Finally understanding "Big Eyes, Small Mouth" designs

[mbanu]

Watched a show that had the same cutesy designs, only with larger mouths, and the lack of teeth is really unsettling.

[mbanu]

Looking back, this isn't the first toothless-big-mouth show I've watched, so I'm not sure what made me realize with this one... I think it might be the mouth design, which sort of suggests turned-in lips.



Was this always a thing, and I'm just now realizing it?

[Drew_Sutton]

Was this always a thing, and I'm just now realizing it?

Yes, this design ascetic has been around anime for quite some time. The phrase "big eye small mouth" comes from a table top roleplaying game that acted as a proxy for anime fans, the way that say Shadowrun was a proxy for cyberpunk fans.

[Drew_Sutton]

Sorry to double-post - I meant to add that the game Big Eye Small Mouth (BESM) noticed this trend in a lot of anime around that time (the 80s), thus coining the phrase to title their anime roleplaying game.