The interminable controversy over the ethnicity of anime-styled characters and the pedestal upon which many Japanese ensconce white girls is being stoked by the image above – cute anime girls, it maintains, are drawn with Caucasian bone structure.

The points the image makes:

Whites have a convex forehead, (East) Asians a concave one

The rear of a Caucasian skull is convex, the Asian concave

Caucasians have a protruding chin and concave jaw, Asians a protruding jaw and receding chin

Caucasians have lower positioned eyes, Asians higher positioned ones

Not surprisingly, this has provoked the usual debate:

“What a cruel choice of models!”

“They really were right when they said they are designed off of white people…”

“And the usual video:”

“The people who make this stuff are aggravating our white people complex, it’s creepy!”

“I’ve never seen a skull like the one on the right in an anatomy book or an art how-to.”

“Yui-chan is so cute…”

See also the previous discussion of the topic…

Suspiciously eager otaku have lately been squinting at the above image in the hopes of discerning what they are assured is apparently a defect in their vision, as paradoxical as this may seem given what they may be missing out on.

(It may be necessary to view the image at full size to gain the intended diagnostic effect)

The image is probably not intended to diagnose or treat any optical deficiency, although scrutinising it too intently could well cause new ones.

Unsurprisingly for a group known for excessive intimacy with their monitors, it seems many otaku can see the image without difficulty.

Anyone looking for more ways to tax their vision may be well advised to examine one of the earlier stereoscopic galleries, and upgrade their browser if required.

Orchid Seed plans an April 2012 release of this ero-figure of sweet Tamaki Jumonji, an original character by Kuchu Yosai whose pose and outfit are based on a Comic XO cover illustration.

She is available for pre-orders now.

Russian observers have noticed an apparent similarity between the spectacle of the Twin Towers collapsing and the spectacle of a man having sex with a woman from behind, prompting even Japanese to concede that they may be “even more perverted than us.”

They went on to provide some more politically minded interpretations:

The image was promptly elected to the 2D vs 3D similarity/perverted thinking hall of fame, the most recent entrant to which was the cherished “UK = girl concerned about the size of her breasts“:

The notorious inhabitants of 2ch’s VIP board have once again taken it upon themselves to spontaneously issue and fulfil a challenge – to somehow make the image above in to a paragon of moe using whatever means necessary.

More such “VIP Quality” in the previous posts.

Once again, 2D’s supposed superiority to 3D is put to the test thanks to the artistic efforts of anonymous artists – although with these earlier examples it is increasingly looking like a battle of artistic talent versus good taste in photography.

More reasons 2D is “superior” to 3D.

The artists of 2ch continue to supply more direct comparisons of the supposed superiority of 2D to 3D, a debate which seems unlikely to be settled any time soon – and least of all when dealing with such high quality 3D subject material.

See also the previous galleries in the same series.

The artistically inclined denizens of 2ch’s VIP board have been challenging themselves to convert this panel from an ageing Shōwa period (meaning the 80s and 90s in this case) manga  into something more modern – and more moe.

In the process they provide an insightful dissection of some of the changes in artistic conventions manga has seen over the last two decades.

The exchange:

“However you look at it, this is a Shōwa manga – moefy it please!”

“I have high expectations of you guys!”

“Like this?”

“That’s good, keep at it!”

“Fiddle with Gen too!”

“The background still reeks of Shōwa…”

“It looks great now. You guys are too good at this.”

“Her language is still a bit stiff?”

[For those wondering about the text change, the original dialogue of "What has it got to do with you, dad!?" ("tou-chan to nan no kankei ga aru no desu ka!") has been subtly modernised to "Papa to nan no kankei ga aru no yo!" - switching "dad" for the more moe "papa," and scrapping a slightly polite form for a more lively and assertive form.]

“GJ! It actually looks better than many actual moe manga nowadays…”

“I ported the text back into the original moe version.”

“Looks very modern now!”

“Why’s he fully dressed…”

“I fixed the background:”

“Her hairstyle still reeks of Shōwa!”

“These days we aren’t allowed nipples any more.”

“Right:”

“We’re putting too much effort into this, aren’t we?”

“Needs an ahoge.”

“What are you, a genius?”

“Difficult to do…”

“I’m not getting any reaction from my penis, compared to the original. Why is this?”

“The lines are a bit thick, aren’t they?”

“There are issues with Gen, I think.”

“Something to do with the tone and shading, and the brush stroke style of the lines, I reackon.”

“Hey, stop hiding her nipples!”

“Here you go:”

“Saved.”

“She has twin tails but her hair is still long in the wrong places.”

“Wait, just what is going on in this scene anyway!?”

“She’s been made to strip to check whether she stole some lunch money or something, then her little brother rushes in and her father comes in and gets angry at the teacher… or something like that anyway.”

“Having the guy keep his clothes on is discrimination, isn’t it?”

“There you are.”

“Colour it!”

“It needs some shading?”

“I think her tears are still too Shōwa.”

“How about this then:”

“Comparison image please.”

“Here:”

“I think she should be saying ‘Nani yo! Papa ni wa kankei nai desho!’”

“Sorry, I just don’t have the right font or Photoshop on this PC so I can’t change the lines any more.”

“Manga has totally changed, hasn’t it?”

“I still think it needs finer lines.”

“Oh?:”

“Now for colour.”

“Doesn’t she have the wrong number of fingers?”

“Her hands look like she got hit by an A-bomb…”

“She needs a hair ornament.”

“Add some lustre as well.”

“If there’s a problem with her hands I’m afraid it’s the result of my artistic ineptitude, sorry.”

“It’s finished, isn’t it?”

“We don’t need Gen any more, get rid of him.”

“What if Gen were redone a bit in the same style?”

“You guys are too good at this…”

“We don’t need her left hand.”

“Let’s fix her mouth!”

“How’s this:”

“Delete Gen already!”

“Make Gen into a cute girl?”

“We really didn’t need her left hand.”

“It looks like she and her little brother have been caught going at it by their father?”

“Gen’s hair needs a makeover, make it longer to make him look more like a modern youth.”

“Saved.”

“This is almost at Jump level now.”

“What happened in this scene!?”

“How about this:”

“Amazing…”

“A bit late, but I fiddled with Gen:”

“K-ON! eyes…”

“Nice!”

“Some colour:”

“Comparison image please.”

“Don’t make Gen so swarthy, you!”

“The original looks like the Photoshopped one.”

“My amateurish colouring:”

“More colouration:”

“I came!”

“Amazing!”

“You’re an angel!”

“Comparison:”

“GIF animated comparison:”

[Looping version:]

“This is amazingly good!”

Some of their previous efforts to chart the evolution of drawing styles may also be of interest.

2ch’s latest efforts to make the unmoe moe has seen them manage to moefy the entire national borders of the UK, on the basis that she “looks like a girl worried about the size of her breasts.”

Other nations have been subjected to the same technique, with Chinese efforts in this area proving particularly successful, even if there is some evident disagreement over if and how to incorporate Taiwan…

This is not, however, a recent innovation:

See also the advent of Oniko for an outstanding example of more conventional moe anthropomorphisation.

2ch is violently debating a putative ranking of mangaka by drawing ability, with the top spot proving particularly incendiary…

The ranking, judged by “design ability, perspective correctness, consistency, anatomical correctness, shading, etc”:

S rank:

Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto)
Sadamoto Yoshiyuki (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
Yasuhiko Yoshikazu (Mobile Suit Gundam)
Hanaharu Naruko (Kamichu!)
Igarashi Daisuke (Children of the Sea)
Inoue Takehiko (Vagabond)

A rank:

Obata Takeshi (Bakuman)
Ogure Ito (Tenjho Tenge)
Murata Yusuke (Eyeshield 21)
Katsura Masakazu (Zetman)
Hagiwara Kazushi (Bastard!!)
Miura Kentaro (Berserk)
Fujiwara Kamui (Dragon Quest Retsuden)
Shinichi Sakamoto (Kokou no Hito)

B rank:

Eiichiro Oda (One Piece)
Aoyama Gosho (Detective Conan)
Tome Kei (Sing Yesterday For Me)
Araki Hirohiko (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)
Azuma Kiyohiko (Yotsuba&!)

C rank:

Yabuki Kentaro (To Love-Ru)
Usuta Kyosuke (Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar)
Hoshino Katsura (D.Gray-man)
Fujisaki Ryu (Hoshin Engi)
Takei Hiroyuki (Jumbor)
Iwahara Yuji (Darker Than Black)
Amano Kozue (Amanchu!)
Park Sung-Woo (Kurokami)

D rank:

Kubo Noriaki (Bleach)
Togashi Yoshihiro (YuYu Hakusho)
Kawashita Mizuki (Ane Doki)
Okubo Atsushi (Soul Eater)

E rank:

Amano Akira (Katekyo Hitman Reborn!)
Tanabe Ierou (Kekkaishi)
Asada Hiroyuki (Tegami Bachi)
Arakawa Hiromu (Fullmetal Alchemist)
Mitsuda Takuya (Major)
Otaka Shinobu (Magi – Labyrinth of Magic)

F rank:

Aimoto Shou (Hokenshitsu no Shinigami)
Shiibashi Hiroshi (Nurarihyon no Mago)
Akatsuki Akira (Medaka Box)
Akamatsu Ken (Negima!)
Kumeta Koji (Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei)
Masahiro Anbe (Shinryaku! Ika Musume)

G rank:

Konomi Takeshi (Prince Of Tennis)
Terajima Yuji (Daiya no A)
Mashima Hiro (Fairy Tail)

H rank:

Shimabukuro Mitsutoshi (Toriko)
Tsukiyama Kaya (Area no Kishi)
Wakaki Tamiki (Kami Nomi Zo Shiru Sekai)
Sato Fumiya (Kindaichi Case Files)

I rank:

Iwashiro Toshiaki (Psyren)
Shinohara Kenta (Sket Dance)
Sorachi Hideaki (Gintama)

J rank:

Oishi Kōji (Inumarudashi)
Fujimaki Tadatoshi (Kuroko no Basuke)
Hata Kenjiro (Hayate no Gotoku!)
Norio Sakurai (Mitsudomoe)
Totsuka Masahiro (Material Puzzle)

K rank:

Ryuhei Tamura (Beelzebub)
Tsuchida Kenta (Lock On!)
Crystal na Yousuke (Onidere)
Wajima Satoshi (Wasshoi! Waji Mania)

2ch is incensed that anyone would esteem Kishimoto so highly:

“If Kishimoto isn’t E rank it’s just some fanboy ranking! He can’t even do proper perspective!”

“He is likely rated so highly because of his interesting composition. People were saying it was because it is so cinematic…”

“He has talked about that sort of thing himself…”

“I just laugh at seeing Kishimoto on top there.”

“It is seriously messed up to have Kishimoto on top…”

“Kishimoto is about the only mangaka with this level of awareness of things like simulating wide angle camera shots, zooming, perspective and so on. Amongst mangaka he is the most accomplished in this area.”

“Who is deciding this stuff anyway?”

“Fanboys and haters on 2ch.”

“Right…”

“One Piece is only B? Fairy Tail is G?”

“No Samura or Shinofusa but Toume is in there? What is this?”

“Kubo belongs in B.”

“Some of these people really can’t handle colour illustration either.”

“If Toriyama is below Kishimoto there is nothing to discuss here.”

The ongoing efforts of the artists of 2ch to prove beyond doubt the supposed superiority of 2D to 3D result in yet more fine moe transpositions of what were in many cases already all but insurmountable 3D images to begin with, although the artists seem minded to take more liberties than usual in order to improve them yet further…

Refer also to their other efforts for more.

Continuing their ongoing quest to make mere three dimensional subjects conform to the laws of moe, 2ch’s population of artists provide yet more artistic examples of why, to some at least, 2D is superior to 3D.

More of their efforts.

2ch’s population of artists has been busily striving to improve 3D through another one of its regular “make 3D moe” illustration threads – the results are most impressive, as ever:

Whilst tales of top tier ero-doujinshi circles netting tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales each Comiket are common, unfortunately for the vast majority of circles the results of Comiket are rather more humble…

From an exchange on 2ch’s VIP board:

“I participated in today’s Comiket and my sales didn’t hit ¥10,000… I want to die.”

“What did you sell?”

“I only sold 3 copies of 50 printed…”

“If you only sold 3, just upload it. Applications for winter have already begun, you know.”

“You sold each copy for ¥3000?”

“You couldn’t even sell 20 copies for 500 each?”

“You say only, but for a no-name circle to sell 20 isn’t bad at all.”

“I thought so too… how godly would I have been if I had sold 20! I want to die.”

“How much of a loss did you make?”

“¥12,000.”

“You just have to make the cover sexy and high quality.”

“How much did you flog them for?”

“¥500 a copy.”

“It’s actually amazing you sold even 3.”

“Show off your art, your art!”

“Uwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! What do I do with my stock!!! I can’t sell it come winter!!!1 Shit, die diei dife dfs1!”

“This is it you damn fools:”

[He quotes another poster posting about his doujinshi on another thread:] “I found a really bad one! It’s an Aria book,  I laughed reading it! When I bought it, the author said ‘the illustrations have some flavour to them, yes?’ This is doujinshi quality!”

“This…”

“I’m sorry.”

“I laughed.”

“You could make this into some quality AA.”

“You guys have never been to Comiket, have you? There’s a lot worse that that…”

“Sorry, I laughed.”

“It’s not that bad. But for a ¥500 debut it’s not there.”

“It’s amazing this sold at all.”

“There’s always next year!”

“I’d buy this for a laugh. But only for ¥200.”

“I quite like the final panel there…”

“I can imagine the person who bought it onanising away with that expression.”

“I’m going to bed.”

Demoralised artists are advised to stick at it, for fame awaits the select few.

One of moeblob overlord and K-ON! creator Kakifly’s first manga, a 2003 Leaf doujinshi, has been discovered and shows the rather stark difference a mere eight years can make to an artist’s skill (to say nothing of his bank balance).

Practice makes perfect, as ever.

Anime fans take a break from onanising over the latest moeblobs to collect some of the latest (or simply most shocking) examples of what happens when animators are paid $3 an hour and have half their jobs outsourced to Korea.

See also the various preceding galleries along depressingly similar lines. Those with a strong stomach can also see what happens when these outstanding production values are applied to erotica…

The artists of 2ch have risen to the challenge of illustrating their version of some of the most common anime character types, 12 in all, each providing a unique style of art and interpretation of the character template.

A translation of the template for explanatory purposes – the character archetypes should be instantly recognisable to anime and manga fans:

The original:

The illustrations thus spawned:

Manga fans supply a ranking of which mangaka they always assumed were male, whether based on name, art style or story, only to be surprised to find they were female.

The ranking:

1. Ayako Sato (Kinda’ichi Case Files)

2. Hiromu Arakawa (Full Metal Alchemist)

3. Sōbē Amako (Nintama Rantarō)

4. Tsukasa Ōshima (Shoot!)

5. Yellow Tanabe (Kekkaishi)

6. Kazuki Yamamoto (GodHand Teru)

7. Satoru Makimura (Oishii Kankei)

8. Daisuke Higuchi (Whistle!)

9. Katsura Hoshino (D.Gray-man)

10. Yuki Urushibara (Mushishi) / Ayato Sasakura (Shakugan no Shana [manga version])

The bottom of the ranking features such mangaka as Yonekura Kengo (Pink Sniper) and, rather surprisingly, Q Hayashida (Dorohedoro), who might have been expected to place higher given the content of her manga…

See also the similar articles pointing out other mangaka readers are notoriously hard-pressed to tell the gender of.

Manga fans supply a ranking of the lady mangaka they esteem as drawing the best looking male characters, a quite respectable ranking at that.

The ranking:

1. Hiromu Arakawa (FMA)

2. Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2)

3. CLAMP (XXXHOLIC)

4. Kazumi Yamashita (Wonder Boy)

5. Moyoko Anno (Sakuran)

6. Fumi Yoshinaga (Antique Bakery)

7. Chika Umino (Honey & Clover)

8. Hikaru Nakamura (Saint Young Men)

9. Minari Endo (Maria Holic)

10. Akira Amano (Katekyō Hitman Reborn!)

See also the ranking for the male mangaka who draw the nicest girls.

Of related interest are all the mangaka who might not even register as women from the style of their illustrations.

The Kobe Shimbun’s introduction of the decidedly malformed character moe enthusiasts soon dubbed “Ima-ichi Moenai Musume” (“lacking-in-moe-girl”), or Imaichi-san for short, has proven something of a hit, with her very failure to be moe in itself paradoxically becoming a source of extreme moe.

Naturally many artists have been compelled to explore ways of depicting her moe characteristics more obviously, with some extreme success evident in the below illustrations:

A newspaper is recruiting writers by asking whether they can give three reasons as to why the above character isn’t moe.

Those capable of giving the “right” answer could find themselves with a chance of landing a position at the Kobe Shimbun as an online contributor, although due to government “job creation” conditions attached to the post they have to be unemployed to begin with.

Fortunately there are plenty of unemployed otaku on 2ch ready to offer opinions:

“Because it’s rubbish. As a result it doesn’t look cute.”

“The eyes are too big, the character is too blue, and it looks like a crude rip off of Hatsune Miku.”

“The colours are dull and too uniform, there’s no life to the eyes and the pose is weird.”

“The drawing is rough, I’m sure I’ve seen it somewhere before, and it’s all blue.”

“The moetards aren’t going to shut up about this. Nicely done, Kobe Shimbun.”

[Innumerable opinions follow, almost all criticising some combination of rough drawing, excessive blueness, huge eyes, obvious Miku similiarities and awkward posing.]

“Give three reasons why this character is cute.”

“The situation, her blushing and the fact she is wearing nothing but an open shirt.”

“Bed, Y-shirt, breasts.”

“Cute, breasts, I’m hard.”

[Thread denizens decide to take matters into their own hands:]

“You managed to turn it into an ordinary moe character – you guys are amazing…”

The 10 year progress charts many Japanese artists have lately taken to creating demonstrate perfectly the adage that “practice makes perfect” – and provide more than a little encouragement for aspiring artists to hang in there and keep practicing, as mastery may be as much a matter of perseverance as of talent:

Some of the artists featured clearly started their charts at a high level of skill, but even here modest improvements are evident, along with some quite interesting changes in style.

Others have risen from crude doodlers to popular artists in the same period, though elsewhere certain notable cautionary tales abound as well.

Artist and illustrator Nanakusa’s luscious artwork provides a happy balance between moe and sexiness:

Keep track of his works on the Channel or on his website.

Continuing from the previous article, here are even more mangaka who might never be guessed to be women.

The mangaka:

Kobayashi Ritz (Saki) [Disputed]

Kobayashi Ritsu is resolutely silent on “her” gender, and the information which exists is contradictory – “she” has been drawn as a schoolgirl at least once, been identified as a female when she was an eroge illustrator, and has made various comments which some consider “feminine,” along with displaying a noted refusal to draw panchira.

On the other hand, his Mixi profile identifies him as a male (some speculate so as to avoid unwanted messages) and in another online profile he gave his gender as “I’m a boy, you know!”

There have even been reports that she was an actual schoolgirl at the time of writing, or that he is androgynous.

The truth remains a mystery, but rarely has an author taken such obvious care to ensure confusion reigns.

Mizuki Kawashita (Ichigo 100%)

Shinobu Ohtaka (Sumomomomomomomomomomomo)

Shizuru Hayashiya (Hayate X Blade)

Kenji Sakaki (Enigma)

Yuki Urushibara (Mushishi)

Kaori Saki (Haru yo, Koi)

Yua Kotegawa (Anne Freaks)

Aki Konishi (Kamisama no Iu Toori!)

Riki Kusaka (Help Man!)

Mayumi Azuma (Erementar Gerad)

Mitsurou Kubo (Moteki)

Yuna Kagesaki (Karin)

Izumi Kawachi (Eighth)

Yu Itoh (Shuto Heru)

Arai Cherry (Sansha Sanyou)

Amako Soubee (Rakudai Ninja Rantarou)

Katsura Hoshino (D.Gray-man)

Shou Aimoto (Hokenshitsu no Shinigami)

Aoki Ume (Hidamari Sketch)

Kozue Amano (Aria)

Peach-Pit (Rozen Maiden)

Asa Higuchi (Ookiku Furikabutte)

Hikaru Nakamura (Saint Young Men)

Akira Amano (Kateikyoushi Hitman Reborn!)

Junko Kamimura (Abunai! Luna Sensei)

Hayashida Q (Dorohedoro)