But What Does It All Mean?

Have you ever wondered why an anime character spontaneously sprouts a giant sweat drop or gets dripping blue and black lines down their face? What does it mean when a character gets all wavy and super deformed? And why do almost all anime and gaming baddies have white hair?! Whaz up wid that? What does it mean?
I’ve done some research online and have compiled a few quick and easy explanations from the info I found on the net and from a few personal conjectures and observations.

EYES:

• Spiral eyes – disoriented, overwhelmed, happy, feeling kah-ray-zeeeee
• Eyes that are white dots with thick black outlines – could be many things; seems to emphasize what ever emotions are being displayed. Mainly used to express shock and disbelief.
• Eyes that are just black dots – implied cuteness, innocence. Kitties and lil’ chibi’s have these. Seems like the more simplified something is in anime, the cuter it is.
• Eyes with a profusion of white dots that sparkle – Utter cuteness to the extreme! When this happens you know it’s over the top.
• Wavy lines and geysers from the eyes – crying; the more exaggerated the act the more comedic it is. Could be from sadness, stress or happiness when in context.

FACE:

• Giant sweat drop – denotes embarrassment, stress, anxiety and sometimes sheepish guilt,; like when someone gets busted for doing something utterly moronic and they know it. Some examples of the stress variety would be Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh stressing over Osaka’s weird space-outs. The bigger the drop, the more embarrassed, stressed, ect. a person is. The number of sweat drops is also an indicator of how much stress there is.
• Nosebleeds – happens to guys when they’re around beautiful women. One explanation would be that the character’s blood rushes so rapidly to his face when he blushes from embarrassment that it spews out his nose. The more profuse the bleeding and the type of gout that’s occurring are proportionate to the feelings a character has towards another.
• Sharp pointed tooth appears sometimes with or without cat ears – thinking mischievous thoughts that usually lead to a prank or the uncovering of a tasty secret.

BARS:

• Blue Bar across the face – anxious/upset/embarrassed; it usually means someone’s upset and anxious or that they could die from shame. Could also be shock/disbelief and to a lesser extent anger. Sometimes accompanied by lines that seem to drip down the characters face.
• Red lines and Bars across the face – blushing; embarrassment/anger/stress/ sometimes all three at the same time. Often though, used for feelings of affection and embarrassment. A touch of red is slightly affected, a bit more is more affected, all the way up to a completely red face for utter mortification . Could also be embarrassed disbelief, as when a person is caught unawares and is ashamed for it.
• Black bar across upper part of face – Character may be trying to be spooky/ mysterious in a comedic situation or could be deadly serious otherwise; could turn psycho out of nowhere. Is also used for anger and hate. You’ve heard the terms “black” or “dark” looks. I’ve seen characters get this and it never bodes well. Sometimes they get that kooky laugh with the black bar and it’s knifing time! When there are lines instead of a bar, it implies shock or disbelief when in context.

SYMBOLS:

• Red asterik-esque symbol (veins) – these are actually supposed to be pulsing veins, like when you get really mad and you have that feakish vein on your forehead pop out and re-route all your blood through it. Flashes around someone’s head when they’re really upset. Usually it’s when someone’s angered quickly.
• Empty “snap” bubble – pops up around the head when someone is startled or shocked. Could also pop up else where and then denote emphasis of an action.

LINES:

• Wavy lines around a character – stress, anxiety and/or uncertainty
• Straight lines around a character/ object – Dynamic!! Full of energy and purpose! Emphasis and focus!!

MISC:

• Character gets super-deformed or chibi-fied – comedic emphasis on whatever emotion is currently displayed.
• White/silver hair on Baddies – I don’t have any solid evidence on this one; maybe the uniqueness of white or silver hair sets villains apart from other characters; could signify spiritual connections in characters with white hair that aren’t evil (not too many of those). I like Zingor’s explanation best: Villains with white hair are so evil, they started out with black hair but such was their evilness that it came all the way back to being white…powerful stuff.

One thing to keep in mind after reading this is that every anime studio uses different effects in their productions, if any at all. A few of these seem to be interchangeable and should be ultimately considered when in context. If something is missing, blatantly wrong, or if you have a better theory, please lemme know and I’ll amend it!