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Today while reading "Mushoku Tensei" I once again got confronted with a
character with (in my opinion) an insanely large chest. It even got mentioned
that it could easily be a J size chest.

I understand that there will off course be some difference per person in their
preference in size. But seeing as a D cup is already considered "big" where I
live, a J size would be considered insane. Hence my question: Why are anime
girls often depicted with a huge chest?

Is this just another part of the culture gap between western countries and
Japan? Or does it maybe serve as an additional sales point towards a specific
fandom?


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2016-08-11T11:59:29.507
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2017-06-13T09:43:17.403
2016-08-12T17:01:08.630
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question
tropes culture
Why do anime girls have huge chests?


Because some people like women with big breasts. As usual, anime exaggerates;
it can't just have a woman with big breasts, it has to have a woman with
ridiculously gigantic breasts.

This isn't purely a Japanese thing. Actually, I would argue that it came in
origin from American media that were exported to Japan. In the US, large
breasts are often considered more attractive. The supposed ideal of American
young men's fantasies is 36D-24-36: 36 inches around the chest, cup size D, 24
inches around the waist, 36 inches around the hips (the "hourglass" shape).
There are even [articles](http://theviewspaper.net/36-24-36-debunking-the-
social-construct-of-beauty/) using these three-sizes as a shorthand for the
tyranny of societal beauty standards.

The epitome of this standard of beauty in American media is Jessica Rabbit
from _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_

[![jessica
rabbit](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wdLK3l.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wdLK3l.jpg)

Women with large breasts are also common in American comics:

[![American comics
women](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PQq2f.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PQq2f.jpg)

[![elektra](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z22H8m.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Z22H8m.jpg)
[![ms
marvel](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WKYxmm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/WKYxmm.jpg)

Anime and American comics both tend to exaggerate everything, so essentially
they took a preference for large breasts and massively exaggerated it, to the
point that characters have J-cup breasts. (US readers, keep in mind [a
Japanese J cup is an American H cup](http://www.sizeguide.net/bra-
sizes.html).)

Japan gets a ton of American media, so there have been ample opportunities for
this American love of big boobs to seep into their culture. My theory is that
it started during the US occupation with pinup posters brought over by the
servicemen:

[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/i27lwm.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/i27lwm.jpg)
[![enter image description
here](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dThRCm.gif)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/dThRCm.gif)

Then it was refreshed with every Hollywood movie that came in showing men
lusting after women with big breasts.

Speaking of Jessica Rabbit,
[Cracked](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgobMBRyqdY) has an interesting
theory on psychological and evolutionary reasons why animated women with
ridiculously exaggerated boobs appeal to viewers. They're obviously a humor
website and not a peer-reviewed scientific journal, so take it with a grain of
salt.


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2016-08-11T16:16:37.723
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answer