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This is an image of the guys from _Free!_ :

![I SENSE A DISTINCT LACK OF NIPPLES](https://i.stack.imgur.com/hXa79.jpg)

And this is from _Noragami_ :

![WHY DOESN'T HE HAVE ANY NIPPLES](https://i.stack.imgur.com/7lLD7.png)

As shown in the images, guys in anime often lack nipples. This could be
explained by vague Japanese copyright laws, but other anime occasionally show
guys _with_ nipples. Why do guys so often lack nipples?


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tropes
Why do guys in anime often lack nipples?


The lower image shows a low-definition scene. The shading is very basic. See
how few strokes there are drawn forming the general shapes of the objects? In
such scenes, every line counts and you don't want to draw anything too complex
that would steal the viewer's attention. On the contrary, in detailed scenes,
you can see even the tiniest details.

Can't really say what the anime director thought when he decided to drop
nipples from the top image, but I think it was something along the lines of
"Huh, nipples look weird in this scene. Let's remove them". The contrast
between sunlit skin and shadow is very high, so nipples would really stand out
in this particular lighting.

It's worth mentioning that there is a whole erotic genre of manga and anime,
where nipples and much more are explicitly drawn and expected to be seen. A
reason not to draw them is to reduce sexualization to a minimum.

Also, I'd like to explicitly mention one of the most obvious reasons:

# Nobody wants to see men's nipples in regular anime.


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Animated male nipples are not a matter of legal Japanese censorship (or
copyright law). It is fine to air them on TV in prime time. As
[Ray](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/12879/ray) noted in a deleted
answer, _Dragonball_ , viewed as a most-typical shounen anime aimed at
children, features male characters whose nipples are easily visible. Although
the series garnered many adult and female fans, the characters are not
particularly intended to look comely or provocative to the target audience.
The **innocuous** nipples in _Dragonball_ can be there **because they are not
intended to be viewed as attractive**.

In contrast, mainstream **character designs that aim to captivate the viewer
in a romantic or sensual way** are more likely to be nipple-free, because a
well-known aspect of creating fantasy is to paint a rosy picture and subtly
remove pesky details that can snap a viewer out of the lovely reverie back to
stark reality (the old adage “less is more”). Nipples are not considered to
contribute toward this end, in the same way that Japanese people do not
generally shave or wax _(since this site is 13+ I'm not going to provide
citation links but you could Google that)_ but we are never shown body hair in
regular manga and anime: in real-life, we know these anatomically exist, but
drawing them does not help the audience escape into daydream. ( _Hentai_
titles and _hentai doujinshi_ have a different goal, so that is why you are
more likely to see male nipples there than in mainstream titles.)

_Free!_ is a _bishounen_ (pretty boy) title, so the characters are
intentionally **drawn to be eye candy**. Even more so than the earlier
_bishounen_ anime series, _Free!_ and other more recent titles such as _Binan
Koukou Chikyuu Bouei Bu Love!, Uta no Prince-sama, Harukanaru Toki no Naka de,
Kiniro no Corda, Dance with Devils, Diabolik Lovers, Brothers Conflict, K,
Kamigami no Asobi, Starry Sky, Shounen Hollywood: Holly Stage for 49_ , etc.
focus heavily on the eye candy aspect, such as including stages of undress,
characters striking sensual poses, “camera” angles and lingering shots that
accentuate their figures, etc. The character design is intended to garner fans
who crush on the characters and buy all manner of **merchandise** sporting
those characters.

_Bishounen_ characters are not as prevalent in shounen titles as in shoujo,
but they are now widespread (f you look at the bulk of shounen series from the
80s, 70s, and 60s, you will find far fewer _bishounen_ characters there,
especially as primary protagonists), partly based on changing cultural
preferences (something along the lines of metrosexual) and partly on expanding
_otaku_ demographics (pulling in the potential female audience can be more
financially-viable than it was in the past). _Noragami_ is not marketed toward
women, but it follows in the current trend within shounen series of those that
try to appeal to readers/viewers beyond the target demographic.

Historically, the naked body was not considered to be attractive in Japanese
culture. The classic Heian era (11th century) novel _The Tale of Genji_
illustrates how people wore layers and layers of clothes (women wore 12
layers), and had sex while (nearly) fully dressed and in the dark (see pages
30-32 of _[The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu: A Reader's
Guide](http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0804818797)_ by William J.
Puette). Some consider the [origin of
_bishounen_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bish%C5%8Dnen#Origin) to date as
far back in Japanese literature as the protagonist of _The Tale of Genji_
(i.e. Hikaru Genji as the proto- _bishounen_ ). Genji was the era's ideal man.
He considered imagining his lover without looking closely as preferable to
viewing the unattractive details of her actual body.


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I don't really think it's about toning up or down per se.
Sensualization/sexualization of both genders in anime is part of the goal for
sales, they even throw in fanservice (obvious enticement scenes) at times. But
perhaps it's about the nipples themselves, even of males, that are seen in a
[particular light](http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/07/23/man-nipples-become-
tools-of-sexual-harassment-during-summer-complain-japanese-women/) which
doesn't translate the same across cultures.


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Perhaps what is kind of opposite of not showing nipples in Japanese
anime/manga is actually having anatomically correct nipples on Batman's
costume starting in the Tim Burton movie era and later. Ask yourself, why are
there nipples on Batman's costume? Maybe the intention here is to go more for
the sexual "eye candy" appeal in the character even though no clothes or
costumes that I know have either have nipples or have a need for nipples.


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