Anime Cute

A pattern in character design that tries too hard to make a character, traditionally female, cute. The UnTrash derives its name from the unimpressive methods of cuteness many anime employ to provide a cuddly and attractive look to their female cast members. Just as Anime Cool, its sister UnTrash, fails to generate cool male characters, Anime Cute is valueless in its ability to yield people the audience genuinely fawns over. Rather than producing somebody the viewers can enjoy, this UnTrash's strong suit is spawning filth they roll their eyes at.

The toolbox that is Anime Cute is considerably deep, but virtually all tricks pulled from this collection are doomed to Roll A 1 on character quality. The face is the biggest area to work on when generating somebody out of this tried-and-false mold. Wide, juicy eyes, rosy-red cheeks, thin eyebrows, and small facial features are the calling cards of this UnTrash. While not every character built this way is Anime Cute, they stand on the thin gray line between qualifying for it and not doing that. Excess junk like animal ears, tails, and lone fangs (known as the oreba-yun fang) can tip the person to the side of Anime Cute without a doubt. Unlike Anime Cool which is more balanced between physique, equipment, and personality, Anime Cute pushes the balance more in favor of personality. Working on the face may only be the groundwork for the true meaning of the design modeling. A high-energy, extroverted, vulnerable, or reclusive attitude is a must for really nailing the Anime Cute brand. A childish and carefree outlook on life can work for kids, but teenagers and adults who function the same way may feel inorganic and intended to draw the viewers in. Otherwise acting like a child (such as by throwing a hissy fit over nothing) or looking like one (through wearing frilly clothing) can achieve the same effect. Anime Cute is big on granting a certain proneness to overboard actions, keeping in tone with the all-around extremity of this UnTrash. Emotion Stickers like blush, hearts, and sparkles are tack-ons that shatter realism in a world meant to enforce Suspension Of Disbelief. Being so damn "cute", the Anime Cute character is free to use Emotional Manipulation to wrap others around their finger. When someone doesn't give them their way, the Mega Cutie can hit them with a Mega Cute Face in the form of puppy-dog eyes to force a Guilt Stumble. The effectiveness of this cheap tactic is also great at earning the audience's distaste in the one using it. A second mental downside to Anime Cute is lowering a person's intelligence to levels of unfiltered naïveté. They happily go through every day unaware of the dangers of the world. It's a kind of stupidity that can up their vulnerability factor and down their audience appeal factor.

As this page has already explained in agonizing depth, Anime Cute takes a giant bite out of a character's individual value. When placed in the context of the starring protagonists and their goals, a Mega Cutie is typically seen on the tier of the Wimp and Crybaby. They dunked so many character development points into vanity that their practicality in regard to the Main Team suffers tremendously. They can't fight on the front lines, can't provide support to wounded allies, aren't capable of producing time-worthy strategies, and won't be the Leader's first choice in a mission calling for great skill like espionage. With all these negative aspects working against them, the Mega Cutie is as helpful as an Idiot, Weakling, or corpse. Their spot on the Main Team was a decision made by the writers based solely on being Just For Show. For especially rage-inducing Mega Cuties, they get themselves captured by the enemy because they can't stop being so goddamn defenseless. With somebody so utterly awful, the Leader is strongly encouraged by the audience to discard the garbage bag on two feet that is the Mega Cutie.

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There are certain aspects and goals you have to consider when building a character. What will their voice sound like? What flair do they have to their appearance? How do the others feel about them? Thinking over your protagonist line-up can prevent them from being shaped into worthless, forgettable trash. Conversely, going the path of Anime Cute for a female is just one of many methods of screwing this rule. An Anime Cute primary is most commonly on the Main Team Just For Show. She doesn't contribute to the storyline, she has no qualities that can be put into practice, and she has very restricted Entertainment Value. All this gives the impression that the character is occupying a slot in the Main Cast that could have been handed to a better person. What's worse, she might have a nasty or useless personality that the audience has no power to ignore. Hotheads, Pests and Vermin, Wimps, and occasional full-on Idiots are all names of roles that fall under this description perfectly. On top of this, many Mega Cuties can take up these roles. Anime Cute in the realm of a familiar franchise is partially forgivable, but its true ugliness is made apparent when the Main Cast is frequently given missions to go on. A "cute" teammate is often too busy being "adorable" to lend a hand and may even cause more trouble for the more desirable team members. If you want an Anime Cute character in the Main Cast, give them something better to do than bug the audience. Putting them to the side and limiting their appearances helps ease the headache. They can be a Healer teammates injured in combat report to, or they can be a Comic Relief who puts their Hurr Durr to real use. Even if the person doesn't do much that actually helps anyone else, it's better for them to be a passable addition to the cast than a doll woven out of Pure Evil. It's critical to remember what one person considers cute won't be true for the entire human race. But if you want to deliberately make somebody in your series a cute individual, going the way of Anime Cute is about the worst way to do it.