by kthulhu » Sun Nov 24, 2002 2:55 pm
I think it's because the Japanese are typically rather hairless. Additionally, strong facial hair is not really considered macho. It is usually used for villains, wise men, smartish people (occasionally) people like that. Even then it can be kind of sparse. For instance:
In Evangelion, Gendo is the only one with any real facial hair. He's a bad guy. In Trigun, a few bad guys have facial hair. None of the good guys really do.
Also, note the bishounen, the "pretty man", who is a common character type. Bishounen have feminine features. Since facial hair is not feminine (or natural) on a woman, and kills the feminine man image, they don't draw it.
And I'd imagine it's harder to draw facial hair around the mouth, since there's a lot of action there. When you have to draw a detailed mouth opening and closing (especially nowadays, where half assed animation doesn't cut it), drawing the effects this has on facial hair is a pain in the ass. Regular hair, on the other hand, stays pretty static.
And PLEASE. Chest hair wasn't that big in the 70's, the supposed era when it reigned, and it sure isn't considered very appealing nowadays.
Also, Fushigi Yuugi is full of bishounen. At least, it looks that way to me. Note what I said about bishounen above.
I'm out...