Over at the Japanmanship weblog, pseudonymous developer JC Barnett has been discussing the differences between Japanese and Western character design, with particular reference to the recent release of the Western-developed, Japanese-styled MySims.

Skipping over some of the fun, but nitpicky nitpicking of MySims' stylings, here are a couple of notable points on Japanese graphical paradigms: "As a general rule, which isn’t at all foolproof, and I’m sure keen-eyed readers will be happy to point out the exceptions of which I’m sure there are many, there are three basic types of character: the realistic, the manga and the abstract. It’s interesting to note that the more abstract you go, the less detailing there is, until the characters are almost 2D, graphically designed Dick Bruna-esque icons."

JC also adds - and it's hard not to agree: "Characterizations too differ vastly in Japan. Whereas the West seems to want to play hard-bitten underdog single-army war machines with ludicrously hard names, like Trent Bullet or Cutter Hardarse, in Japan you see more effete teenagers with deep running hinterlands, a band of friends and ludicrously faux Western names." And both of them are tres amusant.