The series Peach Girl actually does discuss tanning and such. The character Momo is tan, though not from her own will. She is always concerned about being liked and having the issue of not being liked by men because she is stereotyped as whorish due to her tanned skin, versus her friend and rival, Sae, who has pale skin and is considered to be cute and much more pure. What you are thinking of are Gyaru, which do tan, but it’s mainly to differentiate themselves. Gyaru, particularly Ganguro, is on it’s way out. Part of the appeal now is Gothic Lolita and Visual Kei, which preaches paleness more than anything, which is much more in line with Japanese beliefs of pale skin = beautiful than tan skin. Actually, Tan Skin in Japan usually is more in line with the stereotype of being an airhead or a slut, similar to the Blonde stereotype in the US.

In addition, the flat faces stereotype is STILL more attractive, still due to the amount of anime that you’re going to see as well as Japanese culture by and large. As the video stated, Japan is a culture that places more value on Cuteness (kawaii or moe) rather than the US which places more value on being ‘hot’ or ’sexy.’ The standard of beauty in the west is a white standard of beauty, as opposed to Japan, where the standard of beauty is clearly Japanese. If anything, the Japanese are actually very ambivalent towards Westerners and their looks.

Also, the eye putty – all it does is add an eyelid fold. It doesn’t make the eyes actually any larger. There are a lot of Japanese people that do naturally have larger eyes, with or without surgery. Part of the Western standard of beauty is thin eyes, but what matters is light colored eyes. Larger eyes are often more dynamic and more in line with cute.

Regarding the video and this article, I suppose that most characters in anime never occurred to me as being Westerners unless they were particularly intended to be so.

Of course, “attractive” in really typical Japanese standards is, as you said, big eyes, small faces, tall noses, long legs, etc. I will admit that in Japan, we stereotype that these are characteristics that all foreigners have, but of course, there are Japanese people who have these characteristics as well (look at most models).

Also. flat faces are not considered to be beautiful in (modern) Japan, so I don’t think that the face line mentioned in video has anything to do with trying to make the characters look Japanese but instead is just like that because it’s easier to draw the picture.

Probably the girls with big eyes in the photos were products of アイプチ (eye putty) or surgery, but of course there are many people in Japan who have big eyes naturally.

About light skin, in traditional culture, it is considered beautiful, but more and more young people prefer to tan in Japan, especially in the summer. But most people have naturally light skin, unless they spend a lot of time in the sun, so I guess that is evident in animation.

But when it comes down to it, thinking about these things isn’t really necessary for Japanese people. Most anime characters are Japanese, unless they are specifically supposed to be something else. If they have Japanese names, Japanese lifestyles, or Japanese settings, they are Japanese.