Where are the Asians in anime?

[HarmanSmith]

As a white american teenage male, I'm a fan (not a fanboy, mind you) of anime and manga, but something has been bothering me for a while; why is it that every character in every anime is white? I have yet to find an anime that has a main char with dark skin. It's not really a problem, I mean most characters have hair colors that would melt your eyeballs if you stared at them for too long, but I would have thought that Asian illustrators working on Asian anime to be aired in Asian countries would have Asian characters. Has anyone else noticed this? Opinions?

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I don't go for it, but yeah I have noticed it.

 

[deleted_scifidownbeat]

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[minoes]

Read/watch AKIRA and every other work of Katsuhiro Otomo.

There is also Victor Freeman from "Blaster Knuckle" a black main character.
http://mangaoftaste.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/blaster-knuckle/

[IMG/]http://mangaoftaste.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/014.png[/IMG]

 

[oliveira8]

I say it's because Japanese people want to make their little characters raceless as possible. So they end up being white and generic with crazy hair. But not alwyas of course.

As for no black people, I'll say it has to do with the culture in Japan more than being racists. My guess is that there isn't many black people in Japan, and most black people they know are immigrants or from TV. But theres always Mr. Popo. ^^

 

[Jark212]

As a white american teenage male, I'm a fan (not a fanboy, mind you) of anime and manga, but something has been bothering me for a while; why is it that every character in every anime is white? I have yet to find an anime that has a main char with dark skin. It's not really a problem, I mean most characters have hair colors that would melt your eyeballs if you stared at them for too long, but I would have thought that Asian illustrators working on Asian anime to be aired in Asian countries would have Asian characters. Has anyone else noticed this? Opinions?

In Japanese creation story's, The gods are always depicted as being white skinned. I'm not sure but it might be something to do with that... Or the animators are just really lazy. I would be lazy if I was only getting payed 10k a year...

 

[Emphraim]

But theres always Mr. Popo. ^^

I'm not sure even the creators of DBZ know what Popo is... he definitely isn't human at least.

As for your topic,OP, Japan is a nation that is populated almost completely by native Japanese who have little daily foreign contact so it's to be expected that anime portrays that which they know of.

 

[InfernoJesus]

As well, anime eyes are often drawn extremely massive, unlike Japanese eyes. I'm going to guess and say that this is to appeal to countries outside of Asia and for dubbing convenience. I would find it weird to have a clearly American voice actor speaking through a Japanese cartoon character.

The way the characters are drawn in anime make it easy to to voice-act in any language as well as make them easy for any race to relate to.

 

[marksee]

There are a few "good" animes with darker skin characters, off the top of my head Berserk is a good one (caskjar). I think due to simple aesthetics different minorities are often represented as wearing different clothes or having a set hair colour(valkyria chronicles). Also i think that most characters in anime are largely considered asian because of the genre itself and the hair i suppose, after all there is usually one stand alone character in every anime who is clearly supposed to be the steriotypical white male for example roy fokker in robotech or the ladies man captain in bleach (forget name, favourite is byakuya).

 

[Ninja_X]

They aren't white its just the art style over there.

 

[axia777]

Black Lagoon is full of Asian looking Asians. It is one of the reasons I like that series so much. The main character Revy looks Chinese and the Japanese Rock guy looks Japanese. It is all very realistic in that respect.

 

[sagacious]

I have yet to find an anime that has a main char with dark skin.

wait... I'm white, and most asians ive met are paler than me...

 

[Flishiz]

While most manga and anime art is flooded with whiter-looking people, you should look to Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue) for art styles where people look more Japanese.

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

I remember me and my friends asked this very same question some years ago. We said at first that it was an inferiority complex, but instead put it down to the romanticising of cultures and races that aren't close by. It's neither.

As for black characters, Bleach, Naruto, DBZ, Black Lagoon, and the list goes on. But never a black protagonist, that would be interesting.

 

[jojoemon]

The charecters they draw ARE Japanese. Or at least, the anime art style rendering of what Japanese people look like. You should see how they depict Americans. (think Hulk Hogen)
also,in relation to the comment above, Afro Samurai has a black protagonist. I don't know if the show itself good or not though, having never watched it.

 

[gigastrike]

This was actually done pretty recently. Kinda weird considering it's an odd topic.

I'll say the same thing I said in the other one:

1: Japan isn't as big of a melting pot as America is, so other races woudn't be as common.
2: Do you really expect to see Africans in feudal Japan?

 

[Russian_Assassin]

Chad in Bleach is Mexican. In fact many people aren't white in Bleach.

 

[HarmanSmith]

It's not even an anime-only thing; I have a book of prints of samurai and samurai lifestyle, all of whom were white. Some of these people devote their entire lives to art and calligraphy, and even the greatest artistic masters STILL can't be bothered to add some melanin to the people in their art? Dubbya Tee Eff?

*Random thought* That could be a good argument for a white supremacist: Asian man: "What makes you so sure your people are superior to us?" White man: "Your own gods? WHITE!"

 

[NinjaSkills]

But never a black protagonist, that would be interesting.

What about Afro Samurai?