From some deep, dark corner in the back of jaalin’s mind…

Anime girls are the best. Unlike those found in 3d-land, anime girls were created for the sole purpose of entertaining me – decades in the making, the science of creating an anime girl has been perfected down to the little personality quirks, the glimmer in their eyes, and the nuances in their voice (Aisia lisp, anyone?) I thank these character designers from the bottom of my heart, cuz man oh man do they do their job well.

In most cases, anime girls are perfect. Understanding that “perfect” has many interpretations as the modern anime girl is assembled from a plethora of desirable traits, the one aspect that rarely varies is the shape of their body. Sure, there are differences in height and cup size, but for the most part, there is a singular template on which all bodies are constructed from.

You know my favorite part of it? It’s not the stunning neckline or the way clothes hang so lustfully off the bosom, nor their sculpted stomachs or their itty bitty waist. Those are all fantastic, but they all pale in comparison to none other than:

The ankles. Goddamn, anime chicks have the best freakin ankles.

Remember that that one scene in Densha Otoko where they go to Miina’s fan session, and Matsunaga-shi kept screaming for Miina to show her ankles? I thought that was the weirdest thing, but it kinda makes sense now. Kinda.

Why ankles?

For starters, it’s not something that’s in the common list of attractive traits, but when you ask specifically, most people would come to a consensus on an attractive ankle. It is, after all, the area where the long, shapely legs meet the petite, delicate foot – quite a special area that holds very little sexual appeal and yet is a crucial component of an attractive character. Without the ankles, you can’t have sexy legs!

For example, take that pic of Nagi. Normally known for her loli appeal, this pic makes her out to be so much more. Sure, most of the attention is on the place that allows our imagination to run, but it’s those ankles that are right there and complete the look. They are, fundamentally, what give those spectacular legs their slender shape.

Anime ankle science takes this a step further – custom-fit shoes. Notice how Nagi’s shoes have a strap right above the ankle? While not absolutely necessary, this plays an important role in accentuating the slenderness of the ankle by essentially having it squeeze through something. Another great example of this is seen on Mashiro-hime, another character not typically associated with sexual appeal, but oh man does she have hot legs in that pic. And it’s all due to the slender achilles area bringing out the supple shape of the calf area. Even Nia-sweetie with all the attention on her eyes and hair, sports a pair of shoes complete with ankle strap. And don’t forget Aoi-chan in the only time we’ve seen her wearing something other than that adorable kimono – never mind that she’s only got 4 toes (oh shi-?)

One more piece of evidence comes from Geass, where Villetta is flashing her own breathtaking set. As amazing as they look, don’t they seem to pale in comparison to the other examples above? In comparison, Villetta’s legs look unnaturally straight, unrealistic, and while extremely long, rather unshapely.

The Anklet Hypothesis can also apply to wrists, as so brilliantly demonstrated by Tsukasa in this pic. Doesn’t her arm look so much more slender with that bracelet?

So there you have it, my attempt at turning an ankle fetish into a science. Sounds like some bastardized male version of Lucky Star…

-jaalin

79 Comments

  1. Anime is indeed made to please people so your ankle fetish isn’t new jaalin…
    Ankle, shoulder, hand, feet, legs, ass, eyes… All were designed to please fans. So if your an ankle fetish type of pervert I won’t be the one to tease you…

    moondoggiebuiscuit
  2. This is freaking awesome cause now that you say it I really noticed how much this ankle thing weights lol^^
    But dude, that’s nothing against my ribbon fetish, oh man. Dear if a nice girl try to hit on me and has some clothes/ shoes whatever with cute ribbons. I give it all then lol..^^

  3. That was an entertaining entry. XD Although on the last part, aren’t the character designs for Code Geass drawn an extra head taller or whatever on purpose compared to the “standard anime character” (men and women both)? Can’t remember. But I guess that would at least make an argument for why her legs have too much length and not enough meat. . . . . 😀

    Tenkaichi
  4. I wasn’t going to comment on this, but I face palmed pretty hard when you said..

    “The ankles. Goddamn, anime chicks have the best freakin ankles.”

    Then after reading the rest of the entry I found myself questioning my ankles because frankly, what you said made a whole lot of sense when it shouldn’t have. That, and the 4 toed Aoi-chan picture which I never noticed when I saw the anime made me cringe.

    Naakay
  5. I kinda agree with jaalin though. I don’t really know how to describe it as detailedly as jaalin does but a well-drawn ankle does certainly make the (female) characters look good. Just think of it in a less perverted and more artistic kind of way. In recent years, I’ve learned to appreciate anime as an alternative form of art. I’m not artist and am certainly not doing anything related to arts (I suck at it) but I find myself starting to appreciate more on how the different characters are drawn, how realistic they are etc. Of ’cause, I still love animes that have good storyline and plot but I tend to fall more in love with animes that have more realistic character design and such. That’s maybe one of the reason why I just can’t bring myself to watch a single episode of Gurren Lagann.

    Oh yeah, for those who wanna know my definition of ‘realistic’ anime characters, go watch Eyeshield 21. For some reasons, I find the female characters in there attractive. Just my 2cents worth.

    dward
  6. I think it was the admittance that it was a fetish at the end that ruined the tone… and the cleanliness of the discussion. ^_^ You could have called it an analysis of the anime art style, or one of X secrets to drawing perfect females in the anime style… in the end, it’s just a fetish.

    Oh well. At least you made me laugh. But, being a guy, that seems kinda natural. I wonder how many of the female visitors you’ll disturb, though… >.> Do you have any interest at all in … real-life females?

    cbhl
  7. “Anime girls are the best. Unlike those found in 3d-land, anime girls were created for the sole purpose of entertaining me”
    hahaha awww I kinda felt sorry for you there..

    nico
  8. 99% of characters in anime/manga hold a set of physical features that represent the epitome of what is considered beauty in popular culture today, not always but very often in obvious caucasian form. Even though I’m caucasian, it still bothers me to see it over and over again, to the point where this same look is becoming less attractive on “real” humans due to boredom (and I only watch a few anime, anyhow).

    asdffdsa
  9. To adffdsa: 99% of female anime characters look definitely mostly like very beautiful JAPANESE GIRLS.This becomes very obvious if you take a good look on A LOT of those girls/women, whether they are live or in photos or on video.You can start with checking positioning of the eyes: japanese girls have their eyes much wider apart than “caucasians”( a nonsense term,no equivalent to that in real world),then the shape of face, which in modern otaku anime is surprisingly realistic in most cases. Then even the slimmest body forms of japanese females is more rounded, softly lined than the most part of westerners. Besides, Jaalin has got it right.Check Morning Musume!

  10. Dayam. I always envied girls with nice ankles. Now that I know guys really do like ’em, it doesn’t make me feel better…XD

    Don’t worry about it, girls have a lot of weird fetishes too, ne?

    falscribe
  11. That is both sad and disgusting in ways I never imagined possible. There are so many many many thing wrong with this post and the positive responses its recieving I can’t even bring myself to start listing them.

    You all need to touch back on reality.

    You idiot.
  12. I really thought those otaku from densha otoko were really weird because of the ankle fetish. Although I still don’t have a fetish for ankles, you really have pointed out to me just how much of a role these seemingly-unimportant body parts are in creating an awesome-looking character.

    Oh, and Nagi is delicious flatchest.

    AsunaNegi
  13. go on dude im on your side!!! and for those who dont know… you can see anime online… and i mean a loooot of anime online… actually in this website i can see the episodes of the series as soon they release it and to the time to charge the video is like 5 to 10 minutes only… and the website its http://www.veoh.com there you have to register then go the the search bar and search the anime you want to see… and for those who likes hentai too… in the upper right corner you can put off family filter and go to the search bar and write hentai lol… and you can find like 4000 videos there, like bible black and such xD

    Trejon
  14. showing ones ankles (for any girl) is ero , literally , in not so long ago times. its the reason we have socks and stockings etc.
    thus the ‘otaku reference to AT Field as refering to that makes sense. good art / manga and anime means well rendered body parts and thus ankles too ( as & when storyline demands ). cheers to good artistic sense in anime.

    tonbo
  15. Lol that made sense
    but the ankles and the wrists doesnt just apply to 2d charaters
    If artists are trying to create an “ideal” looking character they have considered all the aspects of the human body
    mabe people should start paying attenton to the ankles and the wrists before they go out
    i know many people wear wristbands and they proberly dont even know why they like them.

    Maybe watches do the same thing and that’s why people who have been tagged with the anklet look so cool 😛
    Before i go out tomorrow im going to wear something brightly coloured to draw everyones eye towards my wrist or my ankles.

    I think you might have something here
    im also amazed you have looked so carefully into the anime characters as a whole instead of the obvious things that stand out

    J.W.

    hikari

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