Quote:
Originally Posted by hyl
Sorry, but can you explain why changing the appearance of some characters would have changed the dynamics of a story? Personally i think changing the personality traits of characters would have a bigger impact on the story rather than the appearance though, unless the change is extreme (like a gender change, but that would probably also effect the personality a little)
An example why i disagree with that statement are live action adaptions of anime or mangas. While some characters don't even look close to their manga/anime counterpart , the story itself was not that effected (of course we have take into account the limitations of live action).
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I imagine it's a problem of "casting". To take your live-action analogy, who you cast into a role can dramatically change how the character is perceived. The actor's ability to work with other cast members — that is, their screen chemistry — may also be affected, hence affecting the "dynamics" of the story.
Take Batman, for example. When George Clooney dons the cowl and cloak, we get the "campy" version of the caped crusader popular in the 60s and 70s. With Christian Bale in the role, however, the character suddenly becomes, at last, the Dark Knight of the 1990s and beyond.
In anime, this "casting" process begins with character design. From what I understand, it's usually a give-and-take process between the artist and the writer. They have a certain personality in mind, and start the design from a range of common character templates, that is, the stereotypical forms that lead to perceptions of "similarities" that everyone here is pointing out.
It's through iterative reworking that a "unique" character design is born. Like
C.A., I feel there are sufficient differences in many of the designs highlighted in this thread for them to be considered different, rather than "similar" or even alike.
Perhaps as a kind of creator myself, I feel it's a bit rude — if not insulting — to suggest that "the designs are the same" when, to me, it seems to be more a case of people not putting in enough effort to see and feel the differences than there being actual similarities in the art.
It's a bit like saying that
The Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin are the same as the
The Lord of the Rings novels by J.R.R. Tolkien because, you know, they are fantasy novels written on the same epic scale. To say that would be utterly disrespectful to Martin.