Where are the Asians in anime?

[Pyro Paul]

for most anime and manga, it is because a majority of japanise and those of asian decent are of a more 'white' colour than anything else and a majority of the lead charicters of japanise animes tend to be 'asian' in their heritage. ergo, most anime charicters tend to be white.

Anime in particular, it has more of a tendency to be based off of simple budget cuts. basic design teaches you that dark colors come up darker when surrounded by a lighter backdrop and often the dark brown colors of the traditional african decent individual will come up near black in the usually light blue and yellow backdrops commonly seen in most anime. and the only way to compensate for this would be to add better highlights and lowlights in order to bring out the detail.

because this takes extra time and money to do, most anime companies simply skip it and keep the cast 'white' or go about an alternate way to implement that person such as making them hav green skin...

 

[AvsJoe]

Has anyone else noticed this?

I've noticed, but what would you do to remedy it? Draw more stereotypically Asian eyes? Make the skin yellower? There doesn't seem to be a way to remedy this problem without offending a large amount of people.

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.

Agreed. Now that guy can animate. Paprika deserved every award it got for it's visual styles.

But never a black protagonist, that would be interesting.

What about Afro Samurai?

And that's the exception that proves the rule.

But theres always Mr. Popo. ^^

lol I've never seen a more negatively-stereotypical character than Mr. Popo. I just can't help but laugh. I wonder if anyone got sued for that?

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

Is that Catcher Freeman
(Does anyone get the reference or am I laughing by myself?)

The Boondocks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFQkwW-oPZE

Soon as I saw the name Freeman, and saw the theme of the manga, I thought the exact same thing. Riley is hilarious.

 

[The_Echo]

A lot of anime is not actually based in Japan. So that's the case sometimes. I think it's just a tradition more than anything. It's all pale whites and dark blacks, in more than one sense.

However, in the Monster anime, the protagonist Tenma is noticeably of Asian descent. But who really cares? Japan's full of weird things like that.

 

[Flunk]

The reason for the unusual hair colours is to differentiate characters better. Otherwise the characters have Japanesey features except for the characters who are "foreign" which is often white, tall with blonde hair or black and tall with black curly hair. Foreign characters generally speak Japanese with really weird accents that they never seem to capture in the English translations.

The exception to this is shows set in alternate realities or the far future where nationality isn't an important concept.

 

[KaiRai]

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

You my friend, need to discover Afro Ninja.

 

[MortisLegio]

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?

Asian Culture (for the most part) think that White skin is more beautiful than darker skin tones.

 

[The Shrubbery Demander]

In the Dragon Ball series, characters like Goku and Yamcha are intended to be Asian.

 

[axia777]

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

Black Lagoon. The leader of the Black lagoon Company is Dutch who is an African-American bad ass. But then I guess you missed my previous posts on the subject. Dutch rules BTW as does Black Lagoon.

In the Dragon Ball series, characters like Goku and Yamcha are intended to be Asian.

Dude, Goku cannot be Asian as he IS NOT HUMAN. He is a Saiyan.

The Saiyans (サイヤ人, Saiyajin?) are the primary fictional humanoid extraterrestrial race in the Dragon Ball manga by Akira Toriyama. The Saiyans are a naturally aggressive warrior race who are, purportedly, the strongest warriors in the fictional Dragon Ball universe. Protagonist Son Goku (originally named Kakarrot) is revealed to be a Saiyan upon the race's introduction. Most of the Saiyans were exterminated by galactic overlord Frieza after Goku was born. With only few survivors, they are functionally extinct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saiyan

 

[Ramen King Roshi]

Why does this question come up so much.

Here's a video to answer it for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKTvFhRbBt8

 

[TIMESWORDSMAN]

You have a point. Either Japanese anime artists are racist, or you are too preoccupied with racial diversity and political correctness.

The only anime black guy I've ever seen is the guy from Interstella 5555.

I love that movie!
It is my considered opinion that the characters are usualy intended to be Japanes and it is just a happy coincedence that they later where able to endear themselves to almost any race.

 

[Hyperactiveman]

I watch a bit of anime here and there... I still see the occasional token character amongst the crowds of the majority's...

What about Afro Samurai?... (voiced by Samuel L Jackson)... Not one of the best examples for an anime series though.

 

[Xyphon]

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

You my friend, need to discover Afro Ninja.

I think you mean Afro SAMURAI.

 

[rickthetrick]

Kah-KHEM!!

What you are running into is a very common mistake. Those people who look Caucasian to us? They are Asian. A Caucasian (in most anime and regardless of gender) will be drawn with a strong jawline and hair on the limbs. Also, the eyes have a tendency to be more "normal" or realistic.

As for the eyes, manga/anime as we know it today is largely based on Walt Disney's character designs. Those giant expressive eyes are lifted straight from Mickey Mouse.

I thought it was weird at first too, so I did some research.

yep and the bad guys will often have smaller eyes to depict their dubious nature.

 

[Citrus]

The characters in anime are almost all asian. They draw them with light skin and big, round eyes because that's just the style of art in Japan.

 

[BakaSmurf]

Well, Aono Tsukune from Rosario+Vampire has dark skin and dark brown hair, so I suppose in your opinion that would make him look more 'Japanese' than the usual anime protaganist, although he still has the usual big anime eyes (Which are drawn that way because bigger eyes make it easier to show strong emotions, FYI).

 

[phoenix_tetsu]

Check out Strain, or any Ryiochi Ikegami-illustrated work, they are always racially diverse.

 

[CNKFan]

Um Afro Samurai has blck characters. The titular character and his side-kick Ninja-Ninja are both black and voiced by Samuel L. Jackson. So yeah, there you go.

 

[Ranis]

One name: Brock

Exactly what I thought the moment I read the thread name