oh crap i typed up this post and then hit "reply to thread" instead of "post quick reply." what does the auto-saving thing do, can i get my draft back? eh whatever i'll just try and retype the message.

Quote Originally Posted by Buffalobiian View Post
I don't fully agree with the Flowers of Evil argument because only 1 girl in that show was actually attractive. It was a better portrayal of real life humans physically, Japanese or not. Anime on the other hand tends to make even the normal classroom girls attractive to some degree, so the beauty thing isn't just all in the mind like you think.
Yeah, honestly I was just kinda dicking around with that Flowers of Evil thing.

But I do agree with you that it's more a rejection of quasi-realism as a whole and not specifically Japanese. It's that uncanny valley stuff. We need to have a certain degree of unnaturalness or simplicity to our drawings to make them easy to relate to. It's the same with the old videogame sprites, or just pixel art in general; the simplistic designs allow for enough "unknown" in the character that you can fill in the gaps with your mind, and the characters become easier to relate to.
Quote Originally Posted by Buffalobiian View Post
It's the same reason the "hot childhood friend" scenario is actually unrealistic.. because if your friend was really so attractive you wouldn't have maintained such a tensionless relationship with them until high school. In reality any childhood friends like that would already be people you don't consider as potential partners.
As far as my own experience goes I agree completely. But as a counterpoint I would like to point to Emma Watson. Actually, I can't seem to find it, but I recall seeing an image that showed the kid v. young adult comparison for a handful of actors and they all experienced some degree of "Watson transformation" (that's why they made the image obviously).

But, perhaps you wouldn't notice the transformation if you're a consistent friend and watch the growth gradually. You would miss out on the "hotness bloom." However, if you went to a knew school (start high school or something) then chances are other guys would notice the hotness, and this might shift your own perspective as we base a lot of our opinions on the views of others.