

Kaname Madoka from _Puella Magi Madoka Magica_ and Nakano Azusa from _K-On!_
have a broken line for mouths.

![Kaname Madoka](https://i.stack.imgur.com/JG3aWm.jpg)

![Nakano Azusa](https://i.stack.imgur.com/W4kcMm.jpg)

Why do characters in some art styles have a broken line for mouths? The lines
are broken unless it defines lips but I don't know otherwise.


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anime-production
Why do characters in some art styles have a broken line for mouths?


In short, this choice is likely because it makes the character look "cute."

However, why exactly does this make the character look cuter? To understand,
we'll have to take a look at the aesthetic theory behind
[moé](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moe_\(slang\)).

Some central components of cuteness are, according to Sianne Ngai (professor
of English at Stanford who has done a lot of research into aesthetic
categories) "smallness...incompleteness...and vulnerability." Ngai cites Hello
Kitty as an example of this, noting that Hello Kitty's complete lack of a
mouth creates a kind of "power differential" which is appealing to consumers.

[Source](http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/444516?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents)
(Note: you can't read the full text here without paying for it).

These qualities are similarly expressed by an incomplete mouth. This, in
addition with very soft lines and colors (compare these character designs to
anime like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) creates a childish and defenseless
aesthetic.

This aesthetic can be used for a number of purposes. For instance, the
characters in Madoka Magica (noted in the question) were likely designed to
emphasize innocence and powerlessness in order to create contrast with the
dark atmosphere of the series as a whole and evoke pity or sadness from the
viewer.


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I think the explanation given in [moegamisama's
answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/23013/) is a step in the right
direction; however, an argument purely from high-level principles about
moe/cuteness lacks sufficient explanatory power to explain why _this_
particular style ("broken line" mouths) is often seen. I think a more
mechanistic explanation for why mouths are drawn this way is also necessary.

Taking for granted that the minimization of some facial features (a small
nose, compensated by large eyes, say) is a common feature in "moe" character
design today, and observing that the mouth is an oft-minimized feature, the
mechanistic explanation, then, is as follows.

Take a close look at the way Madoka's mouth is drawn in the picture you
posted. You will notice that the thickness of the line that represents her
mouth is not constant. Rather, it is thickest near the edges and becomes
thinner as we approach the center of her face. The line "breaking" at the
center of her face strikes me as an artistic convenience: rather than drawing
a super-thin line there, the artist simply omits the line altogether, and the
viewer's mind merely fills it in (this is the so-called ["principle of
closure"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principles_of_grouping#Closure) of
gestalt psychology). You see the same thing (albeit less delicately) in the
picture of Azusa.


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In reply to [Aki Tanaka's
comment](https://anime.stackexchange.com/q/23007/#comment56247_23007), it
doesn't look better, but it looks cuter. Also, the big eyes make it look cute
because of all the highlights in the eyes.

_Death Note_ style works for the anime because of the genre and theme of the
show. It is a dark and gritty show. You don't want see happy anime girls
killing a bunch of people with a notebook.

It also helps the animation. If the animator is drawing the face of Light
Yagami from _Death Note_ or Jotaro Kujo from _JoJo's Bizarre Adventure_ , then
it would take longer frame by frame. However, if the animator is drawing the
face of Maka from _Soul Eater_ , it would not take that long.

I think the mouths are like for the same reason to draw it faster. The
references probably from young girls because their lips are not that big.


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[From a reddit
user](https://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/7yvnm0/why_is_the_middle_of_lips_in_anime_not_always/dujj3ss/):

> Ends of the mouth create a cavity in real life, often causing the said part
> to be more shadowy, while shut lips create a more even surface, resulting in
> even light distribution. You can even observe this in realistic drawings.
>
> Now translate this into lineart, and you get emphasized ends and leaving the
> middle empty strengthens this as the brain completes it anyway. It looks
> pretty attractive too, IMO.


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