I sympathize with your point to some extent, but I have to point out a couple things. One, there's truly nothing unrealistic about the girls in DOA and in fact, their proportions aren't exaggerated at all. They're realistic depictions of fit, obscenely hot women. Did this cause some kind of negative effect or hollowing out of nerd culture? I don't know, I don't think so. The DOA part of ye olde Fighting Game Community has historically been more normal and sane than the Super Smash Bros part. Funny enough, that's the only example I can think of a real woman who was competitive in the FGC or esports in general (Kasumi-chan).

I think your point is more properly applied to the hypersexualization of anime culture through the 2000s and the genre of shows that are basically figurine vehicles.

Also, the pursuit of "average-looking" girls is actually quixotic. The best idea anyone has of "average" is "less hot than X ideal in my head" which just leads to a communist race to the bottom as designers strive to include as many unattractive features as possible in their modeling. Maybe what you have in mind is 90s beauty standards? There's something to be said for that, but nobody had the word "average" in mind at that time either. Winona Ryder in motion is one of the prettiest little darlings to walk across a screen.

I sympathize with your point to some extent, but I have to point out a couple things. One, there's truly nothing unrealistic about the girls in DOA and in fact, their proportions aren't exaggerated at all. They're realistic depictions of fit, obscenely hot women. Did this cause some kind of negative effect or hollowing out of nerd culture? I don't know, I don't think so. The DOA part of ye olde Fighting Game Community has historically been more normal and sane than the Super Smash Bros part. Funny enough, that's the only example I can think of a real woman who was competitive in the FGC or esports in general (Marjorie "Kasumi-chan" Bartell).

I think your point is more properly applied to the hypersexualization of anime culture through the 2000s and the genre of shows that are basically figurine vehicles.

Also, the pursuit of "average-looking" girls is actually quixotic. The best idea anyone has of "average" is "less hot than X ideal in my head" which just leads to a communist race to the bottom as designers strive to include as many unattractive features as possible in their modeling. Maybe what you have in mind is 90s beauty standards? There's something to be said for that, but nobody had the word "average" in mind at that time either. Winona Ryder in motion is one of the prettiest little darlings to walk across a screen.