Impression of characters in the Japanese magical girl anime metaseries, “Pretty Cure”

Abstract

In the present study, the impressions of 94 figures of heroines appeared in “Pretty Cure” metaseries were investigated using semantic differential method. The set of 94 figures contained three different types of models. The results showed that the impression space was spanned by three factors, stylishness, activity and cuteness. The stylishness was deeply affected by the proportion ratio of head to body size, and the activity was deeply affected by the figure size, itself. Other than the figure size, it was suggested that colors cover the figures also affect the activity. The cuteness or degree of “Kawaii” did not depend on only one factor. It was suggested that the complex interaction of many factors determine the degree of cuteness.