Nozomi isn't really chubby, more that she has wider hips/bigger breasts. Hanayo is more chubby probably in Asian standards. TBH if you see all the girls in their swimsuit type of official art they are all relatively slim/smooth (no rolls of fat, etc).

You have to remember this is from Japan, and a lot of eastern Asia in general still has a very homogeneous population. Most girls there are indeed what the west considers "slim" and "short". Especially compared to USA, the clothes size difference alone should be evidence enough (Forever21 S = Japan M/L) As for the pale skin, once again in much of those countries esp Japan, Korea and China, pale skin is considered desirable because skin health is a big part of what's considered beautiful. If any of you guys ever look into skincare as a science you will see that tanning is the worst thing for skin. There's a reason why if you ever go to those places you see TONS of "brightening" products. Of course the west always thinks they want to be "white/Caucasian" without trying to understand that to Asians white is just a color, not an ethnicity.

I find it interesting myself that only in western fandoms do I see stuff like this brought up often, as if Japan is not doing enough to cater to the west. I never ever saw anyone post about stuff like why aren't anime characters more diverse. The whole discussion is really selfish on western fandom side and also kind of superficial. Who cares if this character is tall and white or that one is short and fat... you relate and like a character for their personality right? If the only way people can relate to a character is through physical means then that is a pretty superficial way to relate to something, imo.

source: am Asian who grew up in China most of her life, then traveled around Asia often as well as keep in touch with Asian pop culture and trends.