When artists go to create a new female character, they have many options to choose from. Various hair colors or unique hairstyles like twin-tails, personality archetypes like tsundere or kuudere, and so on. One popular trope is to make their characters flat in the chest area, which can result in some amusing interactions with other characters as the character deals with her A-cup angst. I asked J-List’s awesome customers to share their favorite flat-chested anime girls, and tell me why they thought these characters were awesome.
Why Do Fans Love Flat-Chested Anime Girls?
First of all, let’s examine the moe aspects of flat chests in the context of anime. The concept of moe is all about creating characters who are so cute, fans are unable to avoid feelings of love and protectiveness for them.
One of the “elements” of moe is that characters must have some flaw or imperfection that makes them charming to fans. This might be anything from clumsiness to wearing glasses to having crooked teeth, which is usually expressed in anime with a single fang.
The word for a flat chest in Japanese is 貧乳 hinnyuu, literally “impoverished breasts,” although pettanko is a common slang word. One popular “flaw” to give a character to make her charming is to make her a flat-chested anime girl and give her anxiety about her lack of breasts.
This leads to all kinds of fun character interactions between A-cup characters and other well-endowed girls, leading to comedy for the audience.
The grand tradition of anime girls fretting about their bust size isn’t new and has been part of anime for decades.
Not only does the story get more drama thanks to the confrontations between flat and busty girls, but the audience usually gets some visual stimulation in their dopamine-serotonin complex. It’s free real estate!
Another fun aspect of flat-chested girls is how they feel their “disadvantage” requires them to gambaru if they want to win romantically, so they’re sometimes ready to work harder to win their crush’s attention than they might otherwise. Flat girls also feel the need to drink lots of milk for some reason.
I love the hijinx that can result when flat-chested characters do battle with busty girls. This scene from Hyakka Ryoran Samurai Girls was comedy gold.
(NSFW tweet.) pic.twitter.com/CMIWwO3zot
— Peter Payne (@JListPeter) June 11, 2021
Of course, animators know exactly what they’re doing, creating characters who anime fans will feel attracted to for complex reasons.
The 11 Best Flat-Chested Anime Girls
Let’s take a look at ten great flat-chested anime girls, submitted by J-List readers!
Megumin was a fan favorite the minute KonoSuba: God’s Blessing on This Wonderful World! started airing. Her flat chest and cute mannerisms make a great foil for the more buxom Darkness.
Rem Galleu is another flat-chested anime girl that fans can’t get enough of. She can’t beat Shera in the chest department, but that’s why we love her.
Aika from Gonna Be a Twintail was another cute girl who’s reactions when someone points out her lack of chest was another adorable character.
Nico from Love Live! has so much cute charm, she doesn’t neat boobs for us to love her.
Another character who lacks a large bosom is Mikoto Misaka from Railgun and Index. Naturally, Kuroko is an expert at making her feel extra self-conscious about it.
In a series stacked with characters who are… stacked, Kuroko is a breath of fresh air and a favorite of many fans.
We can’t talk about flat-chested anime girls without exploring the Holy Trinity of tsunderes, Shana from Shakugan no Shana, Louise from Zero no Tsukaima and Taiga from Toradora!, who are basically the same character. Which girl is your favorite?
In the end, one reason fans might be drawn to flat-chested anime girls is that they might feel more humble and enjoyable to date than haughty girls with big breasts. Because when you hug a flat-chested girl, you’re closer to her heart.
Sometimes we get extra-lucky, and our favorite flat-chested 2D characters assume 3D form as figures. See our Hyperdimension Neptunia products here.
Thanks for reading this post about the attraction of flat-chested anime girls. Did we miss your favorite pechapai girl? Post her below, or share her with us on Twitter!
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