Why do ANIME characters eyes always look like they did an 8 ball when they are excited?

Question

Freakin eyes buggin outta their head. I seriously don't understand anime.

Answer 1

Haha this is a pretty common reaction to anyone watching anime.  Cartoons (when either animated in Japan or here in the US) have the ability to express emotions in many different kinds of ways.  Because cartoons tend to be exaggerations of reality, a lot of things are, well... exaggerated!

Anyway like I was saying, Japanese animators tend to use a lot of over-exaggeration as well as other drawing techniques to display emotion.  You may see lines appear above a characters head when they are dissapointed, or a star shaped mark on their forehead when they are angry.  After you watch anime for a while, these come as second nature to normal emotion cues, like the raising of one's voice or a furrowing of the brow.  

The eyes thing is because eyes tend to be the biggest indicator of emotion.  Your eyes never lie, as the saying goes, so as an animator, they oversize the eyes so that any kind of emotion can be seen clearly.  

Answer 2

When both of your eyes are twice the size of your mouth or larger, it is hard to look like you aren't abusing cocaine.

Answer 3

:[

bcus its cute...

Answer 4

Of Reason took the words right out of my mouth lol. Said it perfectly -^^-

Answer 5

Anime is for nerds. Real men watch south park and family guy for their cartoons. haha jk

Answer 6

Anime character are always drawn with very expressive and sometimes, exaggerated eyes.kind of a "windows to the soul" concept