Manga iconography
Japanese manga has developed a visual language or iconography for expressing emotion and other internal character states.
However, not all manga artists adhere to the conventions most popularized in the West through series such as Akira, Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball, and Ranma ½.
Certain visual symbols have been developed over the years to become common methods of denoting emotions, physical conditions and mood: Large eyes have become a permanent fixture in manga and anime since the 1960s when Osamu Tezuka was inspired by Disney cartoons from the United States and started drawing them in this way.
Sometimes this death effect is also used to indicate characters who are emotionless due to trauma or loss of conscious control because of possession (ghost, demon, zombie, magic, etc.).
Enlargement of the eyes, where they become huge and perfectly round with tiny pupils and no iris and going beyond the reach of the face (often shown with the mouth becoming like a stretched semicircle, the point of which extends past the chin) symbolises extreme excitement.
Similarly, turning eyes into two thick half-circles, conveys a cute, delighted look (see Character design section below).
This represents a broad spectrum of emotions, including embarrassment, exasperation, confusion, dismay and shock, not all of which are necessarily considered to be sweat-inducing under normal conditions.
[D 3]: 9 Actual physical perspiration in manga is signified by even distribution of sweat drops over the body, occasionally on top of clothing or hair.
[citation needed] Parallel vertical lines with dark shading over the head or under the eye may represent mortification, fatigue, or horror.
Throbbing "cross popping" veins, usually depicted as a hollow cruciform in the upper head region, indicate anger or irritation.
The most common features include youthfulness as a physical trait (younger age or pigtails) or as an emotional trait such as a naive or innocent outlook, a childlike personality, or some obvious sympathetic weakness the character works hard to correct (extreme clumsiness or a life-threatening disease) but never really succeeds to get rid of.
