Flat chested vs Big breasts

[Josef K.]

Appealing title? Well, welcome traveler to the thread of the flat chested vs big breasts discussion in the anime/manga world. So, here is the deal, it's a common discussion once someone stirs it up, but it gets forgotten a lot. Flat chested anime girls are part of the whole culture around anime, but an even bigger stereotype is the big breasted, fan-service type female presented in anime/manga series.

I wanted to know what is everyone's opinion on this, which ones do you prefer, and can you post pictures on why you find them more appealing? For example Maka Albarn of Soul Eater might not be the most busty woman out there, but there is a certain kind of appeal to her, she is flat chested, and really I tend to focus more on her face, personality and such when reading that manga, it's even more stressed in the anime with her wonderful voice actor that captures her personality pretty well. So yeah flat chested girls are MYSTIFIED for me, that is why I tend to really want to know more about such characters.

[Asarii]

It irks me as a woman when breasts are drawn to be disproportionate to the character's overall physique. (I'm thinking of something similar to a Barbie doll's body type where the waist and hips are slim in comparison.) It's usually obvious that a man is drawing the character because IRL large breasts can cause backaches and is inconvenient.

For that reason, two busty characters I'm okay with are Boa Hancock and Tsunade. They're developed as being more than -excuse my language- big tits so that's why I really like them as characters. Suzuki Adelheid counts as well, but sometimes her proportions can be a bit off. I can't believe what I'm typing. LOL

Oddly enough I can't come up with a flat chested character who is neither a child nor portrayed as a bifauxnen. Masumi Sera from Detective Conan is a character who is seen by herself and others as being flat-chested, but she fits the latter category and is a tomboy. It's strange how there aren't many sexy characters who are flat-chested- then again society as a whole deems larger breasts as being more appealing over all.

[Doraku]

Appealing title, indeed.

I have to agree that I don't like it when an author decides to give fanservice without even thinking about proportionality between the whole body and the character's breast. Miu from History Strongest Disciple Kenichi is the first character popped up in my mind for often having disproportionate breast size, which I assume created for the purpose of fanservice. On the other hand, I notice not only Male mangaka who done this kind of thing, surprisingly some Female mangaka also tend to oversize when drawing female breasts if the manga is published in male-oriented magazine.

I don't hate busty characters, some of the busty characters I've ever seen in Manga and Anime are likeable. The problem for me is when the author decides to put the emphasis on a particular character's breast size through the characters's dialogue.. it's annoying and gratuitous.

I think I have to agree with Josef here, I think a female character could be very attractive even though she has a slender body. When I'm choosing favorite female characters, my assessment is prioritized on the traits first, rather than whether such character is busty or not.

[Yuyunarutoballz]

Yeah, i hate when mangaka give female characters big breasts just for the sake of fanservice (I'm looking at the entire female cast of Fairy Tail here) granted, there are people in real life who are more, umm, developed than others, but for anime as a whole to be limited to two categories either big breasted or small breasted is ridiculous. Also, it's not always the case but often times the case, but isn't larger set women usually bigger chested and smaller set women usually smaller chested? I think Naru from Love Hina is an good example as a "normal" believable body proportion. She's not too tom-boyish, she's actually pretty girly, and her chest size is normal. Anyway, that's my two cents.

[raDar]

Got easily attracted by the title. lol

Well, I honestly am not a fan of big breasts in anime or manga but you can't help it. It's like 90% of fan service were made by drawing large breasts, it's been a trope. I believe it's by the fact that there are a better amount of people who prefers female characters with large busts (I mean have big-breast fetish) than pettanakos (I'm on this side). Because of this, fan-servicing with the use of small-breasted girls works a lot to me. The first mangaka to come to mind is (as what Yuyunarutoballz stated above) Ken Akamatsu who used pettanakos as fan service more than busty women.

If I were to site a favorite, I'll choose Taiga from Tora Dora. Flat chests + tsudere is always the best combination.

[M3J]

As much as I love busty women, I notice that some or many of them don't necessarily have personality. They're hot, but I see more flat-chested women with personality. Take Bleach for example - Matsumoto and Orihime are smokin' hot, but I prefer Rukia in terms of personality. Hinata in Naruto's known to have big boobs, but Sakura has the personality. I think Tsunade's one of the few exceptions I've seen - boobs and personality.

I have noticed a lot of big-titted women being blonde though.

[naruto-niichan]

As much as I love busty women, I notice that some or many of them don't necessarily have personality. They're hot, but I see more flat-chested women with personality. Take Bleach for example - Matsumoto and Orihime are smokin' hot, but I prefer Rukia in terms of personality. Hinata in Naruto's known to have big boobs, but Sakura has the personality. I think Tsunade's one of the few exceptions I've seen - boobs and personality.

I have noticed a lot of big-titted women being blonde though.

For starters what exactly is big breasted? The REALLY busty ones like Tsunade or everything that can be seen through clothes? If we're talking about the really busty ones, than I agree. When characters have really large breasts then the emphasis usually lies there. There are countless characters who have "big" breasts though and have an interesting personality.

Examples:

Hanekawa Tsubasa from Bakemonogatari/Nisemonogatari (she's smart and has big breasts )
Yoko Littner from TTGL (though the emphasis was on her breasts sometimes )
Paprika from Paprika
Gasai Yuno from Mirai Nikki
Koko Hekmatyar from Jormungand

Heck I think you could even take someone like Chitanda Eru, a character with good breasts when you actually see her without her uniform on. In the end I guess a lot depends on what you actually see as big or small but in my opinion most anime/manga characters have somewhat "normal-sized" breasts.

I'm not really a fan of "overly busty" or "near to no breasts" women because, most of the time, it's heavily combined with silly prejudices Don't really get why they're reduced to that but I guess that's the image most people have in mind :/

It irks me as a woman when breasts are drawn to be disproportionate to the character's overall physique. (I'm thinking of something similar to a Barbie doll's body type where the waist and hips are slim in comparison.) It's usually obvious that a man is drawing the character because IRL large breasts can cause backaches and is inconvenient.

Oddly enough I can't come up with a flat chested character who is neither a child nor portrayed as a bifauxnen. Masumi Sera from Detective Conan is a character who is seen by herself and others as being flat-chested, but she fits the latter category and is a tomboy. It's strange how there aren't many sexy characters who are flat-chested- then again society as a whole deems larger breasts as being more appealing over all.

That's not really limited to men Asa Just take Shura from Ao no Exorcist as an example (drawn by Kazue, a woman).

Fanservice is fanservice, doesn't matter if it's drawn by women or men. Even if they draw them that way, it doesn't mean they're unaware of the fact that such a body is unlikely and pretty uncomfortable. I detect a questionable prejudice here

And I agree with the second part, flat-chested characters are usually portrayed in such a way and I honestly can't find an example (besides kids) that's different. You probably could take Ryougi Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai as a bit of an exception, but she's definitely a lot closer to being a tomboy/bixfaunen than being sexy.

[MattC302]

I don't have a preference at all. Breast size isn't even a conscious factor in whether or not I like or dislike a character. Subconsciously, a big breasted character may be more eye catching(along with other unique character design traits), but beyond that, I enjoy a character for their actions and personality.

[Asarii]

That's not really limited to men Asa Just take Shura from Ao no Exorcist as an example (drawn by Kazue, a woman).

Fanservice is fanservice, doesn't matter if it's drawn by women or men. Even if they draw them that way, it doesn't mean they're unaware of the fact that such a body is unlikely and pretty uncomfortable. I detect a questionable prejudice here

Touché. My apologies then.

Now I sound hypocritical because in the above post I mentioned Adelheid who is drawn by Amano; although it is not 100% certain, Amano is most likely a woman.

And I agree with the second part, flat-chested characters are usually portrayed in such a way and I honestly can't find an example (besides kids) that's different. You probably could take Ryougi Shiki from Kara no Kyoukai as a bit of an exception, but she's definitely a lot closer to being a tomboy/bixfaunen than being sexy.

Perhaps the lack of sexy flat-chested characters is because depending on what the art style is like, the character might turn out a little... loli? Although I'm sure if the character is depicted very clearly as an adult, it should be fine. It's not just in manga/anime though, western comics also follow the same pattern.

[THM Nindo]

Well, I'm happy to see that I'm not the only ones that like small chest.
I wouldn't go as far as I say that I like flat chest, but I really prefer small boobs over oversized boobs.

For example, in Bleach I prefer Rukia and Soi Fong over Orihime and Rangiku.

[leokiko]

I like big breasts, but not insanely big ones like on Dragonaut. lol.

[BlackLeggedDragon]

I think when men manga artists draw their women with large breasts, they are doing some fan service and also sexualizing their women more. I think this may lead to some people crying sexism in manga, which is unfair. I'm not a huge fan of fan service, so I'd rather have a female character with a flat chest. Sometimes breasts take away from the character's personality, much like real life.

[jakensama]

I guess my preferrences are similar to real life. Big breasts that are still in proportion with the body are best. Flat is horrible...I'm flat, but I'm a guy.