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I have seen this in one or two animes (plural of anime?) where characters have
long cylindrical protruding mouths. It is quite rare(?) as I had seen this in
only a handful of anime shows (I don't know the names). The recent ones that I
know are Haganezuka and Kozo Kanamori from _Demon Slayer_ (the
blacksmiths/sword makers who made swords for Tanjiro and Inosuke).

![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/vvnndl.png)

The other one that I remember is a fishmonger in _Ninja Hattori_ (a show (is
it an anime?) I used to watch in my childhood days) and it is always the
fishmongers and shopkeepers. I don't remember any main characters or any
characters noteworthy. First of all, that feature is not possible
biologically/in real life. So, why is it adopted in anime and cartoon shows?
What is it called (if it is a trope)? What is the origin of this feature?

* * *

I found this picture after a little bit more searching:

![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/wi1iTm.jpg)

It said " _O-face (octopus-like face)_ ". Searching for "octopus-like face"
yielded me no results. I do know about _O-face_ which is
_[ahegao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahegao)_ (NSFW). But I don't think
this applies here.

* * *

It is not the [pout face](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/23328/is-
there-a-name-for-this-manga-anime-mouth-expression-3) or the side-faced lips
expression (I don't know the exact name either(?)). Below is Suneo from
_Doraemon_.

![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/PDPt4l.jpg)


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tropes
What is the origin of this weird looking facial feature/mask?


The face on the first picture comes from
[_Hyottoko_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyottoko), which according to
wikipedia is:

> a comical Japanese character, portrayed through the use of a mask. His mouth
> is puckered and skewed to one side. Some masks have different eye sizes
> between the left and right eyes. He is often wearing a scarf around his head
> (usually white with blue dots).

The reason for it to be commonly used extends beyond anime and manga, though,
as it is a common stock character in other media — such as theater — too:

> Hyottoko seems to have been a legendary character in Japan in the past, and
> is now a stock character.

The reason why its features are the way they are, albeit exaggerated, is
explained by its name too:

> The origin of the name comes from "fire" (火, hi) and "man" (男, otoko),
> because the character is blowing fire with a bamboo pipe, hence the shape of
> the mouth.

* * *

I don't _think_ Suneo's expression is supposed to be an adaptation of the mask
or what it tries to convey, though I don't have anything to back that up with.


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