The linguistics of nosebleeds

[foxinthestars]

It just recently hit me and struck me as interesting that the nosebleed as stylized symbol in anime/manga seems to have evolved since I've been a fan. In my early days as a viewer, it seemed to be something that happened mostly (if not exclusively) to men, and always in a sexualized context. A scene of the male lead catching the female lead naked in a bath from Kimagure Orange Road springs to mind (just so I can really date myself), and collecting the '90s-vintage Psychic Force manga I've seen it come up to show a male character's homoerotic feelings. But now, watching Acchi Kocchi (admittedly a somewhat over-the-top cartoonish show), the nosebleeds happen to the girls, are more extreme and stylized, and seem to have broadened into a more generalized --- albeit somewhat hysterical --- squee gesture.

Has anyone else noticed this, or am I making a pattern out of too few data points?

Comments

[unjapanologist]

I've no idea if there's been any historical development in which gender gets the nosebleeds. But on the nosebleeds page of Pixiv's encyclopedia, three of the four example pics seem to be girls. Nosebleeds are described as something that happens when characters "koufun suru" (興奮), meaning "get excited". It's still over the sight of a gorgeous somebody, is the vibe I get.

But I don't watch anime. What sort of situations are the Acchi Kocchi nosebleeds happening in?

[branchandroot]

*thoughtful* I've definitely seen the trend of more girls getting them, to go along with the boys. The boys still do it, but it's always been confined to romantic comedy and harem; I've seen it showing up a lot more as comic relief in shoujo in general. From my own data points, it does still seem connected with "omg so hot" moments, though, like fanning over an idol.

[foxinthestars]

Usually one or two of the girls get them when the male lead does something charming, which would fit the sexual connotation, but there's one female character who is shown as timid/excitable/somewhat hysterical and gets them more often from various things, including the male lead doing something charming toward other girls, and even cats doing cute things in the past episode. In Acchi Kocchi, it's also a cartoonish spray or splash of varying size, where in the older examples I cited it tended to be just a straight line down from the nose. (The Psychic Force comics example I can think of is here if you're curious; it's from a commercially published 4koma anthology, not a doujinshi, although I'm unclear whether that one was licensed.)

[foxinthestars]

::nod:: Acchi Kocchi would fit into "romantic comedy" and/or "shoujo comic relief." The appearance of a broader meaning in it might also be down to one comically hysterical character (see my reply to Nele). Good to know I wasn't just imagining the gender shift.

[unjapanologist]

I think I remember sprays from my old anime-watching days, and that was ten years ago, but my memory could be playing tricks on me there.

Sounds like the nosebleeds in Acchi Kocchi are more in reaction to moe things in general rather than sexually tinted moe?

Clearly, nosebleeds deserve more investigation.

[foxinthestars]

At least for the one character, "moe in general" sounds about right. When I think on it, I do think sprays are long-standing (when Scott McCloud remarks on the nosebleed-as-symbol in Understanding Comics, his example is a spray, and that was the early '90s), probably more of a genre and situation thing; AK has just ramped it up to comic absurdity with gracefully curling splashes that are sometimes as large as the character.

It's the evolution-of-symbol thing, it's kind of interesting.