The saying goes that thick thighs save lives, but according to producer on the Atelier serie, Junzo Hosoi, when speaking about fan favourite character Reisalin “Ryza” Stout, they are also quite popular during economic recessions.
Japan, having experienced a “lost decade” during the 90s and ongoing recession indicators ever since, it seems it was the perfect audience for such a character (and her own trilogy being quite good on its own merits from what I hear). In an interview with 4Gamer, Hosoi spoke about his perspective on the matter.
“This is just my perception, but I think that the economy has an influence on what kind of designs become popular. There are certain types of characters that are needed in times of recession, and there are types of characters that are embraced only when the economy is booming.” He would then go on to note a theory that people want more physically substantial body types during economic recessions.
Now this might sound a bit peculiar to you, but it turns out a quick Google provides academic evidence to the matter! Not recent findings either, take this 2005 paper from Leif Nelson and Evan Morrison titled “The symptoms of resource scarcity: judgments of food and finances influence preferences for potential partners“. In laymans terms, in hard times, people may find physical signs that you aren’t skipping meals more attractive.
Back to Hosoi’s interview, he would later speak on Atelier’s next protagonist, Yumia. Now, Yumia doesn’t share the same body type as Ryza, instead leaning towards the more slim standard you see across many other games. However, she was designed with more global tastes in mind.
Funnily enough, this is also tied to economics. You see, Japan’s ongoing recessions and financial troubles have led various Japanese-based video game companies to widen their net to appeal to gamers around the world. Take Sony’s shift to bringing games to the PC, something that may not make a huge impact to domestic sales but certainly is important in America and Europe.
Gust, the developers behind Atelier, have found great success from the Ryza trilogy, not only in Japan, but overseas as well. As such, this new audience with money to spend has been taken into account. Poland on its lonesome is set to overtake the GDP of Japan next year, and that’s just Poland.
So there we have it. Some reasoning behind thicker thighs in the Atelier Ryza trilogy, and some insight on why the designs are going back to the slim look. This is the only job I’ve ever had that led me to read through economic reports and 2005 studies, only to connect the dots between the academic insight within and anime characters.