Anime fans can be intensely passionate about character designs, obsessing over features like twintail hair or unique hair colors. One feature fans love to focus on is sexy thighs on girls in their favorite anime. I thought it would be fun to do some “research” on the history of anime thighs, including “zettai ryouiki” socks, over the years!
Great news! J-List is having a $40-off-$200-or-more holiday coupon you can use for all in-stock items shipping from Japan! (Except calendars and Lucky Boxes.) This means you can make a big order of ecchi products for men, manga and doujinshi, JAV DVDs and Blu-rays, or hentai products and save big. Start browsing here!
The History of Fetishizing Anime Thighs in Japan
Japan has long had a fascination with parts of the female body that aren’t usually considered sexual. The nape of the neck, armpits, belly buttons, and feet are all examples of features that inspire plenty of fanart, despite not being traditionally erotic. Thighs are another area of female anatomy that fans love to celebrate, so it’s no surprise that anime creators go out of their way to design characters with especially appealing legs.
Muscular female thighs became a trademark of video game characters in the ’90s, and fans soon started noticing the incredible upper legs of characters like Chun-Li from Street Fighter II and Mai Shiranui from Fatal Fury. In anime, characters like Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop, Revy from Black Lagoon, and Yoko Littner from Gurren Lagann made fans obsess over their striking, well-defined legs.
Then came zettai ryouiki, the term for the I buy sausage amai san-senchi or “sweet 3 cm space” — from the opening of the Lucky Star theme song — between the top of a girl’s thigh-high socks and the hem of her skirt. The word means “absolute territory,” and originated with the A.T. Fields in Evangelion before becoming a standard feature of anime character design, helped along by characters like Rin Tohsaka from Fate/stay night and Vocaloid Hatsune Miku. The fashion trend took over both in anime and in the real world for a decade or more. Suddenly, no one could deny the power of amazing sexy thighs.
The Secret to a Great Thigh-Focused Anime
I believe that for a thigh-focused anime to reach its potential, it has to make smart choices about what to show and what to hold back. These include:
- Restraint is important. Well-animated thighs on a cute anime girl are only meaningful if the show stops short of more familiar forms of fanservice, like bouncing boobs or pantyshots.
- The front of a girl’s thighs is the choicest cut. Yes, the back of her legs are technically “thighs,” but usually get viewed as part of her ass if that’s the angle we’re shown. Similarly, spreadeagled thighs exposing a girl’s pantsu are no longer sending the same signals to our brains as a traditional view of a girl’s well-shaped thighs.
- Anime thighs are best if they’re the sexiest fanservice in an otherwise “pure” anime. A brief shot of detailed, sexy thighs gives fans a hit of dopamine where they least expect it. But the shapeliest legs can’t compete with endless upskirt shots or jiggling breasts. This is why you probably can’t think of many full-blown ecchi or hentai shows that feature amazing thighs. In those genres, we’re usually paying attention to a different part of the girl’s anatomy most of the time.
Ten Reasons Anime Thighs Are Special!
Let’s look at why sexy thighs in anime have stood the test of time with fans!
Bulma from Dragon Ball Made Fans Notice Her Thighs
The Dragon Ball series was extremely important for the modern anime industry, as it helped make anime a household name. And Bulma’s thicc fanservice moments were a big part of the early draw!
Anime Thighs Add Tasteful Fanservice to Non-Ecchi Anime
It’s important for anime to stay within its genre, whether it’s a cute-girls-doing-cute-things moe show or a full-on ecchi harem. Focusing on a character’s thighs is a nice way for animators to get playful with their characters while keeping things within the moe genre.
Want to Make Your Character Popular? Focus on Her Thighs!
Mona Kawai from the Medaka Kuroiwa is Impervious to My Charms anime was a good example of how “thigh appeal” can help make an anime successful.
Sexy Thighs Can Define Characters Entirely
Some anime, like SSSS.Gridman and Atelier Ryza, couldn’t exist without sexy thighs. They’re literally the core element of these two series.
What was the first ecchi anime? Read my blog post exploring the origins of your favorite anime tropes here!
Anime Legs Can Be Pure and Sexy at the Same Time
I love the way subtle suggestive imagery can be woven into an otherwise “clean” anime, giving fans a bit of delicious cognitive dissonance while they watch.
Sexy Thighs Can Define the Visual Language in an Anime
Some series, like That Time I Was Kidnapped to a Rich Girl’s School to be a “Commoner Sample” (Shomin Sample) anime, seem to build the entire story around sexy thighs. I approve of this 100%.
It’s Great When Animators Focus on the Details
I love it when an anime takes the time to focus on the tactile features of thighs, including how thick and soft they would feel in the hand, or showing the little bit of fat visible at the top, as the leg connects to the girl’s butt. It’s the simple things in life you treasure.
Zettai Ryouiki Defined Anime for a Decade
There’s nothing like a character showing off the “absolute zone” between her over-knee socks and her skirt or shorts. I loved the zettai ryouiki era, roughly from 2004’s Fate/Stay Night through 2011’s Infinite Stratos or so. You still see it in characters occasionally today, though it’s not the “hot new visual fetish” it once was.
Thighs Go Great with Tights, Too
Well-defined sexy thighs are great au naturel, but they look amazing when covered with dark tights, too.
Anime Thighs Can Be Dangerous!
You have to be careful when thinking about sexy thighs in anime, though. They can cause you to spend way too many hours doing “research” for blog posts like this one!
Thanks for reading this blog post about the history of anime thighs, and why we all love them so much. What anime first made you obsess over girls from anime or video games with sexy thighs? Tell us in the comments below!
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Great news! J-List is having a $40-off-$200-or-more holiday coupon you can use for all in-stock items shipping from Japan! (Except calendars and Lucky Boxes.) This means you can make a big order of ecchi products for men, manga and doujinshi, JAV DVDs and Blu-rays, or hentai products and save big. Start browsing here!
