Ask John: Why Are Anime Girls in Suspended Animation Always Naked?

Question:
I’ve noticed a trend among anime that is a little peculiar. In many different shows, people (girls, in particular) who sleep for long periods (comas, etc.) are bare. Such as Midori from “Midori Days,” Lucia from “Lunar 2,” Melfiel from “Outlaw Star,” Leele from “Gravion,” a sick woman from “Wolf’s Rain.” Is this just a ploy for fan service? Or is there a custom that I am overlooking? Or does it just boil down to hygene?

Answer:
I think you’ve pointed out a clear, established trend in anime. There are too many examples covering too long a period of time for this to be merely coincidence. Just for reference, a two additional examples of nude sleeping anime girls include Eve in Megazone 23 part 3 and Althea from the 1987 Good Morning Althea OAV. I honestly don’t know if this custom is based on some tradition or myth, but I suspect that it’s not. While I can’t say for certain exactly why anime girls that sleep for an extended period are often nude, I can offer my personal theory. I believe that anime girls in suspended animation or a long coma are often nude because their nudity serves as a visual cue to their condition. Typically female characters in anime are illustrated as sleeping or waking in pajamas or underwear. That may be a reflection of Japanese reality. It’s also probably a convenient way to avoid depicting unnecessary nudity in anime intended for wide audiences. So if clothed girls typically represent normality, sleeping nude represents something else. By consistently depicting anime girls who sleep for long periods without clothes, the image of sleeping nude women becomes immediately synonymous with women in unnaturally long slumber. The only problem with that theory is that it implies a collective, conscious unity of image within the anime production community; an agreement which probably doesn’t exist.

The explanation for that coincidental uniformity may lie in a second motivation. The image of nudity symbolizes a natural, peaceful, tranquil, and timeless state of being. Nudity also implies a state of innocence and purity. Pajamas and underwear signify a state of transition. Someone wearing underwear is in-between the state of dress and undress. Someone wearing pajamas will soon change into daily clothes. So clothing itself represents change. Nudity, however, subconsciously implies a state of naturalness and unconscious ease. A nude woman isn’t connected to any time period or location by her garb. Furthermore, a nude, peacefully sleeping woman is the image of tranquility and gracefulness. Outlaw Star’s Melfina and Megazone 23’s Eve, for example, awaken nude because they are pure and new to the world they awake in. So the visual symbolism of nudity has a strong power to subconsciously affect the impression a viewer has upon seeing a scene or character. I think that anime subconsciously and consistently apprehends and utilizes the imagery of nudity to wordlessly express character and characteristics about female characters beginning with their first appearance on screen. The consistent use of this visual symbolism also establishes a convention that assists viewers in recognizing and understanding visual cues and situations in anime instantly, without need of explanation. When a female anime character is introduced asleep, nude, and tranquil, the viewer instantly knows, even without any explanation or introduction, that the character has been asleep for a long time and isn’t just taking a normal night time snooze.