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INTEREST: Nissin Apologizes for White-Washed Tennis Champ Osaka in Cup Noodle/Prince of Tennis Ads


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gacha



Joined: 03 Mar 2018
Posts: 74
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:48 pm Reply with quote
Silly oversensitive world strikes again. Hilarious.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:51 pm Reply with quote
Good grief, it's like being even a little pale-skinned is somehow a violation of existence and against the laws of nature.
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Primus



Joined: 01 Mar 2006
Posts: 2758
Location: Toronto
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:56 pm Reply with quote
Maybe I'm wrong, but I find it difficult to believe that the character design wasn't at one point approved by Naomi herself. We're not talking about a rinky dink company here.
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Kai99



Joined: 18 Aug 2015
Posts: 89
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 2:58 pm Reply with quote
gacha wrote:
Silly oversensitive world strikes again. Hilarious.


It doesn't hurt to be told you need to be more accurate in terms of skin color. If your attempting to portray a darker skin person but use the typical skin tone seen in most anime, being told "your off the mark" shouldn't be be wrong. I mean, which is more oversensitive? Being told you got something wrong and thus, getting offended by being told that, or a person feeling the need to correct you?
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FilthyCasual



Joined: 01 Jun 2015
Posts: 2165
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 3:33 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
Good grief, it's like being even a little pale-skinned is somehow a violation of existence and against the laws of nature.

Yeah, just look at all of the people complaining about Nishikori's portrayal in the ad!

wait
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j_plex





PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:07 pm Reply with quote
Not a person who cares about social justice but ... the people being so quick to dismiss this are ignoring real cultural context here. And this isn't an issue where you can say "what about all the anime characters with purple/green/pink/blue hair" for FICTIONAL characters. This represents an alleged attempt to depict an actual living breathing human being that looks absolutely nothing like the depiction.

I grant you that the male Japanese athlete looks very little like his anime depiction also. But alas that is where the cultural context comes in.

http://dragonball.wikia.com/wiki/Mr._Popo

And I have to be honest ... it seems that there are fewer black anime and manga characters now than there was 10-20 years go. Especially if you exclude still-ongoing anime that originated in decades past like Gundam, Full Metal Panic etc.

Add it all up and there were a ton of reasons why lots of people were curious as to how Osaka would be depicted in anime and those people were justifiably disappointed.


Last edited by j_plex on Tue Jan 22, 2019 8:29 pm; edited 1 time in total
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gloverrandal



Joined: 20 May 2014
Posts: 406
Location: Oita
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:36 pm Reply with quote
j_plex wrote:
And I have to be honest ... it seems that there are fewer black anime and manga characters now than there was 10-20 years go. Especially if you exclude still-ongoing anime that originated in decades past like Gundam, Full Metal Panic etc.

Add it all up and there were a ton of reasons why lots of people were curious as to how Osaka would be depicted in anime and those people were justifiably disappointed.


Naomi Osaka is not black. She's a native Japanese woman who was born in Japan, but lives overseas. She also represents Japan in her sport and identifies as Japanese.
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all-tsun-and-no-dere
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 06 Jul 2015
Posts: 604
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:37 pm Reply with quote
belvadeer wrote:
Good grief, it's like being even a little pale-skinned is somehow a violation of existence and against the laws of nature.


You were in such a rush to comment on how this couldn’t possibly be racism that you forgot to read the article! Don’t be embarrassed, it happens to everyone.

Wait, no it doesn’t.

It’s not about having pale skin. It’s about drawing a dark-skinned woman so light-skinned with light hair that she’s unrecognizable. It communicates that her skin color is unsightly, in a culture that already considers light skin beautiful and tanned skin to be coarse, unladylike, and even ugly.
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Errinundra
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Joined: 14 Jun 2008
Posts: 6516
Location: Melbourne, Oz
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:38 pm Reply with quote
Among other things, the report is notable as a sort of addendum to the intenational condemnation of a cartoon in a Murdoch owned newspaper of Serena Williams throwing a tantrum in a match against Naomi Osaka. Link

gloverrandal wrote:
Naomi Osaka is not black. She's a native Japanese woman who was born in Japan, but lives overseas. She also represents Japan in her sport and identifies as Japanese.


Naomi Osaka's father is Haitian.
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Ashen Phoenix



Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 2904
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:49 pm Reply with quote
If the article hadn't specifically said Osaka was the female tennis player depicted in the ad I wouldn't have guessed it. Aside from general hairdo, the character looks nothing like her.
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whiskeyii



Joined: 29 May 2013
Posts: 2242
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 4:59 pm Reply with quote
I'm tangentially reminded of how the Miss Universe winner Ariana Miyamoto was criticized in Japan for not being "Japanese" enough. She is also half-Black, half-Japanese, and identifies as a Japanese citizen.
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Kokuryu Daimao



Joined: 04 Sep 2017
Posts: 115
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:03 pm Reply with quote
The article even mentions that the company was in touch with Osaka's representatives, so if she herself wasn't offended by the artistic depiction then isn't all this backlash somewhat of an overreaction?

If someone offered you a boatload of money to use your likeness in an ad and all they did was whiten your complexion and change your hairstyle, but it allowed you to fund all your expenses so you could continue to pursue the sport you love, would you still turn them down?

This was clearly just another company using athlete name recognition to push product.
They were not as sensitive as they could have been, they have acknowledged this and apologized and any negative fallout will reflect in their sales.

But don't feel bad for Osaka, the sponsorship check cleared and she got paid.
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Romuska
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Joined: 02 Mar 2004
Posts: 795
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:21 pm Reply with quote
I'm Black. I do not have a light complexion. If someone animated me and used that color I'd be furious. If you think having a problem with this makes people over sensitive it's because you're simply naive.
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bleachj0j



Joined: 22 Nov 2008
Posts: 923
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:35 pm Reply with quote
gacha wrote:
Silly oversensitive world strikes again. Hilarious.


I know right? Why criticize a company for inaccurately portraying a real life person's skin color by making it a few shades lighter? The nerve of some people. Now I'm offended.
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Lord Oink



Joined: 06 Jul 2016
Posts: 876
PostPosted: Tue Jan 22, 2019 5:50 pm Reply with quote
That's odd. my post is missing. Must have been a mistake in the system or something.

bleachj0j wrote:
I know right? Why criticize a company for inaccurately portraying a real life person's skin color by making it a few shades lighter? The nerve of some people. Now I'm offended.


Nishikori also looks different and has lighter skin, but for some mysterious reason no one is complaining about his appearance in this ad.
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