The Age of Anime Characters

[Wakarimashta!]

Based on your observations, do you think anime characters look like their given age?

Depending on the show, I've seen characters who look much older than they really are and some much younger. Especially when they're supposed to be 14, I can watch a different anime and sense that a character with the same age is either older or younger than the one I am comparing him\her to (both emotionally and physically).

Don't know if this strikes any of you though.

[GuItArFrEaK15]

No, I don't. They make a twelve year old look like Pamela Aderson. I think they're tripping on acid when they come up wit' their charcter designs.

[TheMelodyMaker]

To me, the 14- or 15-year-old Sailor Scouts look like they should be in their really late teens. The elementary students from Hamtaro look like they should be in their early teens. Go figure.

[uc pseudonym]

It varies depending on the artist, but I've found that for the most part characters look either older or younger than their age. Thus, only the very young and the very old appear as they technically are. Of course, there are exceptions.

We could parallel this with American cinema: how many 20 year old actors play teenagers?

[TurkishMonky]

i think they either look really young or really old, depending on how they are depicted.

[Puguni]

We could parallel this with American cinema: how many 20 year old actors play teenagers?

The teenage gardener from Desparate Housewives. XD That's most I know.

Anyway, yes, the age spectrum goes wild when it comes to the looks of anime characters. I was really surprised when Usagi first became Sailor Moon in 8th grade, or the Japanese equivalent. Don't even get started on the Digimon cast. XD But ditto, UC. The only obvious ones are the babies and elderly.

BTW, Wakari, isn't your avatar the teacher from Sensei no Ojikan? She looks like a little kid, but actually nearing her 30s.

[Wakarimashta!]

BTW, Wakari, isn't your avatar the teacher from Sensei no Ojikan? She looks like a little kid, but actually nearing her 30s.

Yep, it's Mika-sensei. She's 27 years old, but she's only four feet tall (you can easily confuse her her as an elementary student). Her VA, however, makes her sound like she's in her twenties.

There's also a character in the series who the students refer to as "Old Man," simply because he looks and acts like a 40 year old, even though he's 17.

[Puguni]

Yep, it's Mika-sensei. She's 27 years old, but she's only four feet tall (you can easily confuse her her as an elementary student). Her VA, however, makes her sound like she's in her twenties.

There's also a character in the series who the students refer to as "Old Man," simply because he looks and acts like a 40 year old, even though he's 17.

Yeah, I remember that dude! I wish I could have finished the series. XD

[Tenshi no Ai]

Don't even get started on the Digimon cast. XD

Yeah the fact that a couple 8 year olds were half the size as 10 year old... :/ it makes no sense!

I'd say one that really confused me, is Misuzu and Yukito. It's really hard to judge her age although my best guess is she goes to a middle school. But when I started watching AIR I was like "...why would a 13 year old wanna hang out with a 20+ year old guy?!" As I watched it, now I really don't even know how old Yukito's supposed to be :/

Guess it could be the same as Usagi/Mamoru (mid high student with a college boy) :/

[Debitt]

I find a lot of anime characters either look older or younger. XD; I'm not even going to get started...

The worst is Kantarou and Hasumi from Tactics, though. O_o; Kantarou's older than Hasumi, but he looks at least 10 years younger. XD; I have a lot of wild fan theories as to the reasons behind this.

[Myoti]

Yeah the fact that a couple 8 year olds were half the size as 10 year old... :/ it makes no sense!

They're Asian. They're always shorter.


Chopper is 15 but the form he's usual in makes him like he's four, and his VA makes it seem even more so. And there's been several times that Luffy (in the manga at least) looked like he should have been 12 and he's actually 17. XD

[Puguni]

They're Asian. They're always shorter.


Chopper is 15 but the form he's usual in makes him like he's four, and his VA makes it seem even more so. And there's been several times that Luffy (in the manga at least) looked like he should have been 12 and he's actually 17. XD

You mean Matt's blue eyes and blonde hair was all a trick? O.O Gasp! Maybe Japanese people are just used to short people. XD

[mitsuki lover]

Maybe they all spent time in Tokyo Jupiter!
To be serious though I myself have been told I look 20 years younger than my actual age.
btw:Ages of a couple of characters from RahXephon:
Ayato: apparent age is 17,actual age 29
Haruka: 29
Megumi:14
Kim:18

[uc pseudonym]

One thing I find rather amusing has been brought up: character sizes. Why does it seem that there are frequently characters who are inhumanly small (they aren't anatomically midgets or dwarfs, either), or ones that are ridiculously large with no explanation whatsoever? I cannot decide if this is simply in the realm of blue hair or just ridiculous.

The teenage gardener from Desparate Housewives. XD That's most I know.

I can't name specific actors, but I can assure you that it is quite a few. Whoever plays Clark Kent on Smallville, for example.

[Cap'n Nick]

Age can be harder to judge than people think. It's easy enough to say that one person is older than another, but unless you spend a lot of time around them it can be difficult to set forth a set of characteristics that distinguish, say, a nine-year-old from an eleven-year-old. Also, anime and manga characters are often unusually mature or immature for their ages as plot points, throwing off intuitive calculations of their "natural" age. There's just a lot of room for variance, both when the artist conceives of a character and when we as an audience interpret it.

I really appreciated how this ambiguity was used intentionally for dramatic effect and symbolism in AIR. I should have caught on earlier, though. Why else would they have made all that fuss about Misuzu's birthday and never once mention her age?

[mitsuki lover]

btw:Speaking about age,if anyone has ever seen Shinzo the biggest nit in that series is the way that Yamuko's clothes seem to have grown with her when she
was in stasis!

[GuItArFrEaK15]

I SAID I DON'T NEED NO STINKIN' GRADES!!!!!111

[Maledicte]

Pretty girls start off being pretty when they're like, 12. Can you imagine how much their body'll change by the time their 24...

Handsome dudes stay handsome till their like, 60.

And normal people look young, unless they're exaggerated in some way.

[Alice]

Well, I read that the second in command lady on the... ship... in... um... darn it. Anyway! She was supposed to be 19 according to what I read, as was the captain. But they really seemed much older to me.

[lj1958]

LOL, I first thought this thread would be about how 15/16 year old girls in anime are attracted to adult men (Witch Hunter Robin, Ceres, Pretear) and the men are attracted to them as well. Must be something cultural in Japan.