Forum - View topicStrikingest/most appealing character designs?
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rainbowcourage
 Posts: 1216 Location: what is commonly known as "hell week" |
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I've been thinking lately about which character designs appeal to me most; the ones I end up loving the most are the ones that at first startle me.
Code Geass- when I first saw CLAMP's stick-like, sharp designs and elongated limbs and faces, I was surprised and wasn't sure if I was going to like them. However, I have come to love the character designs- they are colorful, detailed, glamorous, and dramatic. Nana- More sticks. Creepy at first, the nanas' giant babydoll faces and heavily lashed eyes got to me, and I found them very appealing and liked how line-y everything was. The ascetic, combined with the slight off-color of everything (Shin's hair is turquoise rather than straight green, Hachi's hair is a dull pink rather than orange, and Nana's hair has hints of purple in its black depths) hooked me. There might be no rhyme or reason, but which shows' character designs have struck you? [EDIT: Changed strikingest -> most striking in thread title.~Zalis] Last edited by rainbowcourage on Tue Jun 17, 2008 8:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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While I usually don't pay too much attention to character designs, I do have 2 artists in particular:
Osamu Tezuka Sure, it looks really old school, but not too many non-Tezuka anime even try that. Kaiba is the most recent one I can think of. I just like the simplistic designs that can just do so many things in their own universes. And considering how many things he's done, its no small feat. Phoenix and Metropolis are two of my favorites though. Akira Toriyama I'm not quite sure the appeal here either, it could be that he does desgins for Dragon Quest, or it could be that he can make so many unique designs using the "guy with black spikey hair" formula, but I find his characters easy to look at and easy to recognize. |
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Shadowrun20XX
 Posts: 1935 Location: Vegas |
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Anything by CLAMP really.Those lady's have a great way with ink.
My favorite is Satoshi Ushihara.The detail he puts into each character is astounding.I've been a fan since Langisser (Warsong on Genesis) and Growlancer.Also The Adventures of Plastic Little and a few hentai titles.I've never actually seen Legend of Lemnear. Next would be Masamune Shirow always loved his take on cyberpunk style.I will never let go of my Ghost in the Shell,Appleseed and Black Magic M66 mangas. Rumiko Takahashi Her artwork varies from fantastic, to downright sloppy.Several Maison Ikkoku and Ranma 1/2 manga have these flaws.With all the work she does it's understandable. Kentaro Miura Known for his Berserk series.It's a wonderfully grim art style that that has violent fans screaming for more(or screaming for it to finish,one of the two.) |
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Murasakisuishou
 Posts: 1469 Location: NE Ohio |
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I love the art in xxxHoLic. Yeah, I know, attack of the stick people, but there's something really graceful and elegant about the designs, and they also lend themselves awesomely toward more comedic situations (like the Watanuki spaz dance!). The various spirits are beautiful to look at as well, along with all of Yuuko's clothing. It's very cool how they show her in something different every day!
I'm also a big fan of the art in Serial Experiments Lain and Haibane Renmei; I love the vaguely realistic, rounded styles of the characters, and the outfits in Haibane Renmei are very cute and well thought out. I really like seeing little touches like that in a series. Finally, while it's not the greatest art under the sun, I adore the designs in Shaman King based on pure personality. The laws of physics have been bent to give every character and spirit a totally whacked out appearance that suits them perfectly. Sooo much fun art in one show x3 |
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Steel Angel
 Posts: 274 Location: Texas |
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Personally i really like the art work from Key / Kyoto Animation (Air / Kanon (2006)). I know it isn't as popular by many, but the expressions that specific style of art work is some of the best in my opinion. The eyes of a person can express more then words ever could, and the art style they use emphasizes and expands on that even more.
Now if someone would license and release Clannad, I'd be a happy camper. |
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kyokun703
 Posts: 2505 Location: Orgrimmar |
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Ayakashi: Samurai Horror Stories: Goblin Cat (aka Bakeneko)/Mononoke. This unique art style is just beautiful. Even when terrible things are happening (it is horror, after all). Everything is textured like soft crumpled paper, and patterns and colors are dizzying. I recommend picking up the $10 disc at TRSI's Geneon sale right now (you can even skip the other discs since they're completely unrelated, story and art-wise). The Medicine Seller is such an intriguing character.
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CloverKuroba
 Posts: 506 |
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Agreed. Not only is the anime and manga excellent, but the artwork itself is really gorgeous (though that would be expected from CLAMP). It's very stylish. Yuuko's outfits are lovely too...if CLAMP made a clothing line (and I wasn't so self-conscious), I'd love to wear some of their outfits. Though that's mostly pertaining to Cardcaptor Sakura, because Sakura's clothes are always adorable. ^^;; CLAMP's designs still remain a favorite of mine (though I don't like their character designs for Code Geass much). I'm drawn to these very unusual designs like in Windy Tales. The sharp, papery look of the characters is very unique. I also love the look of Kitaro in Hakaba Kitaro. The general character designs outside of the yokai are pretty generic (though the animation uses the same technique as Mononoke), but Kitaro's expressions are great. I've always liked Yoshiyuki Sadamoto's character designs (Evangelion, FLCL, Nadia: Secret of Blue Water, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). They're very distinct and well-detailed. The hair in Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight is kinda dazzling. 
The look of the characters is cute, but it's the hair that really stands out, as odd as that is. The "gradient hair" is quite pretty. |
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abynormal
 Posts: 427 Location: Louisiana |
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The character designs in Baccano! immediately jumped off the screen for me. In fact, the sole reason I checked the show out was because I saw a poster of it and just really dug the character designs. If I could choose one anime style to mimic, that would be it. Plus I just love characters with classy costumes.
More in manga territory, but I adore Naoki Urasawa's artwork. He has a great grasp of facial structure and makes all the characters look distinct from one another. I just like the fact that he pays a lot of attention to noses, rather than just drawing a triangle or even a dot on their faces. Between Pluto and Monster he's becoming my favorite manga-ka. FLCL. Canti is one of my favorite robots in all of anime. Sugar Sugar Rune's character designs are just plain great. They're highly expressive but very distinct. Details like fangs and pointy ears add a lot to the characters' personalities. And I can't help but love Rockin' Robin. |
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fokkusuhaundo
 Posts: 346 Location: San Diego ♥ ☼ ▓ |
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I found the character designs in Samurai Champloo by Kazuto Nakazawa to be very unique and stylistic, with the small and detailed eyes and long faces. Mugen's facial hair really and Jin's glasses really added to their characters.
I'm also a fan of Toshihiro Kawamoto's character designs found in many of the shows he's done like Cowboy Bebop and Wolf's Rain with the appealing and wide eyes. Unkempt hair is also common in his character designs. There's also something that has to be said about the alluring large and round eyes found in Hell Girl and Ghost Hound by Mariko Oka. |
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velocet
Posts: 240 |
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I've always had a real soft spot for Haruhiko Mikimoto - though I haven't seen that many of the series' he's done designs for, I just find the sketchy lines and soft features of his style to be very appealing. Outside of character design, his watercolour-styled artwork is just stunning.
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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I love the fact that his characters really vary in design. Nothing bothers me more than when a character designer like Hirai designs a bunch of characters who look identical besides their hair and coloring. This is a problem I even have with such favorites like Rumiko Takahashi and CLAMP. I love how Kou and Shiro look so different even though they are both main characters from UC Gundam series. Then there are characters like Jet Black, and Monsha who have unique looks to them. Kawamoto seems to be following in the footsteps of Yasuhiko and Mikimoto, both who I also love. He does however avoid Mikimoto's lack of variety and puts a nice modern gloss which Yas sadly is missing. |
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Boomerang Flash
 Posts: 1021 |
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I love Hisashi Hirai's character designs, particularly for the younger characters. I can't really describe what the style is, but it is a distinctive one that is easy to recognize after watching a series for which he is the designer (exception: The Silent Service). Some characteristics I noticed include the particular V shape that comprise the chin, which has a slight inward curve rather than the more common outward one and the fact that the irises are usually halfway hidden by the upper or lower margin of the eye. These, however, don't really explain the youthful and energetic air about the characters' appearances.
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fokkusuhaundo
Posts: 346 Location: San Diego ♥ ☼ ▓ |
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I'm surprised that I forgot to mention how his designs can be very distinctively different from each other. Wolf's Rain and Cowboy Bebop are the only shows he's done that I'm familiar with but even with those two shows there were noticeable differences and variety that didn't initially make me think they were both designed by the same guy. What I really like to see in anime is character design that goes for a more realistic and human-like appearance such as designs by Hiroyuki Okiura (GitS, Innocence, Jin-Roh) and Tetsuya Nishio (Naruto, SAC 2nd Gig, GTO opening animation). When I first saw Naruto it was actually the first time I had ever seen an anime that didn't follow the typical design with huge eyes, small pointed noses, and small mouths for young characters. |
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Fear Ghoul
 Posts: 65 |
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My personal favourite character designs tend to be more realistic although I am open to varying degrees of realism, so I like the visuals of shows such as Boogiepop Phantom, Ninja Scroll, Ghost in the Shell, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Cowboy Bebop, Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Tokyo Godfathers, Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, etc.
I can tolerate more exotic designs to varying degrees, so that I am only slightly irritated by the obviously fanservice orientated designs of the Major in Stand Alone Compelx and Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop (helped a great deal by the absorbing characters and plot), and I don't mind at all the purple hair of Major Katsuragi in Evangelion, but with other series I tend to find myself even more irritated by exotic designs such as in One Piece (in general over the top unnecessary wierdness by anyone who's not a main character), Lucky Star (teenage girls designed to look like younger teenage girls so as to fulfill an otaku fantasy of being able to legally masturbate over someone who obviosuly looks like they are 12), Gurren Lagann (I'm looking at you Yoko and your ridiculously unsuitable desert clothing). In general, I think my level of annoyance at silly character designs increases exponentially with the intended level of fanservice. |
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Jen526
 Posts: 124 |
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My undisputed favorite is Narumi Kakinouchi. Her Vampire Princess Miyu artwork astounds me. The main reason I'm looking forward to the new Ryoko's Case File series is for her designs.
Beyond that, I do tend to be drawn to the more "realistic" designs. This season, I'm really *quite* enamoured of the designs on Real Drive. I know some people don't find the rubenesque female designs all that attractive, but I actually think they're some of the most interesting to watch characters I've seen in a long time, in large part because they're shaped like real people. (And the guys are just hawt!  )
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