View source for Animation Anatomy Aging

{{trope}}
[[File:old and young queen.jpg|link=Rose of Versailles|frame|[[Marie Antoinette]] in her teens, her twenties, and thirties. ]]


In [[Real Life]], people will have changed in their bodies as they grow older, and a few of the changes are near universal, to indicate at least the general age of a person.

In drawn media, these changes aren't always easy to show in the way people look in real life, so there are standards to show these changes in stylized formats.

For Anime, Manga, and [[Animesque]] shows, aging often follows this pattern:
* Child: Character is round and tubby, no difference between boys and girls. Eyes the size of saucers.
* Pre-teen: Girls develop A cup breasts. Boys develop [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics|baseball caps]]. Eyes begin shrinking.
* Teen: Analogous to real world adulthood. Teen boys may develop a physique to rival the [[Big Guy]]s, girls will completely fill out.
* Adult: Eyes are smallest, and almond shaped, although still larger than in reality.
* Old: Slight shrinkage, wrinkles and grey hair.
* Geezer: A wrinkled prune of a person who is [[Miniature Senior Citizens|3 feet (1 meter) tall]], often with [[Eyes Always Shut|squinted eyes]].

Compare [[Good Eyes, Evil Eyes]], [[Fun Size]].

Contrast [[Older Than They Look]], [[Younger Than They Look]].
{{examples|Examples where ''Animation Anatomy Aging'' is especially notable:}}
== Eyes ==
=== Anime and Manga ===
* ''[[Rose of Versailles]]'' does this.
* Completely ignored in ''La Seine no Hoshi'', a [[Follow the Leader|Rip Off]] of ''The Rose of Versailles'' with ''[[Zorro]]'' elements. While the series covers about the same time span as ''The Rose of Versailles'', none of the characters age (or [[Limited Wardrobe|change their clothes]].) Most painfully obvious in the heroine's sidekick, a boy of about 11 years, who never shows any sign of maturing over the course of 20 years!
* ''[[Galaxy Express 999]]''
* ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'': Particularly apparent with Parn and Deedlit (even though she's an elf!), if you look at the difference in their designs between ''Records'' and ''Chronicles of a Heroic Knight''. In the former, Parn is barely more than a boy, all huge-eyed and smooth-faced. His design has rougher lines and more narrow eyes many years later, and the young-looking design is found in the new generation of heroes, instead, particularly in Spark.
* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. The [[Distant Finale]] seems to suggest that greater age gives you a squarer jawline, in addition to the requisite smaller eyes and wrinkles.
* ''[[Ooku]]'' characters tend to die young or retire, but the shogun Tsunayoshi and her companion Yoshiyasu start showing their age after a while.
* ''[[Candy Candy]]''
* The child characters in ''[[Wandering Son]]'' age visually over the 6+ years. Their faces in particular have leaned down and become less round. Compare Nitori in [http://29.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lwisgfWx8Y1r2w685o1_500.png elementary to him in high school].

=== Video Games ===
* The ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series has the teenage characters subtly but noticeably age a year, compare [https://web.archive.org/web/20120617055120/http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20080403045930/kingdomhearts/images/a/a0/Kh-sora-model.jpg Sora at 14] and [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20091025225831/kingdomhearts/images/f/fb/Sora-3.jpg Sora at 15]{{Dead link}}; at 14, his eyes are larger and his cheeks are chubbier.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'' features a seven year time skip, and has several small children who grow up into attractive men and women. Compare [https://web.archive.org/web/20141008053203/http://www.zeldawiki.org/images/5/53/Young_Link.png Link at ten] with his round face and big, innocent eyes and [https://web.archive.org/web/20160410004718/http://zeldawiki.org/images/d/d6/Adult_Link.png at seventeen], with narrower eyes and more chiseled features.
* ''[[Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Akaneia|Shadow Dragon]]'' follows Marth's life and begins the story with Marth at a young(er) age. His expressions in cutscenes are very calm and passive-looking, but after the second half of the game, his age seems to progress, as his hair is longer, his skin is slightly darker, and his face bears an angry, yet confident expression.


=== Western Animation ===
* In ''[[South Park]]'', the kindergartners' eyes are a good 50% of their face. Older kids have smaller, but round eyes. Adults have eyes a bit smaller than that.
* Happens to Candace in the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' episode "Phineas and Ferb's Quantum Boogaloo".
* In ''[[KaBlam!]]!'', all the adults in the Henry and June shorts have tiny eyes. The main duo, being somewhere around ten, have pretty big eyes ([[Art Evolution|at least in the later seasons]].
* Flashbacks in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' give all the main characters huge eyes (including, strangely enough, [[Creepy Child|Azula]]) and round faces.


== Body ==

=== Anime and Manga ===
* [[Rumiko Takahashi]]'s older characters practically define the "prune" style, e.g. Happosai and Cologne in ''[[Ranma ½|Ranma 1/2]]'', and grandmother Godai in ''[[Maison Ikkoku]]''. In one ''[[Ranma ½]]'' episode, Mousse gets smacked when he puts on his glasses to see Cologne, and screams "Ahhhhh! [http://sabichibi.sakura.ne.jp/karikari/topping/deka/R0029165.jpg Mackerel jerky!]"


=== Film ===
* In ''[[Up (animation)|Up]]'', Carl is perfectly round as a child, but becomes more angular in shape as he ages until he resembles a cube. Ellie, on the other hand, remains rounded throughout.


=== [[Western Animation]] ===
* In ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' episode "Sidekicks Assemble", the Teen Titans are [http://images2.fanpop.com/image/photos/11600000/sidekicks-assemble-batman-brave-and-the-bold-11657129-600-337.jpg pre-teen] in the [[Cold Opening]] flashback, and then [http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100907233708/braveandbold/images/thumb/0/0b/Sidekicksassemble-1-.jpg/300px-Sidekicksassemble-1-.jpg teenage] in the main story.

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Aging Tropes]]
[[Category:Eye Tropes]]
[[Category:Anime Reality]]
[[Category:Anatomy Tropes]]
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]