This popular anime character strips down to her underwear to give us an important lesson in breast measurement.

When it comes to learning something new, there’s nothing like a helpful illustration to guide us towards a better understanding of all the details. Luckily for us, Japan is teeming with cute illustrations designed to open our eyes to all kinds of new topics.

One of the latest visual aids currently making its way around the Internet is a set of fan art from Twitter user @twdshamano, which demonstrates the correct procedure for measuring your bust and determining your correct cup size, all with the help of a popular anime character called Ushio from the famous KanColle web browser game and anime series.  

According to @twdshamano, the first step in determining your cup size is by measuring your “underbust.” If we look at the picture on the left of the image below, we can see that the underbust is the area around the ribcage beneath the bust, marked out as the lower broken line. Above this line is the “top bust”, which we’ll discuss later on. 

The most important thing to note when taking your measurements is to ensure that you’re standing on a flat, level surface. Although Ushio can be seen lifting her left side to show us where she’s measuring on the bottom right of the image above, it’s important to make sure the tape measure is straight because if it’s even slightly diagonal, this can throw the correct measurement off by three centimetres (one inch).

The next step is to measure your “top bust”, which is the fullest area around your breasts. According to the notes accompanying the image below, it’s okay to stand while taking the measurements if you’re wearing a snug-fitting bra, but if you’re not wearing a bra, or if it’s a loose-fitting one, it’s okay to bend over slightly during the process, as Ushio demonstrates on the left of the picture below.

Now that you have your two measurements, it’s time to do some math! If you subtract the underbust from the topbust, you’ll get the correct cup size. Because we’re in the well-endowed universe of the KanColle series characters, the examples start with a result of 19-21 centimetres (7.5-8.3 inches), indicating an E cup, followed by the measurements for an F cup and G cup.

At the bottom of the image, Bonotan, another KanColle character, makes an angry-looking appearance, saying “How come this starts at an E cup?!”, to which Ushio simply says “Da yo!” as a sign of agreement.

Since posting the fan art online, @twdshamano has received a huge number of likes and retweets.

While Twitter users were impressed with the beautifully well-drawn images of Ushio, a number of them pointed out that her bust should be measured in metres or feet instead, given that she’s actually an anthropomorphised warship in the popular series.

Still, if Ushio were to go abroad she’d probably have to work with a whole new set of measurements, given that standard bra sizes differ from country to country, and sometimes even from brand to brand too. While this guide is handy for working out a rough approximation of bra sizes according to Japanese measurements, nothing can replace trying on bras whenever possible to really ensure the right fit.

And when it comes to underwear for your lower half, never fear, there’s a handy illustrated identification guide for that too.

Source, featured image: Twitter/@twdshamano