negao 寝顔

In Japanese, negao 寝顔 means "sleeping face," or "sleeping expression." The face someone makes while they're sleeping.

Character: Aurora Suya Rhys Kaymin オーロラ・栖夜・リース・カイミーン
Anime: Maou-jou de Oyasumi 魔王城でおやすみ (Episode 1)

Literally, it's neru 寝る, "to sleep," and kao 顔, "face," which becomes gao because of rendaku.

• Examples

Examples

Some people find negao to be particularly cute (moe 萌え). Here are some examples of negao:

Anime: K-On!!, Keion!! けいおん！！ (Season 2) (Episode 20)

Character: Kagamihara Nadeshiko 各務原なでしこ
Anime: Yuru Camp△, ゆるキャン△ (Episode 1)

• yodare
  よだれ
  Drool.

Character: Smithee A. Haasaca スミシー・A・ハーサカ
Anime: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? ~Tensai-Tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen~ かぐや様は告らせたい？～天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦～ (Season 2) (Episode 4)

Some series are entirely based on the idea of sleeping around a lot, so there are plenty of negao shots. These include, for example, Maou-jou de Yasumi and Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge.

Anime: Tanaka-kun wa Itsumo Kedaruge 田中くんはいつもけだるげ (Episode 1)