- Many people wonder why manga eyes are so large when, as a traditionally Japanese art form, they do not reflect the typical Japanese person's appearance. Arguably, manga eyes are designed to be so big because it allows the artist to portray the characters' emotions more accurately. The "large style" was founded by Osamu Tezuka, the "father of manga," who was believed to be influenced by older cartoons such as Betty Boop and Disney characters like Mickey Mouse and Bambi, who also had big eyes. Because of the nature of manga (originally being a still-framed cartoon-strip style), the use of big eyes allowed the artist to change the eye style to reflect the character's emotions.
- Pokemon brought the manga art form to the international mass media in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and presented its own distinctive style of eyes. The characters' eyes were even larger than the majority of manga styles, and were characterized by an elongated oval shape that allowed the artist to demonstrate character's emotions. To portray sadness, the artist often draws the eye as even bigger and with a single tear to its side. If the character is female, she has a curved outline to the eye area with two eyelashes; a male character has a more defined, stronger, straight-line defined area.
- Many manga styles present their characters as having very darkened black eyes with the tiniest white circle to represent the pupil. The purpose of this style is to decrease the human element. Emotion is reflected, instead, by the eyebrows and placement of the white dot. For example, an angry character's pupil is high in the eye and the eyebrow is severe, pulled tight into the center of the forehead.
- There is a wide range of other eye styles; some are more cartoon-like than others. For example, the Koge Donbo style and Lucky Star styles are very unrealistic. The Lucky Star style, in particular, presents its characters as having square, box-like eyes. Other styles are much more realistic, such as the Watase Yuu and the Gundam Seed styles. These styles present their characters' eyes in a far more detailed way and with a more human-like aspect; the eye is smaller and more elliptical, with extra shading and a less "cute cartoon" look.