Why?

Can someone please give me a decent logical answer to why anime characters are so damn young? It kills me! Especially when it comes to the more popular animes the characters are like twelve and thirteen, fourteen maybe even fifteen...whats the deal with that? Fir example take kagome from inuyasha she was like fifteen...but clearly if i was just an average person looking at the show i would think that she was sixteen at maybe even seventeen. So can someone give me a logical answer.

I doubt there is a logical explanation besides the fact that the manga artist or whatever want to make them that young, or look so young even though they aren't on some.

Because most Anime is aimed at a younger audience, yung adults and teenagers. So I guess the artists feel that the viewers will connect more with the characters if said characters are closer to the viewers age group.

Yeah. When I first saw Bleach, I thought Ichigo was alot older, but then found out he was only 16!

yeah and all the naruto kids are like 12 and 13

DBZ's characters range in age though and you can sort of tell who is young and who is old. But because mostly teenagers and young adults are the viewing audience, they'll stick with characters in that same age range.

Originally posted by Kenshinswife
Can someone please give me a decent logical answer to why anime characters are so damn young? It kills me! Especially when it comes to the more popular animes the characters are like twelve and thirteen, fourteen maybe even fifteen...whats the deal with that? Fir example take kagome from inuyasha she was like fifteen...but clearly if i was just an average person looking at the show i would think that she was sixteen at maybe even seventeen. So can someone give me a logical answer.

Two characters from Akira...very popular Anime Movie.

Yeah, this is something that I've been noticing since I've gotten into Animes.

I'll be thinking a character is like 18 or 19 years old and they're only 16-17 years old.

It's so clear that their image/appearance is definitely beyond the age assigned to them.

I guess they just slap dab them ages on there to appeal to a certain age group. I really don't know.

anata wa wakarimasu ka.....

But the "appeal" part is what gets me...most harcore anime fans (note they dont even have to be hardcore) are people at least the age of 16...and if they are trying so hard to appeal to a young age group why does so much have to be edited (sex scenes, curse words etc...) clearly anime belongs to an older category clearly one of the diffrence between cartoons and anime... even naruto and yu-yu hakusho....with all the cussing thats taken out of that show...is it really meant for a younger gen? Clearly its not..so whats the harm in upping the ages a bit...just for a little bit more of a realistic feel...sometimes when i look at anime i cant help but think...damn wheres they're parent/gaurdian?

Originally posted by Kenshinswife
But the "appeal" part is what gets me...most harcore anime fans (note they dont even have to be hardcore) are people at least the age of 16...and if they are trying so hard to appeal to a young age group why does so much have to be edited (sex scenes, curse words etc...) clearly anime belongs to an older category clearly one of the diffrence between cartoons and anime... even naruto and yu-yu hakusho....with all the cussing thats taken out of that show...is it really meant for a younger gen? Clearly its not..so whats the harm in upping the ages a bit...just for a little bit more of a realistic feel...sometimes when i look at anime i cant help but think...damn wheres they're parent/gaurdian?

i see what you are saying

but think of one thing
in naruto, the genins are like 12 and 13

if they were like 16 or something they would be way too close in age to the jonins like kakashi who is like 26

Originally posted by WrathfulDwarf
Two characters from Akira...very popular Anime Movie.

I have akira on dvd & also burned to my zune & i didnt click on the link but I think your talking about Kaneda & Tetsuo they look like they're 18, 19 but i think tetsuo was like 16 on a @#$@#% MOTORCYCLE. *lights newport* thissum boosheeit 😮‍💨

WHEN U R READING THIS DONT STOP OR SOMETHING BAD WILL HAPPEN MY NAME IS SUMMER I AM 15 YEARS OLD i have BLONDE HAIR , SCARS no NOSE OR EARS I AM DEAD IF U DONT COPY THIS JUS LIKE FROM THE RING COPY N POST THIS ON 5 MORE SITES OR I WILL APPEAR ONE CREEPY NIGHT WEN UR NOT ExPECTING IT BY YOUR BED WITH A NIFE AND KILL U THIS IS NO JOKE SUMMET ING GOOD WILL HAPPEN TO U IF YOU POST THIS ON 5 MORE FLASH BOXES

Originally posted by Kenshinswife
Can someone please give me a decent logical answer to why anime characters are so damn young? It kills me! Especially when it comes to the more popular animes the characters are like twelve and thirteen, fourteen maybe even fifteen...whats the deal with that? Fir example take kagome from inuyasha she was like fifteen...but clearly if i was just an average person looking at the show i would think that she was sixteen at maybe even seventeen. So can someone give me a logical answer.

Are you kidding, Vegeta for example was 29 when he first appeared. He must be in his fifties when the series ends, not to mention most of the heroes are fathers.

If you want older characters then stop watching shonen anime, since it's generally aimed for young boys.

Young age is more appelaing? They can grow older instead of already being old and dying?

More youth, energy, outgoing-ness? Less knowledge, or experinece maybe?
It makes it more cute?...

Mmmh. I'm not really sure.

But their are plenty of anime that have older people...Love Hina, they are older. Well, most of them.

Excel Saga.

Yeeaaahhh..

I jsut think they are trying to create an innocent look for al ot of the charcters, or maybe it's becuase they want them to look cute, or more appealing to all age groups? Maybe...Maybe they just like the whole High School theme?

Because they're pedophiles.

Cosign.

Originally posted by Kenshinswife
But the "appeal" part is what gets me...most harcore anime fans (note they dont even have to be hardcore) are people at least the age of 16...and if they are trying so hard to appeal to a young age group why does so much have to be edited (sex scenes, curse words etc...) clearly anime belongs to an older category clearly one of the diffrence between cartoons and anime... even naruto and yu-yu hakusho....with all the cussing thats taken out of that show...is it really meant for a younger gen? Clearly its not..so whats the harm in upping the ages a bit...just for a little bit more of a realistic feel...sometimes when i look at anime i cant help but think...damn wheres they're parent/gaurdian?

Anime isn't made to appeal to 'hardcore anime fans'. It's made to appeal to the average person in Japan.

Anime is also edited a lot when it's shown in the US because...well, as a culture, the US tends to be very uptight about violence, nudity, and so on. It's not the same in Japan as it is here.

Most anime that we get in the US (Sailormoon, DBZ, Naruto, Inuyasha, Bleach, etc.) were originally aimed for a young age group in Japan. Hence, the characters tend to be teens, because the shows are made for teens and younger.

Also keep this in mind - there are many, many genres of anime that exist, it's not all shounen and shoujo anime (which are made for younger audiences and thus contain younger characters). In Japan, there are anime made to appeal to many different age groups. Just most of it that gets released overseas is the stuff that's originally made for kids, but remarketed here for a slightly older audience, and STILL edited a lot.

Which is highly ironic considering we produce some of the most violent movies in the world.