So, I have been watching Accel World, and really, really enjoying having a short fat protagonist in an anime. I also find it interesting that the rest of the characters remain the more common long, thin shape.
That's Haruyuki Arita, third from the left, our sweet but insecure protagonist.
As positive fat characters are so rare in anime, I thought I would start making up a list. The criteria are relatively straightforward, the character has to be fat, chubby, or heavyset; the character has to not be all about anti-fat jokes or be a villain; the character has to appear in more than one episode/have a name/have a number of lines (in other words, they have to actually be more than an extra).
Probably the best known fat anime character (with the possible exception of Gluttony from FMA, who is exempted for obvious reasons) is Choji from Naruto.
While Choji is not a villainous character and has some role other than as an 'ew fat' punchline, he is also rather stereotypical, and is used as the butt of jokes around his size on the show.
In no particular order except how they entered my brain, here are a few more non-negative fat anime characters:
Sumiyo Fukabori of Saki, she is a chubby minor side character who is on one of the majong teams
Kugayama Mitsunori of Genshiken, an otaku (like every other character on that show):
Chieko from Kuragehime, lover of dolls and kimonos, excellent seamstress
Kohto Hirano from High School of the Dead. This is a very sexist echi anime, and ya'll probably know I'm not a big fan of echi, but I have this zombie obsession...anyways, Hirano fits under the fat and non-negative character category
I did find this discussion over on gaia forums (warning this link is not a safe space regarding size acceptance or body size) but it does not separate negative from non-negative portrayals. http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/recycle-bin/are-there-any-fat-obese-anime-characters/t.55360301_1/ though it did remind me to add
Kōsaku Tokita from Paprika (which is a feature film, not a series):
Also need to add Daru from Steins Gate, the hacker:
A friend of a friend on twitter recommended this one awhile back (sorry for the late update there, I've been rather sick lately, and the second link they gave has gone dead):
Mao Daidoji (http://myanimelist.net/character/21458/Mao_Daidoji)
Musashi from Getter Robo... http://k02.kn3.net/B70724139.jpg
ReplyDeleteAlso... Tamako Inada and Taro Beppu from Silver Spoon, both are positive and well rounded anime character from a agricultural university that just happen to be overweight. http://silverspoon.wikia.com/wiki/Tamako_Inada http://silverspoon.wikia.com/wiki/Tar%C5%8D_Beppu
ReplyDeleteWhy exclude villians? If the villian isn't a fat joke in themselves or a representation of fat being evil (The aformetioned Glutony) then it would be a good indicator that size isn't the determining factor to make a character well rounded personality wise.
ReplyDelete