Anime is considered by many commentators to be a creative art form. As such, it has certain styles that characterize it overall and which differentiate anime studios from each other. In general, all anime is characterized by exaggerated physical features like oversized eyes, large hair styles and longer than life arms and legs. Wildly shaped speech bubbles and speed lines also dominate anime films, comics and shorts.
Some anime appears more realistic than others but all are influenced with varying line thicknesses by Japanese calligraphy and painting. Examples of anime titles include FLCL or "Furi Kuri," Jin-Roh, Pokemon and Astro Boy.
Body proportions in anime figures do not stray far from reality. Animators first determine head size and then make most characters seven or eight heads tall. Anime characters are characterized by large eyes, which animators use to display emotion, and big, colorful hair. Characters will display one large drop of sweat when nervous; women will sometimes manifest a mallet out of nowhere when angry to hit another character, and men will develop bloody noses around women they feel attraction to, based off an old Japanese wives' tale.
Hair is an opportunity for anime artists to suggest symbolism in their characters. Anime characters can have hair of any color, even colors like blonde and red that are non-traditional for Japanese people, or unrealistic colors like pink and green which don't occur naturally in real life. Hair colors are assigned to characters to help the audience easily distinguish one character from another and to distinguish a character's personality. A feisty character may have red hair; main characters will have traditional black hair, while conniving, vain characters will have blonde hair. Alien characters may have purple, pink or blue hair to reflect their supernatural natures.
Colors are also used symbolically in anime to represent or display emotion in characters. Blushing from embarrassment for example, is shown in different colors to communicate various levels of embarrassment or shame. Slight embarrassment is shown with thin red lines across the cheek while extreme shame is expressed with an entire face turning red. Other times, characters may blush blue to indicate embarrassment mixed with anger.