended to on characters like Mickey Mouse and Bambi. This continues in
anime and manga; younger characters tend to have the largest, "cutest" eyes,
while older characters generally have smaller (and often sharper) eyes, which
can be seen in this image containing _Hunter x Hunter_ characters:

[![Hunter x
Hunter](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mQIAP.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/mQIAP.png)

So, while the style Tezuka used—which has carried on in new anime and manga
media ever since—was largely based on Western animation style, the eyes can
still serve as a good way to indicate personality or the feel of the character
that the viewer is supposed to have.

**Sources and other Links**

  1. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osamu_Tezuka#Works) sources this to " _Watching Anime, Reading Manga: 25 Years of Essays and Reviews_ ".
  2. [MIT Anime Resources: Big Eyes (2008-07-23)](http://web.archive.org/web/20080723120859/http://web.mit.edu/anime/www/culture-notes.html#big_eyes)
  3. [TVTropes on Anime](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Anime) (a very brief mention)
  4. [Wikipedia on anime eye styles](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anime#Eye_styles)

