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The Militant Penguin Front Nov 27, 2021 @ 2:18pm
3
Cringe worthy art
I love the FF series... but dear God whats with the ghost pale emo-boy main character art?? My wife and I just honestly debated for 20 minute if he's a she, a trans, an alien, or something else entirely. Was the artist allergic to all forms of masculinity?

Woooboy... :lunar2019deadpanpig:
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Originally posted by Konachibi:
There was a joke made by the Squaresoft devs once upon a time that if it weren't for the colour limitations on the NES and SNES, and if Amano had gotten his way with every character he designed, every character in every Final Fantasy game would have platinum blonde hair. It's *extremely* rare Amano ever draws a character with any other hair colour, though it's understandable, as his art style uses a lot of extremely muted colours, so if he were to suddenly make one a redhead they would stand out from everything else in the image.

That being said, the idea of male characters having such androgyny is not a thing that's unique to Amano in Japan. A lot of yaoi, or borderline-yaoi anime, even as far back as the early 80s, would draw very feminine male characters, and even incorporate that in to the story, such as I My Me Strawberry Eggs, Ranma 1/2, Ouran High School Host Club, Maria Holic, Princess Princess, and my personal favourite, Kashimashi: Girls Meets Girl. Some of these were drawn by female manga artists, which shows a very different culture where androgynous, or more effeminate men are held in higher regard than larger and more muscular men.

It's not simply a preference thing, but a cultural thing. We see large muscly macho men as symbols of power and peak manliness, while other cultures, like Japans, see effeminate men as the superior, as they often picture them as much softer, caring and generous.

There's also different things that caused such a different development of social constructs. We had body builders like Arnold Schwarzenegger imposing that bulk and muscle resulted in power and strength, while they had martial artists, who, while possessing a great deal of muscle, would not gain the bulk and size of a body builder. Bruce Lee is a perfect example, as he was neither tall nor bulky, but was one of the strongest martial artists of his time, and arguably still holds that title. To them, a strong man was not someone that possessed a large deal of muscle, it was someone that could push their strength to the limit. In short, western culture developed an aspiration for visual power, eastern culture developed an aspiration for demonstratable power.

On the other hand, another example of a powerful man in eastern culture would be the sumo wrestler, who, by sight, does not possess muscle, but simply size and weight. Obviously the life of a sumo wrestler, and building up such a large size and body weight is extremely unhealthy, but they are respected as men possessing great power and strength.

In short, signs of masculinity are very different depending on the culture you grew up around. Our interpretation of it is not the same as it is in many other countries. As such, to understand the character designs for some games, such as Final Fantasy, you first need to understand the social constructs in that country, in order to grasp why characters, such as Amano's male characters, look the way they do.
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Showing 1-15 of 70 comments
SC_Nikki Nov 27, 2021 @ 2:25pm 
Amano is definitely unique as an artist. The in-game characters look almost nothing like the concept art. Bartz is rather regular looking, actually, with brown hair and a blue tunic.

EDIT: For what it's worth, his dad more than makes up for it. ~_~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2651127774
Last edited by SC_Nikki; Nov 27, 2021 @ 2:36pm
#1
The Militant Penguin Front Nov 27, 2021 @ 2:53pm 
Originally posted by SC_Nikki:
Amano is definitely unique as an artist. The in-game characters look almost nothing like the concept art. Bartz is rather regular looking, actually, with brown hair and a blue tunic.

EDIT: For what it's worth, his dad more than makes up for it. ~_~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2651127774

The Bartz art is so effeminate it's legit hard to tell what gender Amano was going for. All the supposed male character display categorically feminine features and stances. It's just very off putting. There is no doubt it's unique, not my cup of tea but to each there own I suppose.
#2
Pack 4 Potatoes Nov 27, 2021 @ 4:00pm 
The characters are very young and it seems the artist is going for an androgenous design for that reason. Also, it is true art. It is meant to look beautiful. Masculinity is not beautiful. Rather femininity is what humans find beautiful, as that is the female evolutionary advantage.
#3
MaGicBush Nov 27, 2021 @ 10:03pm 
Originally posted by Let's Go Potato!:
The characters are very young and it seems the artist is going for an androgenous design for that reason. Also, it is true art. It is meant to look beautiful. Masculinity is not beautiful. Rather femininity is what humans find beautiful, as that is the female evolutionary advantage.

What's the difference between handsome and beautiful honestly? Both look nice to the opposite sex(or same whatever) so...
Last edited by MaGicBush; Nov 27, 2021 @ 10:05pm
#4
onizukaftw Nov 27, 2021 @ 10:20pm 
worst part is the ios versions with the new artwork.

goes from barts and gang, to something like king tycoon's reddit western art
#5
The Militant Penguin Front Nov 27, 2021 @ 10:44pm 
Originally posted by Let's Go Potato!:
The characters are very young and it seems the artist is going for an androgenous design for that reason. Also, it is true art. It is meant to look beautiful. Masculinity is not beautiful. Rather femininity is what humans find beautiful, as that is the female evolutionary advantage.

LOL! Wow...
#6
damalyx Nov 28, 2021 @ 3:16am 
i was surprised the first time i see bartz's dissidia design. it was just so different from the original game's renditions (navigation and freelancer battle sprites). i guess i just preferred the in-game bartz more than the concept art one
#7
Pack 4 Potatoes Nov 28, 2021 @ 5:14am 
Originally posted by The Militant Penguin Front:
Originally posted by Let's Go Potato!:
The characters are very young and it seems the artist is going for an androgenous design for that reason. Also, it is true art. It is meant to look beautiful. Masculinity is not beautiful. Rather femininity is what humans find beautiful, as that is the female evolutionary advantage.

LOL! Wow...
I'll try to explain it better. Good art is supposed to look supernatural, not hyper realistic. Something like Van Gogh for example. To accomplish this, you would make something look prettier than reality. When you create the image of a man looking pretty like in this art, or in many bands like Aerosmith, you're creating a supernatural imagery. Something that looks divine or angelic. It invokes different emotions than you would experience by looking at a very masculine, yet normal, man.
Last edited by Pack 4 Potatoes; Nov 29, 2021 @ 9:56pm
#8
mOnocularJohn Nov 28, 2021 @ 7:35am 
Hasn't the art always been like this?!
#9
HexGramarye Nov 28, 2021 @ 12:23pm 
Originally posted by The Militant Penguin Front:
My wife and I just honestly debated for 20 minute if he's a she, a trans, an alien, or something else entirely.

Originally posted by Let's Go Potato!:
The characters are very young and it seems the artist is going for an androgenous design for that reason. Also, it is true art. It is meant to look beautiful. Masculinity is not beautiful. Rather femininity is what humans find beautiful, as that is the female evolutionary advantage.

Masculinity can be beautiful -- just look at Socratic-era art -- it's just not what Amano was going for. To me, some comments in this thread read as aversion to anything outside traditional gender roles disengenouously masquerading as a criticism of the art itself. The art is great or it's not great, but Bartz's androgyny is neither here nor there when making that conclusion. Claiming that art is bad simply because it depicts gender nonconformity, "a trans" or "an alien" says nothing about the art and a whole lot about you.
Last edited by HexGramarye; Nov 28, 2021 @ 12:24pm
#10
Pure Mind Games Nov 28, 2021 @ 12:51pm 
I'm not a fan of Amano's style, but difficulty telling the difference between male and female is something I've never had.
#11
Zsrai Nov 28, 2021 @ 3:07pm 
Originally posted by Sir Gramarye:
To me, some comments in this thread read as aversion to anything outside traditional gender roles disengenouously masquerading as a criticism of the art itself. The art is great or it's not great, but Bartz's androgyny is neither here nor there when making that conclusion. Claiming that art is bad simply because it depicts gender nonconformity, "a trans" or "an alien" says nothing about the art and a whole lot about you.

Exactly this. The OP seems like a thinly veiled attempt to troll at best.
#12
restarter Nov 28, 2021 @ 9:42pm 
seems pretty typical for Japanese art. They dont typically draw piles upon piles of muscles.
#13
Zunnoab #931 Nov 29, 2021 @ 3:16am 
Originally posted by The Militant Penguin Front:
Originally posted by SC_Nikki:
Amano is definitely unique as an artist. The in-game characters look almost nothing like the concept art. Bartz is rather regular looking, actually, with brown hair and a blue tunic.

EDIT: For what it's worth, his dad more than makes up for it. ~_~
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2651127774

The Bartz art is so effeminate it's legit hard to tell what gender Amano was going for. All the supposed male character display categorically feminine features and stances. It's just very off putting. There is no doubt it's unique, not my cup of tea but to each there own I suppose.
This is ooga booga me macho man nonsense is why garbage like this happened:
https://venturebeat.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/megamanbox.jpg

Japan:
https://images.nintendolife.com/e836f245594e1/jp.large.jpg
USA:
https://images.nintendolife.com/357ad05c7a12b/na.large.jpg

Capcom isn't above having fun with that historical silliness too:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/Megaman9cover.jpg

That said, I do like to call Amano's characters "sleepy albinos." He has his own style/charm once I got used to it. Spare the hilarious "oh noes my masculinity" silliness though. That's so 20th century.

All that said, not all of Amano's artwork looks "feminine."

(Spoilers from before the game takes place.)
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/finalfantasy/images/2/2f/FFV-amano_wodawn.jpg
Last edited by Zunnoab #931; Nov 29, 2021 @ 3:21am
#14
Daverost Nov 29, 2021 @ 7:14am 
Originally posted by Let's Go Potato!:
Also, it is true art. It is meant to look beautiful. Masculinity is not beautiful. Rather femininity is what humans find beautiful, as that is the female evolutionary advantage.
Actual philistine.
#15
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Date Posted: Nov 27, 2021 @ 2:18pm
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