Female plussize characters in Anime and Video Games

In one of my previous blog posts I talked about how plussize cosplayers are often bullied or critisized for their bodies. Often, people also ask: “Why don’t you cosplay characters who fit your body type?” Well, the problem is, what choices do I really have as a female? Can anyone name a plussize female anime character from any popular show? And Im talking real plussize here, not the Robyn Lawley kind.

Weight has been mentioned in several Anime really. In the first Season of Sailor Moon, Usagi Tsukino often complained about her weight. At least in the German dub, which I saw during my childhood. Yet oddly enough, she was portrayed as having the same perfect body type as all her fellow soldiers. Another character, who was once described on the slightly bigger side, and the emphasis here really is on slightly for me, is Miaka Yuuki from Fushigi Yuugi. She was even drawn as slightly bigger than her friend Yui, but even she was far from anything plussize. And honestly, I cannot think of any plussize Anime females, who are part of the main cast.

The gaming universe is a little kinder in that regard. Big game titles do contain ladies with curves, however, most of them are older women. You don’t really see any young plussize main characters. Well, at least almost. Thanks to a friend’s tumblr, I managed to stumble over this character:

I was surprised and delighted at th same time! This young girl is a MAIN character for a dating sim game! And no, she does not undergo any magical transformations and is completely true to herself! The other element that really had me researching into this game twice, is that Hachi Koi is an actual dating sim game, a genre which usually features only girls with perfect features. Basically females, which guys playing these games would find desirable and would dream of dating. Unfortunately I couldnt find any statistics on how popular Kurumi is within the game, compared to the other available characters, but the sheer fact that a plussize character exists in this genre already makes me happy!

Still, looking at the scene overall, there is a great lack of young female plussize characters out there. It doesnt really bother me per se, because I enjoy the series for the plots and animation, no matter what body size the characters have, but I just want people on the internet to be aware of the fact that plussize cosplayers cannot necessary just stick to characters their size, for the simple reason that there almost arent any.

And while I said that I essentially enjoy Anime for the plot, I would be over the moon if one day there was a short slice of life animation series with a plussize female as the main character, just following her through her every day life. I think it would find an audience out there, as well as maybe portray some of the struggles and prejudices the plussize scene faces. Of course, taking into account Japan’s attitude on bigger bodies, this is never going to happen. But a girl can always dream, right?