• Hey Guest! Ever feel like entering a Game Jam, but the time limit is always too much pressure? We get it... You lead a hectic life and dedicating 3 whole days to make a game just doesn't work for you! So, why not enter the GMC SLOW JAM? Take your time! Kick back and make your game over 4 months! Interested? Then just click here!

Japan doesn't tolerate 4 fingered characters?

C

ChampionChains

Guest
I though this was a really interesting video. As someone who draws a lot, I've often liked playing with different numbers of digits across different humanoid species or just for ease in some cases. I've never even considered numbers of fingers on characters and how that may be viewed differently among different cultures.

 
Four fingered characters only exist because of lazy artists. The more realistic anime characters would look freakish with only four fingers, which is why you don't see them in Japanese animation.

DRAW THE EXTRA FINGER, YA JERKS

/hot take

Edit: described the argument in the video to my Japanese gf. Her response was "eh? I would never think of anything like that. Characters with four fingers just look weird, right?" There may be some truth to what the video presents, but these kinds of things always seem to be greatly exaggerated to me, haha.
 
Last edited:
C

ChampionChains

Guest
Four fingered characters only exist because of lazy artists. The more realistic anime characters would look freakish with only four fingers, which is why you don't see them in Japanese animation.

DRAW THE EXTRA FINGER, YA JERKS

/hot take

Edit: described the argument in the video to my Japanese gf. Her response was "eh? I would never think of anything like that. Characters with four fingers just look weird, right?" There may be some truth to what the video presents, but these kinds of things always seem to be greatly exaggerated to me, haha.
The funny thing is them even requiring it for non human creatures like Crash Bandicoot and Abe. You can't really call it laziness if the species doesn't require 5 digits. Like the Simpsons aren't bound to the same the biological rules as humans regarding their facial structures, shapes of their heads, etc so it's amusing people would go to the trouble of adding a 5th finger on box art and other non-animated merchandise. Same for Piccolo having 4 fingers then later gaining a 5th. Pretty bizarre.
 
The funny thing is them even requiring it for non human creatures like Crash Bandicoot and Abe. You can't really call it laziness if the species doesn't require 5 digits. Like the Simpsons aren't bound to the same the biological rules as humans regarding their facial structures, shapes of their heads, etc so it's amusing people would go to the trouble of adding a 5th finger on box art and other non-animated merchandise. Same for Piccolo having 4 fingers then later gaining a 5th. Pretty bizarre.
It's bizarre that any human characters would ever be drawn with four fingers, haha.

I do agree for Piccolo and other non human characters, though. They probably wanted to make the anime Piccolo more relatable, I guess? Toriyama's original design looked cool, though.

I dunno. Four fingered characters have always looked a little weird to me. I honestly don't love it even on animal characters, unless they're something obviously alien like Piccolo or Abe.
 

hogwater

Member
Number of fingers depends on the character, and whether or not it would be funny to have 5 fingers. 4 fingers has nothing to do with laziness btw. Bluto had 5 fingers.

I didn't watch the video, but I'm assuming the theory is that since Japan is afraid of the number 4, like Americans are afraid of the number 13 they can't abide only 4 fingers.
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
For those interested, there's an article about this alleged Japanese phobia on TV Tropes here. And the BBC article that the video mentions is here.

I suspect it's just a precaution some publishers make to avoid upsetting a small number of people. It's not necessarily deeply rooted in Japanese culture.
 
C

ChampionChains

Guest
Number of fingers depends on the character, and whether or not it would be funny to have 5 fingers. 4 fingers has nothing to do with laziness btw. Bluto had 5 fingers.

I didn't watch the video, but I'm assuming the theory is that since Japan is afraid of the number 4, like Americans are afraid of the number 13 they can't abide only 4 fingers.
No, it has nothing to do with a phobia of the number four. It's more based on cultural sensitivity toward working class castes who disproportionately lost fingers in their line of work. Apparently missing digits was a clear indicator that people were from bottom tier castes or criminal organizations and thus less desirable members of society.
 
Top