http://www.ign.com/articles/2011/06/22/the-devolution-of-character-designs
http://www.psu.com/forums/showthread.php/220569-Who-wants-to-see-more-diversity-from-Video-Game-protagonists
http://borderhouseblog.com/?p=2521
Your problem, jay, is that you literally do not know what you're talking about. It's forgivable, since you haven't been exposed to much, but the same argument can be made about western males in games. Frankly, it's funny that you mention dragonquest, chrono-trigger, and dragonball. It's all the same artist! It's rather funny that you call the artstyles similar. You don't even know it's the SAME artstyle. That's how silly this all is. You call the dissimilar similar, and the exact, similar.
You say, "oh I can tell the characters apart". Of course you can! You're comparing the same art-style characters from only a pool of 50-60 characters made by a single artist who is CONSCIOUSLY trying to make each character very unique from the OTHERS HE HIMSELF CREATED. Meanwhile, you compare this girl to the entire catalogue of ANIME, thousands of different artists copying each other.
Since you appreciate criticism and welcome it, then take this to heart. You are being unfair in your determinations because you really don't know much about anime. Anyone into the medium can tell you that those characters are pretty different, or at least done by different artists.
Hell, the OP girl has short pigtails, held with bubbles, with a buble on top, oversized purple knit sleeves, and a european bodice. Her artsyle is done with a mix of marker and photoshop, her look is meant to evoke 'kawaiso', which is kind of a bumbling cute character, and silly.
The second pic is a moe, maybe from chara or one of those series. Is done with a color-pencil/marker, has long ponytails in ribbon, and a puffy shirt schoolgirl uniform, and meant to look cute and vulnerable.
the third is likely a fanservice/doujin type character, relying heavily on photoshop, the has a similar schoolgirl uniform but wears a tie, and her hair is in ringlets, and meant to look seductive.
The fourth is a traditional watercolor-color pencil markup likely from a girl manga or older videogame, and is meant to be a character a female would relate to or admire or serve as a love interest.
