Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Aren't More Races Represented In Anime And Manga?
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Kadmos1
 Posts: 13580 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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The 2-volume Gold Ring falconry was made in the United Arab Emirates and over 13 months ago it saw an an anime announcement by Gainax.
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walkerlegend
Posts: 18 Location: somewhere florida |
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Actually michiko is black her father is black and mother is brazilian. . |
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MajorZero
Posts: 359 |
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The problem is that anime industry works like a damn factory. How many directors have their own style? How many writers ready to think outside the box? Maybe it's sound harsh, but in last years anime industry reminds me of CBS in terms of their output. |
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GhostStalkerSA
 Posts: 425 Location: NYC |
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True, but anime can still be uniquely terrible in its own way, in much the same way that the current CBS sitcom lineup is uniquely terrible as well. |
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Lili-Hime
 Posts: 569 |
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Actually that would make her half black and half Brazillian / Latin.  I really hate how people jump on any dark skinned character and go "oh, they're black." Way to erase the existence of Middle Eastern, Indian, Latin, and Islander/Oceanic people  .
Can't believe this thread is still going. My thought summarized.... tokenism can be very bad if the creators do not understand the minority they're protraying. The Japanese are very unlikely to be able to handle minorities with tact, so if that's the case I'd rather they not do it. Case in point; Glee was created by a gay man. Portrayals of gay men were really pretty progressive in that show. The way it treated women, especially bi women & lesbians? Yeah... not so good Some Japanese can pull it off though. Michiko & Hatchin and El Cazador de la Bruja were pretty good.
Secondly though, cultural relativism does not excuse Japan for their cultural racism. As others have pointed out, they are much more likely to put a mixed European character in then a Korean. They're not necessarily progressive about the Chinese either *coughRanmacough* Funny how Japan draws their own anime characters as this eurodisney/japanese mix but the Chinese & Koreans often look stereo typically Asian. |
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Sailor Sedna
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Saint Seiya had some diverse characters in it; Taurus Aldebaran was from Brazil and is one of the few Brazilian characters in anime.
Plus doesn't Sailor Pluto have darker skin than the rest of the Sailor Senshi? |
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Kadmos1
Posts: 13580 Location: In Phoenix but has an 85308 ZIP |
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If they made an anime of an early 90s 4-volume manga called "Blaster Knuckle", this would actually be showing a unique way of fighting racism.
That is, from the series Baka-Updates entry,
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Hyperdrve
 Posts: 276 |
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Latin? Do you even know yourself about what you're talking about? How about you spoiler[let the corresponding parties bring up their arguments themselves if they find it necessary.] There's nothing courageous or strong about trying to grab the low hanging fruit that's not even yours to begin with.
"The Japanese are very unlikely to be able to handle minorities with tact, so if that's the case I'd rather they not do it." I don't think it's fair to make generalizations about the Japanese like that. What about Jojo's Bizarre Adventure?
The Japanese don't portray the Chinese and the Koreans in the way that you would lobby for because of historical and political tensions. I'd like to point out that just because a certain character has yellow hair and blue eyes doesn't mean that the author meant to portray that character as Caucasian. If assuming so then that could be just like calling a crocodile an alligator. For example, Kishimoto said that when he first drew Naruto he didn't intend to portray him in a way that foreigners would identify with the character. Of course for a live-action international adaptation, now Kishimoto would say that he'd like to cast an American as Naruto. There's no surprise since the gimmick of Naruto is that it sells so well overseas but that's a different topic. The author has the freedom to draw his characters using whatever color he feels like using without being accused of violating some racial trademark. He could use yellow, blue, pink, purple, green, whatever. The popularity of European culture in anime with respect to other non-Japanese world cultures is because European culture has had the most impact in, at least, the modern world. Also Japan has been in contact with European cultures since the 14th century. If a certain culture finds that they're not being represented enough in anime then it's their fault for not being relevant enough at the world stage. Also Japan lately to me seems more interested in cultures outside the Anglophone which aren't necessarily European. For example, from Skyping I gather that there's a sizable demand in Japan to learn Spanish. I've also noticed more attempts by the Japanese to make nonsensical Spanish phrases that would make great T-shirts. Also Mexican citizens are particularly lucky (along with citizens from a handful of other countries) because they don't have to apply for a visa to stay in Japan for up to 6 months. But if there's an anime that I think presented a diverse cast/setting in a well executed manner, it's Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. In this case it seems that the mangaka was genuinely interested in world cultures (and anthropology) and wasn't just drawing diverse settings and cultures just for the sake of inclusiveness. It's pretty funny that the reason Jojo wasn't popular at first was because the Japanese couldn't identify with its western main characters. That goes against the argument that the Japanese have such a boner for Westerners. Yes there are people in Japan that have a blondie fetish but conversely the are also Westerners that have a Japanese waifu fetish. I don't see how this all worth mentioning. Anyway tl:dr; history shows us that cultures have a natural rate of change and adoption (just like languages do), and forcing inclusiveness for its own sake at a rate faster than this will just piss off a lot of people. |
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Lili-Hime
Posts: 569 |
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What are you talking about? So, I can't point out anything about any minorities because I'm white? O_o ok..... My partner is Latin/Hispanic and has pointed out to me that Latin=geography and Hispanic=language. Brazillians are Latin because they speak Portueguese. Someone can be both Latin & Hispanic. People from Spain would be Hispanic but not Latin. I've grown up around Latin/Hispanic people all my life. While I sure as hell am not going to contradict one on points of their culture, I also hate it when people act like the only racial groups that exist are Black and White.
I agree with you. But blue eyes and blonde hair are distinctly European characteristics. As for Jojo's that's awesome, and that was kind of my point. Apologize for the generalization D: sorry! I pointed out positive examples with Michiko & Hatchin. If the creator does a bit of research and generally is interested in the culture, it goes well. If they think of putting in racial stereotypes for lolz, that's bad. I agree; the westerner thing is a fetish and not representative of all Japanese people. The gaijin or mixed race character is kind of common in harem-esque sitations. (Asuka in Evangelion for example). It seems it effects girls though more; because of western fashions, makeup etc. I see more Euro influence in shoujo than anything else tbh (unless it's fantasy or sci fi). |
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Hyperdrve
Posts: 276 |
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No actually that was my mistake. I didn't know how to refer to Brazilians until now. "Latin[o/a]" is a Spanish word so it doesn't make sense for Brazilians to be referred a such. "Latin" would be more accurate. It's the first time I've seen someone use it correctly to refer to a group of people, although it sounds awkward to me.
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Lili-Hime
Posts: 569 |
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Lol oh ok  I realize Latino is more commonly used but I use Latin since O is the masculine and idk I want to refer to both genders without typing Latino/a or Latino&Latina. I referred to Latin / Hispanic people wrongly for so many years before being corrected lol I could've been wrong but my defense was a Latin/Hispanic person told me to say it this way!
I also just wanna say because I didn't before I fully agree with you that an artist is free to draw a character however they want, and define their ethnicity however they want. I mean how many characters do we see with dark skin and white hair? lol No clue what ethnicity they were supposed to be; they're just an anime character. |
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YotaruVegeta
 Posts: 1061 Location: New York |
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One Piece is basically a melting pot in each region the protagonists travel, except in certain circumstances where a homogeneous makeup is important to the plot.
Gangsta. has people of many backgrounds in it. I could go on and on, but I'll mention Bleach, Michiko & Hatchin and Black Lagoon, which are diverse in skin tone. |
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Hyperdrve
Posts: 276 |
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@Lili-Hime: "Hispanic" is usually used to refer to someone from a Spanish speaking country in Latin America, or someone with ethnic roots originating from there. Like you mentioned, someone that is from Latin America isn't necessarily also from a Spanish speaking country (Hispanic) . They could be from Haiti, Suriname, Brazil, French Guiana, etc., where they don't necessarily speak Spanish. To refer to someone from anywhere in Latin America, I would use "Latino" or "Latina". But as you pointed out, you know someone that is Brazilian that told you to say "Latin". The argument that a Brazilian could make is that it's incorrect to use "Latino" as an umbrella term to refer to the people of Latin America since it's a Spanish word and Latin America is also composed of countries that speak languages other than Spanish. After reading your perspective I think "Latin American" would be the most correct term if you're speaking in English. Of course this doesn't really matter to me now but I can see how a Brazilian would get nitpicky about the term "Latino".
EDIT: Actually "Latino" seems to also be a Portuguese word but now still I'm pretty sure that the most correct term to refer to someone from Latin America without regard to what language they speak is "Latin American". |
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Lili-Hime
Posts: 569 |
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@HyperDrive
That sounds like the most correct and inoffensive way to say it, I think I'll just stick with that! I'm from SoCal so a lot of people use the umbrella "Mexican" to describe Latin Americans which is definitely not accurate and a lot of times the way they say 'Mexican' is used as a slur or in anger.
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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That being said, One Piece, being an adventure series set in a fantasy world, will romanticize any location themedon a real-world setting. Wano, for instance, is an isolationist land of samurai swordsmen, feudal castles, and bonsai-looking trees. Eiichiro Oda does do his research beforehand though. He seems prepared to answer any question about references to real-life things in his question corner, so he certainly doesn't create stereotypes out of ignorance. |
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