I love anime/ manga and I think the main reason it got so popular is the psychological elements the Japanese add to their storytelling, something about how the Japanese artists/authors understand emtions and life and how well they convey theese into media is different from the rest of the world, it could be because their amount of old people is so much and old people their are respected as having lived such a long life they must know so much while old people in other places are the minority and are seen in retirement homes with dementia by the masses, this is also conveyed in Japan's media: old characters are sensei's and mentors and are strong and smart while in other places the media shows old people more 50/50, some are sensei's and some are just weak old people. Charcters in anime/ manga grow not just physically but mentally as they reach adulthood by learning from their sensei's and mistakes and I think people like me see themselves in the characters growth and struggle and feel represented in our struggle to find ourselves in this world and other media dosent show this as well as japan does, genz and millennials carry the anime Fandom because of that reason I belive and also why older people struggle to see why anime is popular

Thank you so much for this critique, Michael! The breakdown of form language and FACTS really opened up a new way of thinking about character design for me. I’m already looking forward to experimenting with these ideas in my personal project. Really valuable lesson!

Too bad that big belly is seen more as perhaps softness these days XD I think i tend to draw in the safe zone, will try to push the shape more! Thank you so much <3 And love The Lord of The Rings gang together in different shapes and sizes.

Thank you, so interesting and making sense. I know you have been explaining this from the start but I think having this reinforcement after the previous exercises really nailed it home. Fabulous examples from students too.

Look mom, I made it to the thumbnail! 😂 Thank you so much for the feedback, it was very helpful as always. So much fun to draw Anakin’s fall into Darth Vader and it really made me think about the shape language of it all. Your commentary on Obi-Wan is spot on.

That was a great crit. Especially happy to see mine in there. Sent you a message about Japanese story telling in manga and anime as I'm really interested in the differences from Western styles, and pretty much tired of the hero's journey, the three act structure and all that, with conflict as the central theme or crux of the story. Took your advice to heart and here's the line up for the LotR breakdown. Added "Lawrence" the Uruk (I think the actor's name is actually Lawrence but anyway). Loved the brief shape language lesson. It'd be a very interesting (to me at least and probably you) to take a look at the presence or absence of these patterns in Eastern visual storytelling traditions. Although, I do know there is a mutual influence going back a long time. Anyway, for any one who's interested, here's the Disney shape language bible: https://www.waltdisney.org/sites/default/files/2020-04/T%26T_ShapeLang_v9.pdf