Main characters not aging...

[Demongod86]

I don't know, but this REALLY has my goat. For instance, look at pokemon. I know it's a terrible anime and should not be used as an example, but honestly...Ash Ketchum left Pallet Town when he was what, 12? He's been on the road for HOW LONG, now? Probably through six seasons, each season taking at least a year, I'm sure...I mean all that hiking around, when cities are hundreds of miles apart (if pokeworld is anything like planet earth), and yet he has not shown the slightest sign of aging, nor has misty nor brock.

And look at Naruto. They had a timeskip, going from 14 and something to 17...and not a single change mangawise. Do you see any of them going through puberty? Nope, every single character looks the same exact way except for slight clothing changes. WTF?

Or just about any anime when you have large timeskips...the only exception I can think of right now is DBZ, in which Gohan actually DID grow in the SEVEN YEAR timeskip (thank GOD).

But is anyone besides me irked by this fact?

[Radiosity]

Yeah, kinda annoying. One series that got it right (and hopefully this will lead to season 3) is Nanoha. I'll spoiler because it's something that happens right at the end of season 2:

Spoiler:

The whole 6 years later bit was great. The characters have all grown up, but they are still recognizable as themselves regardless, and as I said, it'll be really nice if season 3 starts off with the 16 year old Nanoha, Fate and Hayate in school, not to mention the (not quite) blossoming relationship between Nanoha and Yuuno and so on.

Generally speaking I'm not normally a fan of the 'x years later' method of story telling, but in this case it was done to perfection, and the character growth in just those few last minutes of the episode is enough to leave me begging for season 3

[Calca]

Actually in Naruto they went from 12 to 15.

Hey, a lot of boys don't start their spurts till 15 and they don't start actually growing until 16-17 so maybe we'll see more.

[Nightengale]

Of course I'm irked, but not as much as you since most animes with unbelievable character aging/growth is dumb, anyway.

Hikaru no Go's character growth and aging =

[Eclipze]

Maybe you can also add why the age is completely different from how they look.

Tezuka, the captain of Seigaku in PoT, looks like college student than a 15 year old.

[jedinat]

There are bigger issues with Pokemon, DBZ, and Naruto than the characters not aging.

[Dragnfly@Gamefaqs]

Characters generally don't look or act their age in anime anyway. Not that that's a strange thing though. It's not like north american character change either.

[IMSabbel]

Originally Posted by Nightengale

Of course I'm irked, but not as much as you since most animes with unbelievable character aging/growth is dumb, anyway.

Hikaru no Go's character growth and aging =

As soon as i read the title, i wanted to mention HnG, too.

In fact it was so perfectly done, i didnt notice it while watching the series because its so gradually... until i started rewatching it.

[Ending]

Perhaps it just mirrors the fact that anime-authors do not like to develope their characters...?

[Pippin4242]

It's sad to see that most anime don't seem to worry about it. I liked seeing Souske's hair visibly grow in FMP. I'm sure his fringe was longer than before a few episodes before Kaname decided to cut it. And I like how in Trigun when the time jumps Vash's hair is a different length. Wolfwood et al haven't changed in two years, but that's because they don't want to. I love that.

But the best series for visible aging is... Rose of Versailles. I didn't even notice it happening at first. Andre doesn't change much, but it's really obvious on Marie Antoinette and Oscar in particular. Oooh, that's probably my favorite thing about the character design in RoV. ^_^

*~Pips~*

[hooliganj]

Even if you assume absolutely no downtime between episodes, Conan and his friends should have aged at least a couple of years by now, just given how many days have passed on the show. I think they take the prize for most blatant character stasis.

[Shiryuu]

Originally Posted by Demongod86

I mean all that hiking around, when cities are hundreds of miles apart (if pokeworld is anything like planet earth), and yet he has not shown the slightest sign of aging, nor has misty nor brock.

Ash seemed older when I last saw pokemon (the season where May or whatever her name is joined) compared to the first season.

Maybe Ash doesn't age because he'll evolve into a teenager or an adult when the time finally comes.

Hey, a lot of boys don't start their spurts till 15 and they don't start actually growing until 16-17 so maybe we'll see more.

I don't think anime fans wants to see pimply teenagers ruining their anime.

[ayyo]

That doesnt matter since 99% of teenagers in anime don't have acne.

And yeah, there are other problems with those shows other then the characters not growing visually or mentally.

[sukreih]

Pokemon..wellll they always have to interact with the kids,so maybe that's why Ash and his pals are not growing.

Look at Rugrats.They're no fun at all after they grew up,b/c Rugrats were all about babies misunderstanding the 'adult world'. Now that they are 'All Grown Up',what's the point? (at least I found it uninteresting)

I liked how the characters 'grew up' in Gungrave, especially mentally.
Also Akagi goes from 13 to 19 to 20 to 44 to 53.
Now that's growing :P

[monir]

Originally Posted by ayyo

And yeah, there are other problems with those shows .....

Yes, they are spectacularly popular, mind numbingly entertaining and not always to its intended audience, and finally, they are the money making machine for almost every anime producers and licensing companies.

[ayyo]

Whats your point? I didn't say they weren't. Yes they're popular, yes they're mainstream, yes they're milk cows.

And? Whats that got to do wth me saying the characters of those show have development problems?

[PaPe]

Originally Posted by hooliganj

Even if you assume absolutely no downtime between episodes, Conan and his friends should have aged at least a couple of years by now, just given how many days have passed on the show. I think they take the prize for most blatant character stasis.

In terms of main story and relationships among characters Detective Conan is quite a dynamic story. However I think you're wrong about the timeline, even if there have been innumerable cases the time passed since Shinichi disappeared is less than a year. This is not realistic, however Ran never changed class, she and Sonoko are always in the same year same section, the same can be said for the Conan, Ai etc.


As for the main question. It depends on the show. In shows like: The Simpsons, South Park (and here there is at least a change of class), Crayon Shin-chan, Doraemon, Urusei Yatsura (that if I remember correctly covers a timeline of one year) etc. I don't mind it at all. These shows are really episodical, there isn't a main story that has to go on, there isn't even a reason beyond their existence. They are just satyircal or humourus shows. The episodes are mostly unrelated and you can like one independetly from the rest.

On the other hand from shows like Versailles no Bara that covers something like ten years or more of history I pretend a consequential developement of the character design, especially if we talk about a woman. A man from his twenties to his forties can remain basically the same (not necessarily but the canges can be minimal without taking anything from realism), however women change a lot in looks and style in the same period so the look has to change with them.

Another kind of anime in which I expect an evolution on the character design are the ones in which regardless from the time change a character grows into a better understanding or into a more mature person. This, IMO, is one of the most difficoult changes to depict because what changes is not the design of the character but its expressions and demeanour. Good examples of this are Vandread (Hibiki Tokai, Bart Garsus and Barnette Orangello), Eureka 7 (Renton and Eureka), Evangelion (the scene in ep 19 in which Shinji asks to pilot EVA 01, in regards of the almost identical scene in ep 1), Gundam SEED (from around ep 35 the main characters start to have a more decisive attitude) and a lot of others.

When evovlvement in design is failed to be coveyed in the last two cases, than the quality of the show itself degrade, and it doesn't manage to communicate the message that is trying to give or the emotion that is trying to express.

[Shiryuu]

Originally Posted by ayyo

That doesnt matter since 99% of teenagers in anime don't have acne.

Yeah, but it seems that's what they want to see (characters going through puberty\growing up\etc.)

[AnimePlus]

Characters do not age in anime, they are stuck in time. You should know that.

[Forbin]

Originally Posted by jedinat

There are bigger issues with Pokemon, DBZ, and Naruto than the characters not aging.

Umm Naruto does grow older and DBZ they grow in BOTH directions! Haha.