I’m making this to be called out if I’m just wrong in a bad way. But I feel like a lot of anime style lately is starting to look very samey? I don’t know if its because of gotcha games but I’ll see a anime character and go "hmm have I seen this character before?’ When in the past I would know a anime character even if I didn’t watch the show. Maybe it’s just the type of anime that is popular now? Honestly no idea.
People have been complaining about anime same face for over a decade now so you’re not the only one noticing if thats any consolation.
If anything I feel like the problem’s gotten less pronounced over the years, compared to like 20 years ago. The style has become more homogenized, but characters seem to have more clearly distinguished features than they did, even when they’re being slotted into generic archetypes where their clothes and color palettes make them reminiscent of another character with that same archetype. I think it’s probably that that makes them seem more samey, because of how much derivative LN genre-writing slop there is being adapted where characters are literally just a more famous character with the serial numbers filed off and a different jawline or something.
Makes sense. I mostly avoid fandom spaces like the plague, and I don’t keep up with anime like I used to. But I normally like to know a character when I see them popping up on my spaces (who knows maybe it’s a media that I’ll like) but wanted to make sure I wasn’t being weird or just suffering from old person syndrome.
I’ve moved on from most anime myself but that’s only because it started leaning more and more into isekai and high school setting which have always been my least favorite genres, bit they sell so thays what gets made more and more. There is still good stuff out there though if you know where to look
I think the same face thing existed since forever, early manga/anime would joke that when they reused the same character/design it’s bc said character was an “actor” playing a different role. I think after 2003 a lot of anime just became more generic with their art style in general, SAO being the prime example of boring anime and boring design.
early manga/anime would joke that when they reused the same character/design it’s bc said character was an “actor” playing a different role
Tezuka was famous for this. He’d re-use designs in a commedia dell’arte kinda way.
Yeah, that was the Osamu Tezuka’s Star System. I wonder if that was the inspiration behind things like Aki Ross in Final Fantasy Spirits Within, or Laura in the Kenji Eno games which was basically the same thing but for movies and games.
I think later on, after Tezuka passed away, his son and the people on his studio sort of gave up on this system, which is why we had some weird ethnically swapped characters like Kenichi being African/South American-Japanese in Astroboy 2003.
I think it’s partly because of how quickly they have to churn out new material, makes it a lot easier I’m sure if you’re just drawing same face with different hair. Masaaki Yuasa is the only person off the top of my head that does interesting things with the medium
Yeah. This is why. Each production is so hyper-optimized with razor-thin margins for error that they can’t afford to get too freaky with the character designs. Seems like since 2010 or so this modern era of designs has been happening and that’s also when the industry started getting thinner margins and pumping out more shows each year. Before that design trends would cycle in every 5-10 years based on aesthetics and new production processes.
I believe they do this to make easier for themselfs and animators (specially since a lot of anime is send to vietnam, korea or philippines to be finished). I always found sort of interesting how Sailor Moon’s villains are the only ones to have different faces/irises.
You are old, but not because of the observation, but because it is only now you make it. Which should make you young, but old people are behind the times.
oh in that regard, I’m fucking ancient
You mean same face syndrome or that today most main characters are black haired guys who look like the SAO protagonist?
Seeing the other comments, I guess a bit of both lol.
I think same face syndrome always existed. With protagonists just looking boring/the same, I think it started during the late 1990s and just became really bad after 2003 - 2010. I heard online that happened because they probably already have the templates for these characters done before even starting to write the story or manga.
My age might play a factor into it then lol. I kind of stopped watching anime regularly later in high school and college which would of been around that time. I think the last thing I was keeping up with was Naruto and early One Piece before we lost cable for a bit and I had no hope of catching up.
U r old and they also all look the same
fair enough
A few artists do put out material where the heads all have different shapes and characters are identifiable by them rather than just their hair, but I think the problem is more structural than anything else. Working manga and anime artists typically operate under sweatshop schedules and creativity doesn’t exactly thrive under those conditions.
Yeah I should of clarified that I do notice interesting characters every now and again. What made me look into Demon Slayer. Should have realized nothing survives capitalism
It’s not just you, it’s been a trend for a long time
