Nele Noppe's List: article: visual language of manga

• • quote! en meer zoeken over die theorie van visual language
• • aspecten van een situatie tonen eerder dan de actie
• subjectivity can be encoded in a panel as a whole,

   

  shifting the viewpoint of the panel to a member of the fictive narrative.

  • subjectiviteit viewpoints
• Japanese children use aerial and

   

  close up (“exaggerated”) viewpoints en masse and were not found in the American

   

  children’s representations at all.

  • close-ups belangrijk: tonen emoties? (shonen van nabij bekijken)
• • statistieken voor close-ups, linken!
• • aan bibliografie te zien: GEEN shojo manga, enkel shonen en gekiga. dat verklaart ongetwijfeld het één en ander
    welke invloed heeft deze fout op verdere redenering?

  • dit klinkt gek, denkende aan shojo-layouts. bekijken
    
    -> aan afbeelding te zien: lijkt op eerste gezicht niet Japans, nee. is er rekening gehouden met zaken zoals shojo stijl, waar de frames vaak helemaal afwezig zijn??
• Though the numbers are minor, American books

   

  seem to modify their panels with framing types more than Japanese books do.
• Aerial

   

  High-angled Lateral

   

  Low-angled Ground-up

   

  American

   

  1

   

  (SD = 1.2)

   

  9.7

   

  (SD = 8.5)

   

  82.1

   

  (SD = 8.5)

   

  6.1

   

  (SD = 3.7)

   

  0.25

   

  (SD = 0.4)

   

  Japanese

   

  1.2

   

  (SD = 0.9)

   

  14.9

   

  (SD = 5.1)

   

  73.4

   

  (SD = 8.6)

   

  8.9

   

  (SD = 3.9)

   

  1.3

   

  (SD = 1.5)

  • blijkbaar zijn manga relatief gevarieerd qua perspectieven
• • is relatief minder diepte in manga een gevolg van minder achtergrond?
• a greater variation across authors for LRM categories than Japanese

   

  books do. I hypothesize that this variation can be attributed to a willingness of American

   

  authors to experiment more with the visual language as an “artistic” medium, as opposed

   

  to the Japanese usage of more of a communicative system akin to language (Cohn 2004)

  • heel interessant! worden manga in japan meer gebruikt voor 'communicatie', en comics in de vs meer voor 'artistieke expressie'? (ook superhero comics van dertien in een dozijn?)
• An “Art” treatment emphasizes

   

  individualistic and innovative techniques for authors, while a “Language” system

   

  promotes shared techniques amongst a community.

  • gebruiken om erop te wijzen dat manga een 'taal' bevatten!
    
    -shared techniques wil niet zeggen minder originele inhoud, gaat over structural means
• difference is recognizable in other domains such as drawing style. While American

   

  authors draw in dramatically varying ways, Japanese authors are similar enough in

   

  structure to belong to an overarching “Japanese style” that is recognizable at a glance.
• • manga-tekenstijl is 'japans', herkenbaar
• • masami toku opzoeken
• Of course, the

   

  need for an explanation for variance at all is in part a curious one when dealing with the

   

  notion of languages, since usually languages are expected to vary.
• • is het proberen uitleggen van verschillen tss japanse en amerikaanse visual language even onzinnig als het zoeken van verklaringen waarom iets in japan 'kuruma' heet en in de vs 'car'? of heeft het een nut om te zoeken naar verklaringen voor verschillen?
    

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• Expressive dialogue bubbles: The borders of the speech/thought bubbles changes in pattern/style to reflect the tone and mood of the dialogue. For example, an explosion-shaped bubble for an angry exclamation. Also, manga does not usually follow the normal Western comic conventions for speech (solid arc extending from the character's head) and thought bubble (several small circles used in place of the arc). The latter bubble style is often used for whispered dialogue in manga, which can confuse Western readers.
• Speed lines:
• Mini flashbacks:

  • also in text form
• Abstract background effects:
• Symbols:

•  
   
  • Sweat drops, usually drawn largely on the head region, commonly indicate bewilderment, nervousness, social discomfort, or mental weariness. On a sidenote, actual physical perspiration in manga is signified by even distribution of sweat drops over the body.
   
  • A round swelling, sometimes drawn to the size of baseballs, is a visual exaggeration of swelling from injury.
   
  • A nosebleed indicates sexual excitation following exposure to stimulating imagery or situation. It is based on a Japanese old wives' tale[1]
   
  • Throbbing veins, usually depicted as a cruciform in the upper head region, indicate anger or irritation.
   
  • Hatchings on the cheek represent blushing, usually used when embarrassed by romantic feelings, while oval "blush dots" on the cheeks represent rosy cheeks.
• line over form
• Impressionistic backgrounds
• sequences in which the panel shows details of the setting rather than the characters.
• right to left,
• small noses, tiny mouths, and flat faces.
• the transparent feeling of pupils and the glares, or small reflections in the corners of the eyes are often exaggerated,
• eyes of characters who have died are the colour of the iris, but darker.
• hair partially covering the face, the eyes that would otherwise be covered are often outlined to make them visible,

• The following is a non-exhaustive and incomplete list of artistic conventions used in mainstream manga and their place of origin.

   
   
  • A white cross-shaped bandage symbol denotes pain.
   
  • A large sweat drop on the side of the face denotes a broad spectrum of emotions, usually embarrassment or exasperation.
   
  • A scribble on the cheek can show injury; it is also used in black-and-white media to denote red cheeks, i.e. blushing.
   
  • A red cheek denotes embarrassment or blushing.
   
  • A throbbing vein, sometimes comically simplified to a "+" shaped outline on the head (or occasionally other body parts, especially fists), represents anger or irritation.
   
  • A balloon dangling from one nostril (a "snot bubble") indicates sleep.
   
  • Electricity shoots out on the eyes of two characters when they are fighting.
   
  • Nosebleeds, usually caused by shocking sights - especially those with a sexual undertone.
   
  • There are many eye symbols such as love-hearts, crosses, flames, stars, and spirals.
   
  • A character suddenly falling onto the floor, usually with one or more extremities twisted above him or herself, is a typically humorous reaction to something ironic happening.
   
  • The pupils disappearing from the eyes, and the iris gaining a glass-like glare smoothness denotes loss of conscious control because of possession (ghost, demon, zombie, magic, etc).
   
  • The eyes becoming huge and perfectly round with tiny pupils and no iris and going beyond the reach of the face, plus the mouth becoming like a stretched semicircle, the point of which extends past the chin, symbolises extreme excitement.
   
  • All facial features shrinking, the nose disappearing, the character lifting off the floor and the limbs being multiplied as if moving very fast symbolizes panic; if the same but with larger facial features it symbolises comic rage.
   
  • Tear drops everywhere indicate intense joy or sadness.
   
  • An ellipsis appearing over a character's head indicates a silence, implying that something is going unsaid.
   
  • Eye shapes and sizes are often symbolically used to represent the character. For instance, bigger eyes will usually symbolize beauty, innocence, or purity, while smaller, more narrow eyes typically represent coldness and/or evil.
   
  • More often than not, character colorizations tend to represent the character in some way. A more subdued character will be colored with lighter tones, while a flamboyant character will be done in bright tones. Similarly, villains are often colored in darker tones, while colder character will be given neutral tones (black, white, grey, etc.).
   
  • An odd white shape (more often than not, something close to a mushroom) that appears during an exhale represents a sigh of awkward relief or depression.
   
  • Completely blackened eyes (shadowed) indicates a vengeful or deep anger. It could also indicate that someone's being sort of a wise-guy, grinning.
   
  • Characters push their index fingers together when admitting a secret or telling the truth to another.
   
  • A character's eyes are shadowed regardless of the lighting in the room when they become angry, upset, something is wrong with them, or they are emotionally hurt.
   
  • The anime character's eyes turn into two thick half-circles, conveying a cute, delighted look.
   
  • Face expressions change depending on their mood, and can look from apple shaped to a more subtle carrot shape.
   
  • Parallel vertical lines with dark shading over the head or under the eye may represent mortification or horror. If the lines are wavy, it may represent disgust.
   
  • A wavy ghost coming out of the mouth is often a comical representation of depression or mortification.
   
  • Cherry blossoms indicate a sweet or beautiful moment. This is a reference to Mono no Aware.
   
  • A flower blossom falling off its stem may indicate death or, more commonly, sex.
   
  • A fang peeking from the corner of the mouth indicates mischief or feistiness. (Unless, of course, the character has fangs normally).
   
  • A cat mouth (like a number "3" rotated 90° clockwise) replacing the character's normal mouth, and usually accompanied by larger eyes may also represent mischief or feistiness.
   
  • Unbound hair may represent freedom, while hair that is tied back may represent some form of either literal, figurative or emotional enslavement of some kind.

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• At most, various sources mention one or two different conventions, but I couldn't find any extensive type of cataloging. (though, if anyone is aware of such a thing, please let me know)
  
  I started trying to make a cross-cultural list like this back when I used to have the forum, but that project seems to have stagnated. This is a research project just waiting for someone to take it up (like oh so many)...
• Underlying message: Graphic systems are not universal
• one graphic system can influence another one
• Graphic systems (or rather, human minds that produce graphic systems...) are fluid and changing
• Multilingualism in visual language!
• Children are choosing the "manga style" en masse to draw in — a consistent style which is beyond the scope of a single author and belongs instead to a community. Underlying message: Children learn to draw by imitating others

  • is manga style easier to draw in for kids than, say, more realistic superhero style?
• To this extant, it wholly removes them from the social context in which they usually appear. They did have some actual books on display, though they were kept under glass – meaning people couldn't flip through them at all.
  
  Of all print-culture visual languages, manga in Japan seem quite the paradigm example of using a Language over Art context. Seeing them pulled from that context and put into a dominantly Art setting was an interesting clash of these underlying cultural forces.

  • emphasize the importance of context, the fact that manga images/signs are meant to be interpreted as part of a whole

5 more annotations...

• 
  He also did some eye-tracking studies comparing the eye movements of an "expert" versus a "non-frequent" manga reader. The "non-expert" fixated far more on word balloons than images and had higher reading times. On the other hand, the "expert" reader made "fewer useless eye movements" that were smoother, in addition to a higher rate of skipping over more panels and balloons. However, the expert also had higher story comprehension recall than the non-expert, despite reading faster and skipping elements.
• frequent reading of manga correlated to achievement in language arts (particularly sentence comprehension) and a liking of social sciences, though "not significantly with liking for art class." Several studies also indicated a higher comprehension for learning from manga than from pure textual "novelized" writing.

• 
  He also did some eye-tracking studies comparing the eye movements of an "expert" versus a "non-frequent" manga reader. The "non-expert" fixated far more on word balloons than images and had higher reading times. On the other hand, the "expert" reader ma - Nele Noppe on 2007-12-06

• Anime physics can be considered a subset of cartoon physics.
• important distinction to make is that while the rules of Western cartoon physics are used as a source of comedy, several of the following are used in perfectly serious situations with the intent of conveying genuine drama or action.
• many of these laws only apply to the shōnen genre.
• • Dramatic moments tend to distort time, either by slowing it down (usually long enough to call out the name of an attacker or the name of the "special move" used in the attack, or for bystanders to comment on the situation), or by looping three times. 
     
    • Similarly, transformations (especially those animated with stock footage) also seem to stop time until completed, allowing them to be used to counter attacks, or not allowing the person to be attacked while performing them.
     
    • Death is not instantaneous to significant characters. Permanent death is also a rare occurrence.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Humans are capable of instantaneously freezing into solid ice or transforming into stone when surprised and/or embarrassed. 
     
    • In lesser cases, a person's forehead will instantly turn blue.
     
     
   
   
   
  • When a character is in an extremely pensive mood, the entire area around him/her will disappear into a featureless black void, while he/she remains illuminated by a misty light coming from an unknown but vertically located source.
   
   
   
  • Intense emotion can be manifest in audible artifacts as well as physical/visual ones. For example, intense grief or concern imparts a slow repeat echo to the human voice in dramatic situations, even when appropriately placed reflective surfaces are not present. However, the amount of echo thus imparted is inversely proportional to the number of words, with anguished cries of another person's name usually receiving the most echo.
• • In a series where characters change size, the opponents must be of the same size to battle. The hero(es) cannot use their mech or their larger form to squish the monster, nor can the monster grow and squish the hero(es). This is also found in Tokusatsu series, especially Super Sentai, but not in Kaiju films, where monsters such as Godzilla often stomp humans at will.
   
   
   
  • Sorrowful crying with much feeling can force tears to gush out like waterfalls. Usually used only during humorous situations, while in dramatic situations, the tear flow is more realistic.
   
   
   
  • Angry scolding to another character causes the scolder to enlarge and grow sharp fangs while the person being scolded will shrink.
   
   
   
  • Attacks strong enough to shred entire planets will not destroy anyone's clothes or hair. Conversely, certain explosions can destroy a female character's clothing without significantly harming her body—in some cases, without her initially noticing this.
   
   
   
  • Any fire-based attack on a character will not completely burn his/her clothes but will leave black stains instead.
• • A single cut can be made swiftly, cleanly. This is possible with any object, particularly with hands, paper, swords, and even air. 
     
    • A sword, especially a katana, can cleanly cut through anything, even including large objects (such as ships) and hair, but not through other swords. There is a slight loophole in this law - if an expert fighter (even if using hand-to-hand techniques) wishes to end a duel with an obviously lesser opponent in an appropriately dramatic way, he can execute an appropriately dramatic attack that destroys his opponent's weapon-often without their knowledge; after completing a seemingly successful attack, they will notice the expert is unharmed and look at their weapon quizzically, at which point it will either fall into two cleanly cut pieces (in a dramatic battle) or shatter like glass (in a comedic battle).
     
    • Wooden katanas (bokken) can cut just as well as the real thing (and are almost never destroyed by the aforementioned loophole), if not better.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Faster than light travel is possible with many characters, particularly those engaged in martial art battles; and so a vehicle is not required.
   
   
   
  • Trains and other unlikely forms of transportation can fly, through either technology or magic. And the bigger it is, the faster it moves.
   
   
   
  • Any female can, if angered by someone, pull out a wooden rice mallet, of any proportions, from hammerspace and hit the offender with it to let go of some aggressions. It should be noted that, no matter how large the mallet is, or how flat the offender gets after the pounding, he/she will always revert to original shape without having to experience any lasting health deterioration from the whole ordeal. A good example of this is in the anime Pokémon: when Misty explained her hatred of bugs, she whacked Caterpie with a rice mallet.
• • Death can be suspended until it is appropriate, suspenseful, or ironic. During the end part of some battles, characters may opt to charge at one another with their sword, meaning to chop the other in half. At the point of contact, all that will be seen is a bright white slash going across the screen, but it will remain unclear who is hurt. The two characters will then stay, kneeling on the floor, facing away from each other, until the evil character falls into pieces, having been killed minutes earlier. 
     
    • For added dramatic effect, the good character will clutch the area that they were hit or cough up blood, after the two have performed their attacks and are facing away from each other, making it appear as though they lost. A few moments later, the evil character will fall to the ground, defeated.
     
    • Also note, death is never, under ANY circumstance, certain, a character can be impaled, literally from navel to nose and come back later, unscathed.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Every human body contains 16 gallons of blood under high pressure-a familiar term used is 'to make it rain blood'. 
     
    • This will not occur if whatever inflicts the wound is left in it, which allows the attacker to withdraw it, turn, wipe it clean and put it away-blood may begin spraying from the wound like a firehose after any one of these actions. Alternatively, the mortally wounded character may pull it out himself and use it to execute a final attack.
     
    • Non-impaling wounds, such as being crushed or falling from a great height, usually do not cause these geysers of blood, but nosebleeds will often fountain impressively immediately upon a character's recognition of appropriate portions of an attractive female body. This is apparently true conversely, as sexual innuendo in the form of a guitar causes significant nosebleeds in the female cast of FLCL.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Loud noises, such as screams of anguish and explosions, can be heard from space. All sounds can be transmitted in space, e.g. transmitted differently then with air-compression waves.
   
   
   
  • Band-aids heal anything and everything, especially when applied with care.
   
   
   
  • Any pain inflicted in a humorous fashion will almost never cause any lasting damage.
• • Whenever a female character falls down while running in any non-humorous scene, she will almost certainly sprain her ankle in such a way that movement becomes impossible. 
     
    • Furthermore, if the character is the leading female character, she will be found or be in the company of the male lead and he will carry her on his back, sparking a deeper romantic interest.
     
     
   
  • Should two characters of the opposite sex fall within proximity of each other, the male's face will end up planted in the female's crotch or chest. Skirts will helpfully flip up to provide maximum humiliation to both parties, and shirts will open to reveal maximum cleavage. Towels will fly off both parties for this same reason. In the rare occasion that the female is wearing pants, the male will instead be on top of the female while groping the female's breast(s).
   
   
   
  • In a similar sexual vein, a pre-adolescent girl will blossom out with full breasts and hips, sometimes growing instantly out of her clothing (common in erotic manga.)
   
   
   
  • Characters, mostly men, can run perfectly and quickly, with their arms trailing behind them or sticking straight out from their sides. This is often done in a comical fashion, and possibly fleeing from an angered female character.
• • The hero always wins with two exceptions 
     
    • a. the other guy cheated
     
    • b. the other guy is a master at fighting or something 
       
      • b1. Amendment: no matter how strong the other guy is, the hero will be able to beat him or her with an intense compacted training session, usually in the span of one day(unless handwaving time compression technology is available, enabling the hero to accomplish weeks or months of training in that same period of time).
       
      • b2. Amendment: the other guy can win, but the hero will then proceed to train while dead in a variety of ultimate techniques, and will then return from the dead. All but the last technique trained in will cause damage, but will not defeat the other guy. The hero will then use the final technique. This technique often is said to result in death for the user, but almost always fails to do so.
       
      • b3. Amendment: the other guy will eventually like the hero and instantly switch sides, often including a tear jerking, episode long flashback that involves crying, childhood memories, and random other events involving the other guy, often in the middle of a battle with time standing still (Often in tandem with first example).
       
       
     
     
   
   
   
  • In most manga series the main characters (most times a boy) will always be secretly coveted by a girl, which later blooms into a relationship.
   
   
   
  • In some occasions, some characters' injuries heal much quicker. (i.e. One Piece)
   
   
   
  • No matter the relative strengths or abilities, a male character always takes a maximum amount of damage when punched by an angry female character in a comedic manner (often with the male being knocked bodily to the ground or across a room)

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• 
  Animephysics can be considered a subset of cartoon physics.
  
  
  - Nele Noppe on 2007-12-06

• In Japanese manga, the ellipsis by itself represents speechlessness, or a "pregnant pause." Given the context, this could be anything from an admission of guilt or an expression of being dumbfounded as a result of something that another person has just said or done. As a device, the tententen is intended to focus the reader on a character while allowing the character to not speak any dialogue. This conveys to the reader a focus of the narrative "camera" on the silent subject, implying an expectation of some motion or action. It is not unheard of to see inanimate objects "speaking" the ellipsis.^[2]

• 
  InJapanesemanga, the ellipsis by itself represents speechlessness, or a "pregnant pause." Given the context, this could be anything from an admission of guilt or an expression of being dumbfounded as a result of something that another person has just sa - Nele Noppe on 2007-12-06

• drop has become associated with a broad spectrum of emotions, including embarrassment, exasperation, confusion, and shock, not all of which are necessarily considered to be sweat-inducing under normal conditions. It is frequently used in reaction to another character's bad pun or joke, or when a character's friend does something stupid or silly that makes them look bad.

• face fault
• meanings may differ depending on the usage by the artist or studio responsible for a work.
• Facefault (spelled as one word): A character falling over (usually flat on their face or back, sometimes with their legs sticking up in the air as the only part of them visible on-screen) with a loud thud or crash from another character saying something anticlimactic or stupid.
• super deformed face, which normally includes the disappearance of the nose, the oversimplification of the eyes, and a mouth bearing a simple triangular shape showing either no teeth (red) or all teeth (white).
• Giant sweat drop: May indicate a response to a stupid or insane action or spoken line. Less frequently indicated nervousness, especially when a character is asked a question (s)he doesn't want to answer.
• • Multiple smaller sweatdrops: May indicate nervousness or fear.
• Nosebleeds: Indicates lust (based on a Japanese wives' tale that a boy would get a nosebleed if he stared at a pretty girl).
• • Blushing of the cheeks or a red, blue, or purple bar across the nose: Indicates embarrassment, love or sometimes even a sense of fear. 
     
    • Blushing is also commonly used to depict drunkenness.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Pulsating crossed forehead veins: Indicates anger, rage or irritation. 
     
    • If viewed from behind, veins can be viewed through hair, no matter how thick.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Large, shining eyes: Indicates "cute" excitement.
• U-shaped closed eyes: When rightside-up, can often indicate calm, exasperation, shame, or irritation. When upside-down, it indicates joy, nervousness, or pride, but sometimes also indicates irritation. For some characters, especially in Pokemon, a character's pupil may form this shape instead of their whole eye, basically because they are normally incapable of blinking. The shape can also be overexaggerated depending on the level of their emotion.
• • Flames in eyes: Indicates immense passion, usually accompanied by scared characters in background
   
   
   
  • Normal eyes replaced with circular white eyes (usually with a black outline): Indicates surprise, shock, vacancy, a lack of intelligence or an instance where the character is "struck dumb". It can also mean extreme pain (often featured in One Piece and Naruto).
   
   
   
  • Little twinkling stars appear around the character's face. Usually indicates idealism, often about a girl. (Sometimes featured in Trigun.)
   
   
   
  • Rivers of tears underneath the eyes indicate comedic anguish or discontent. 
     
    • Balls of tears have also been used for the same purpose, either with large balls hanging on a string below the eyes, or as small balls just below the tear ducts.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Lumps of flesh growing humorously on a character's head if he/she has been hit in the head. 
     
    • Occasionally, when a character is hit in the head more than once, however many extra times the character was hit will appear as small lumps on top of the large one.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Eyes shaped like half-moons with very tiny pupils: 
     
    • Indicates a devilish intent, usually accompanied by a toothy grin, a flash on the corner of one of the eyes and sometimes the flat side of the eyes will form a V.
     
    • Indicates anger, usually the flat side of the eyes will form a V parallel to the eyebrows (if any).
     
    • The character is totally uninterested in the situation, usually accompanied by a flat small line as their mouth or simply having no mouth at all.
• • The sudden appearance of vertical lines on the face, indicates embarrassment or speechlessness in response to some absurdity.
   
   
   
  • Character does a The Scream pose, indicating fear or great anguish.
   
   
   
  • Character turns into a cracked stone statue or a sand pillar (having part of the body being blown away), indicating great emotional shock.
   
   
   
  • Character is frozen by ice can either indicate: 
     
    • Someone just said something out of extreme stupidity.
     
    • One of the characters told a joke (usually an old pun) that is not funny anymore.
     
    • Occasionally, it will mean that another character is singing badly.
     
     
   
   
   
  • General area around a character starts to snow, sometimes building up on and around them. 
     
    • Someone has said something that is not funny.
     
    • The character has been shunned or ignored (the joke here being that they have been treated coldly).
     
     
   
   
   
  • Character turns much smaller and cartoonish, looking like a doll; this is called "super deformed". 
     
    • A body scaled as 4~5 times the height of the head indicates the situation is still similar to normal.
     
    • A body scaled as about 3 times the height of the head indicates the situation is greatly comical.
     
    • A body scaled as about 2 times the height of the head (the main body is equal to or smaller than the head), indicates the situation is only for comical effects.
     
     
   
   
   
  • The character's upper face (from the eyes up) is blacked out. This shadow usually indicates serious sadness or shyness. It is sometimes used for character's in the background or for grunts, thugs and soilders to indicate a genaric extra.
• • • Hair can be used for the same purpose and may be accompanied with the shadow. However, without the shadow, hair slightly covers the face but no eyes are visible behind it, where they should be. (Nodoka Miyazaki from Negima is commonly seen this way and is considered a hairstyle: On side views, only one eye is made out before the hair cover-up begins.)
     
    • Hats or other head wear can be used for the same purpose and may be accompanied with the shadow.
     
    • On rare occasuns, the eyes will be shown with the shadow, indicating a grim resolve. This is also seen in Pokemon with the team rocket grunts.
     
     
   
  • Character becomes monochrome during states of extreme stress or shock.
   
   
   
  • Character becomes a wavy paper doll and undulates, indicating shock or playful bliss.
   
   
   
  • Character shakes their arms with their hands closed in fists, and they are shown as multiple flesh-colored balls with motion lines and no arms: Indicates irritation, impatience, confusion or loss of control, or occasionally, running away from something or someone. Many times this one is shown full-body, with the same effect happening for his or her legs.
   
   
   
  • When the character hears something very interesting or shocking behind their back, their ear instantly becomes much bigger and moves. A variation of this one appears in Slam Dunk, in which lead character Hanamichi Sakuragi sometimes folds his ears closed when he does not want to hear what others are saying.
   
   
   
  • Short vertical red lines appear or flash above the character's head before disappearing, indicating that something has caught the characters attention or understanding.
• • Thin vertical blue lines appear over the character's forehead or back of head, often accompanied with a dark blue "aura": Indicates that the character is ashamed, guilty, afraid or depressed. (Commonly occurring in Ouran High School Host Club)
   
   
   
  • When a white cloud-like puff flies out of a character's mouth and disappears: Indicates a sigh of exasperation, grudging acceptance, relief, boredom, or disappointment.
   
   
   
  • Character's head becomes giant as it screams their anger at somebody else. 
     
    • Two character's heads may take turns in alternating between a "giant head" and a normal head as they are having an argument, each taking turns yelling at each other.
     
     
   
   
   
  • Jaw drops all the way down to the floor. Another version of this is when the jaw is detached from the head and falls downs as a separate object after dangling. This is usually accompanied by buggy eyes or occasionally, eyes falling out.
   
   
   
  • Pupils disappear, indicating shock, anger, or a bad pun. They may also disappear in times of extreme pain.
   
   
   
  • When eating some spicy food, a character's face turns entirely red. The character's lips might turn swollen and red and the character occasionally breathes fire.
• • Characters sometimes fly off into the distance and finally disappear as a star in the sky when defeated in a duel. This is a common running gag in the Pokémon series with Team Rocket, appearing also sometimes in Love Hina, and characters can be KO'd in this way in the Super Smash Bros. video game series. In-game, this is known as a "Star Finish" ("Star KO" in Melee).
   
   
   
  • The character will knock another character into the air when something stupid is said. (Frequently seen in Ranma ½)
   
   
   
  • Two rivals may glare at each other, and have lightning bolts cross the gap between their eyes.
   
   
   
  • Spirals replacing the eyes indicate that the character is under hypnosis, using hypnosis, or subconsciously attracted towards something as though they were hypnotized. Alternatively, spiraled eyes could indicate that the character is unconscious, but usually after a more trivial or comedic fight rather than a major battle. These are also used if the character is dizzy. Spiraled eyes are often accompanied by a completely white, banana-shaped mouth with equally white drool dripping down one corner. (Frequently seen in Rurouni Kenshin)
   
   
   
  • Hearts replacing the eyes while the character clasps their hands is a sign that the character is attracted to someone.
   
   
   
  • The screen colors being inverted generally represents moments of unexpected pain, such when someone is shot or hit with a knife. This effect can also be used to express extreme shock.
   
   
   
  • When mocking or imitating another character, a character's face can actually morph into the face of the indivdual that they are mocking/imitating.
   
   
   
  • A large spherical bump of skin with black dots shows up on the head (through the hair, in this case) or another part of the body if it gets hit (the black dots representing skin pores). Sometimes a crossed patch may appear on top of it.
• • A large bubble coming out of the nose of the character indicates sleep (from boredom or exaustion for example). Female characters are almost never shown with nose bubbles
   
   
   
  • Eyes in which the pupils and irises disappear could either indicate shock or depict a charicter who is blinded (usually the latter).

• The background may change to suit the mood of the scene, usually disregarding the physical setting of the scene. For instance:

   
   
  • Action scenes (more prominently those that focus in a single character) have for background a dynamic set of parallel lines, all of the same color hue and drawn in the direction the character is going to (if they are facing forward though, these lines are vertical).
   
  • The background of a romantic scene or the introduction of a beautiful and attractive character may be a motif of flowers or a translucent scene with twinkling lights (sometimes also containing bubbles).
   
  • A scene where one character is in a rage may have a distorted, jagged background showing flames.
   
  • A sudden gust of wind (and/or a loud crow flying in the background in a very straight line; the sound of the crow is a pun on its sounding like a-ho which means stupid) accompanying a bad joke or embarrassment. (this is a running gag in Episode 101 of Naruto)
   
  • An expression of disbelief is commonly accompanied by a single-color background with prominent vertical black lines at the top of the frame.
   
  • A lone spotlight shining on a character comically dramatizes despair. (see Menchi from Excel Saga)
   
  • A kyokujitsuki war flag appears behind the character when they feel extremely and unreasonably proud or determined, complete with them standing on a heroic pose. It usually has a trumpet sounding in triumph as background music. 
     
    • Alternatively, they might be standing near a sea with giant powerful waves.
     
     
   
  • Hitodama appear floating near the character when they feel depressed or scares other characters with their dark attitude.
   
  • Very anguished character falls down in a very dark void with other objects circling them.

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• A less cynical take on the appeal of more lightly-worded comics is that with less text, the marriage of words and pictures is a more natural and harmonious thing, easier to read, easier to understand, and more emotionally affecting.

• 
  A less cynical take on the appeal of more lightly-worded comics is that with less text, the marriage of words and pictures is a more natural and harmonious thing, easier to read, easier to understand, and more emotionally affecting.
  
  
  - Nele Noppe on 2007-12-06

• the many ways that anime crosses over from the "virtual" to the "real." The most obvious example is cosplay and the many forms of licensed merchandise, such as toys and models, that in effect bring anime through the screen and into people's hands. When fans take anime and manga characters, and use them to create their own fanzine manga (dôjinshi), a similar kind of translation effect is underway, that is, taking imagined characters, re-imagining through our own minds, and the creating  something new in the world.
• Anime creators always struggle with challenge of bringing the "real" into
   the "virtual" space of animation.
• Anime fans have long debated whether Anime is best understood as a genre (or perhaps a set of related genres), as an aesthetic style, as a mode of production, or as a transmedia phenomenon.
• Cyberpunk has long been a vehicle for authors and animators to reflect upon the influence of media on contemporary culture

  • From Wikipedia: "Cyberpunk plots often center on a conflict among hackers, artificial intelligences, and mega corporations. They tend to be set in a near-future Earth, rather than the far future settings or galactic vistas found in novels like Isaac Asimov's Foundation or Frank Herbert's Dune. "
  Add Sticky Note
• captured the anime aesthetic
• The performers developed their 'signature poses' and we worked from those to generate a language of motion. In the end, it was much harder than I thought it might be, to go through the entire piece in this sort of 'physical karaoke' but without ever speaking a word. It helped us reconsider the importance of breath and sound as components of human expression, because in the live action anime, working with the pre-recorded soundtracks, the performers never got to make a sound.

  • Are these 'signature poses' a key part of the visual language of manga? Are they in some way distinct, encoded, in ways non-Japanese readers must be informed of in order to understand?
• creating phrases with our bodies.

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