

I've noticed - and indubitably, others have, too, as noted on [this TV Tropes
page](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OpaqueNerdGlasses) \- that
often, whenever a "nerdy" character wears glasses in anime, they have a spiral
shape on them. Examples are easy to find, with popular examples including
Saori from Oreimo: [![Saori
glasses](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iCG2W.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/iCG2W.jpg)

In particular, I became curious upon noticing them in Berserk, on Puck's
"business" glasses:

[![Puck
glasses](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BGxbA.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/BGxbA.png)

I was just wondering, since this trope seems so ubiquitous in Japanese
cultures and rare in others - what is the origin of this design? What about
the spiral shape is intended to elicit an aura of "geekiness", and what major
origins or influences led to its widespread use today?


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-17T21:31:23.393
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question
tropes
What's the origin of spiral glasses as a Japanese stereotype?


Nerds are usually depicted in media to weak very thick glasses. This is
probably true in any country or culture. The spiral is just the way manga and
anime artists illustrate the very thick glasses. Instead of drawing concentric
circles or some other style, they just draw spirals as it's easier that way.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-09-18T14:02:51.463
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answer


There was supposedly a time, before innovation introduced plastic lenses, when
glasses were made with the bottom of cow milk bottles.

[![Bottom of a milk bottle manufactured in Hiroshima, Showa 35
\(1960\)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nmT6P.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nmT6P.jpg)

_Bottom of a milk bottle manufactured in Hiroshima, Showa 35 (1960)_

* * *

As you can see, the bottom of the bottle has concentric circles, and the
spirals seen in manga basically come from there, and evolved into spirals
later.

Basically, the idea of the spirals is to emphasize the fact that the lenses of
the glasses worn by a character are overly thick, so they are similar to these
old days glasses. Effectively, one of the stereotypes/means to recognize
otakus in late 90s in Japan was their thick-lens glasses.

There is also the idea that spirals are associated to another trope of being
dizzy, basically a negative emotion that can be attached to the negative
stereotypes surrounding otaku.

This trope is so strong that it's literally called "bottle's bottom glasses"
in Japanese (瓶底眼鏡), and if you google "bottom of cow milk bottle" (牛乳瓶の底), you
will see countless glasses results, as many opticians use the trope as their
business' name.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-10-23T15:10:50.463
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answer