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I find it kind of weird since a sophisticated drawing style suddenly becomes
very cartoonish/simplistic. It's like a break. And the features of the face
change. I noticed this in a couple of series now


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2013-12-25T15:44:32.380
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2015-05-31T07:33:15.297
2015-05-31T05:27:25.030
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anime-production
Why does the drawing style in manga or anime often change when a character is displaying big emotions?


If you have access to Scott McCloud's [_Making
Comics_](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0060780940) manga section
you can read a long essay on this.

To sum it up, Japanese comic's drawing is much more subjective than their
traditional European and American counterparts. Where those put emphasis on
character poses and their location on the scene, manga highlight the feelings
told on facial and body expressions.

Japanese comics are usually purposely unrealistic in this style, even when the
manga is realistic, serious and everyday themed. When a character is having
intense feelings, his eyes sparkles, when he is shaken by bad news a thunder
appears behind him and his eyes and pupils vary in size depending on the
emotion.

Continuing with this tradition, the super deformed (SD) style was introduced
in mangas and quickly adopted. Characters' expressions are exaggerated, the
body shrinks and the head is enormous, normally expressing some intense
emotion (probably anger, but many others). This is used even in serious
comics, usually as a comic relief.

Why? It must be understood in the previously mentioned subjectivity of manga
and anime. It has no story meaning (even if the character picks a big hammer),
the change of body proportions don't happen in reality, it only counts as the
expressed feeling.

Note that even when the manga or anime don't use SD style, the style, the body
proportions and the face are usually somewhat flexible and subject of emotions
(instead of super-deformed they are just deformed). Compare to many other
forms of subjectivity, like the one dealing with time or distance.


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