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Why Do Anime Characters Look White

Why Do So Many Recent Anime Have Ridiculously Long Names

Why Do Anime Characters Appear To Be Of White/Caucasian Descent?

TL DR: To get an edge over the competition.

The “impossibly long anime title” trend is by no means new, but it’s been getting some heavy usage recently. Anime titles seem to be getting longer and longer, leading to ridiculous titles like No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Unpopular!, and Problem Children are Coming from Another World, Aren’t They?, among others. Kotaku spoke to light novel author Pan Tachibana to find out why anime will soon need two DVD sets just to have enough space for the title. According to Tachibana, the trend can be blamed on the light novel boom. With so many light novels coming out these days, it can be hard for an author to stand out among the competition, especially for a debut work. To catch the attention of potential readers, the authors are making it easy to see exactly what to expect in a novel without even having to turn to the back. The result is a title that doubles as a preview blurb – which then gets carried over to the anime adaptation.

Why Do We Think That Anime Characters Are White

Anime characters have colorful hair, big eyes, white skin and most of the time colorful eyes as well.

All these characteristics are indicative of Western people. We have blond hair or red hair, we have blue or green eyes and a lot of us have white Skin. So from our point of view, Anime characters look very much like western people.

If you look at Japanese people most of them have dark hair, brown eyes and a little bit darker skin. From our perspective, they dont look like the majority of Anime characters we know.

So the reason, why so many westerners ask the question why all the Anime characters seem to be white, is pretty obvious. From our point of view, they seem to be white.

But you may be surprised, that Japanese people think completely different about this matter!

The Anime style is a very distinct art style that was originally developed to make animation cheaper. So they didn´t use a lot of detail in their animation and over-exaggerated some features like the eyes and the proportions of the head to make emotions easier to read.

They also used common features, that Japanese people find attractive in the new art style to make the characters more appealing. So they made the eyes and the head big and they also gave their characters very white skin.

White skin is commonly found attractive in Japanese culture. Thats why you will see a lot of girls avoiding the sun in order to not get brown. They sometimes even carry a UV-resistant umbrella to block the sun completely.

Anime Characters Looking White

In Japan, anime is a very distinct art style and is developed with minimum cost. The characters are exaggerated with features like the eyes and the head to make emotions easier to read. The eyes and the head were made big, and the skin of the characters was made very white. The characters have white skin because it is commonly found attractive in Japan. As anime is an exaggerated art style, the characters were also over-exaggerated with white skin. However, most Japanese people do not think that their anime characters look white.

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Rei’s Anime And Manga Page

To Twyla W.: Your email system won’t let me email you. Please send me an alternate email address.

    …the most lasting image of Lady Oscaris of a shining warrior upon a horse,challenging all that would imprison the human spirit. As with Oscar, so may it be with all ofus.” “We are all one family!” -Ishonomori Shoutarou, Cyborg 009

New for 2005: What’sLost in the Translation? – a look into the Japanese language, andwhat gets lost in some translations.

What Do Japanese People Think About The Origins Of Their Characters

Why Do Anime Characters Look White?

If you ask the Japanese people about the Origins of different Anime characters, you will be surprised, that most of the time they will straight out tell you, that the characters are Japanese.

You will also notice, that the Japanese aren´t really paying attention to the skin color all that much. They are more focusing on the structure of the face, the form of the eyes and the form of the head overall.

These are the features, that Japanese people use to define the origin of characters. Not the color of the skin!

But you don´t have to take my word for it, here is a Video form That Japanese Man Yuta showing you how Japanese pedestrians react to this question and how they are trying to identify the origins of different Anime characters!

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Note About The Examples I Use To Illustrate The Article:

If I choose a particular character to illustrate the article, that is an example of a trope I don’t like, but it does not mean I don’t like that character in particular. Or that that particular character is a poorly written example of the trope he or she is being used to illustrate. A multitude of images of similar-looking characters is used here to demonstrate the ubiquity and sameness of certain anime character types. I had a lot of comments and questions on this article that come from a misunderstanding of this, so I felt like clarifying.

Sakurako Kuj

What About The Simpsons

Here is another interesting example.

Have you ever watched the Simpsons and wondered why they don´t look like a regular American family even though they are clearly portraited as such and they live in a very similar universe than we do?

I personally haven´t. I just accepted the animation style as just that. An exaggerated art style to further abstract the humor and make it more unrealistic and over the top.

And this animation style is properly way cheaper than Disneys old school animation as well.

And that is the exact same thing as with animes and the Japanese people.

Anime is just an exaggerated art style to mirror but also abstract the Japanese culture. With their behavior and their looks.

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General Essays And Analysis

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A call to those whoare studying a foreign culture.
ProducerHiroaki Inoue Speaks on Computers and Japanese Animation 5/03
The producer of “Tenchi Muyou” and “Ah! My Goddess” spoke at MIT on 13 May 2003.
Mangadescriptions, overviews, and summaries page .
Get a feel for some popular and some not-so-well-known Japanesecomics, from the 60’s to present day, ranging from science-fiction toromance and comedy to pseudo-horror. 24 full-page overviews,13 paragraph summaries. Some highlights:

  • Doubutsu No Oishasan Funny, classy, animal stories.
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    Why Does The Hero Always Sit In The Back By The Window

    Do Anime Characters Look White to Japanese People? (Interview)

    TL DR: It’s symbolic and cost-effective.

    In the anime world, every single protagonist has the same exact spot in class. You know the one: it’s in the back, in the last or second to last row, against the window . Is anyone who sits in this seat cursed to become an anime protagonist? What is going on here? The artistic answer is that this seat is symbolic. Characters in this position are both a part of the group, but also separate from others. This spot gives them a sense of isolation, and represents their internal struggle with whatever issues they’re dealing with. The honest answer is that it’s cost-effective and easier to animate. By placing the character in the back corner, animators only have to draw the corner and window, and imply that the classroom is full without having to draw all the other classmates. Imagine how much more work animating would be if the character sat in the front? Actually, you don’t have to imagine. Check out Reddit user’s Kenarious’ infographic and it becomes pretty clear that the seat in the back by the window is the best seat in the classroom – especially for the animators.

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    Why I Dislike This Type

    If done poorly, she’s too perfect. She doesn’t seem like her actual canonical age. She seems like a very elegant and refined 30-something infiltrating the high school or middle school setting. This trope glamorizes richness, making it seem like rich people are totally flawless, god-like beings. It also can be a cheap way to create drama: the totally average male protagonist falling for the “dream girl” who is way out of his league.

    Often, by the end of the anime, he is rewarded with affection for spending the whole anime as her dog, doing whatever she wants, and constantly white knighting for her. I get that it’s a thing because it’s a wish-fulfillment fantasy, but in real life, people like that are just annoyingly snooty. I definitely would not put up with elitist snobbery in real life, let alone find it attractive in a potential partner.

    Most importantly, this kind of character is just rarely interesting. You know she’s going to be heavily restricted by the bounds of propriety and honor, playing the “straight man” in contrast with wilder characters’ antics. She’s too honest and pure to do anything truly “outside the box.” In other words, she’s usually a Mary Sue and a Purity Sue type of character, too flawless to be genuine and human.

    The Obsession With Blonde Hair And European Features

    This is an extension of what Ive mentioned already. But its stunning how many anime characters have blonde, red or ginger hair in anime .

    Or a mixture of green eyes, blue eyes, and a bigger chest than is normal in Japanese culture.

    Sometimes its so obvious that its happening as well. Even if some fans will deny it.

    Japanese people have straight hair, usually black or brown. No different to every other race outside of the WEST in general.

    So if the anime characters backgrounds or historical references holds no clout , than its nothing more than proof of the obsession Asians have with European features.

    With characters like Saber from Fate Stay Night, it makes sense because its based on logic.

    Saber is a depiction of King Arthur from Britain. So its correct to give her blonde hair and what not.

    But a lot of the times theres no logic or reason to an anime characters designs. Other than to portray a disconnect of how the Japanese want to look, Vs how they actually look in real life.

    Or simply an over admiration for European features.

    And yes sometimes its used for differentiation but thats besides the point Im making.

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    Round Vs Flat Characters And Anime Stereotypes

    Anime sometimes suffers from characters being stereotypes that hit the same note over and over again. These characters lack the psychological complexity that makes characters interesting and human-feeling. In literature, these are called flat characters. They are seen as “two-dimensional” because they’re not very life-like, much like how a sculpture of a person can look more real to us than a painted portrait. Like a sculpture, a “round” character is detailed to the audience from many different perspectives. The Joker from Batman is a round character, for example, because he is complex, changes over time, and can be interpreted in many ways. He’s like a sculpture in the round, that can be seen in different ways from different angles.

    “Flat” characters certainly have their place. Unimportant supporting characters don’t need to be complicated to be effective, because their role in the narrative is more limited. A work of fiction can get kind of weighed down if it tries to make every character round. Les Misérables does this, for example, making the book excessively long. But, generally speaking, it’s good for at least the main protagonists and antagonists to be round characters with a lot of complexity to their identity.

    What makes a particular instance of a trope bad?

    And here are my eight least favorite of cliché anime character types.

    The Caucasian Conundrum Or: Do The Japanese Always Draw White People In Anime

    Why Do Whites Think That Anime Characters Look White ...

    Co-written by Ian.

    Ive never really been ostentatious with my love of anime. If you know me, then Ill talk to you about it to the point in which youd wish that Sephiroth was swinging his big ass pig-sticker down onto your neck. I rarely bring it up in polite conversation with most people, if only because I dont want to scare them away with my nerdiness. Ive been a part of this scene since I was a teenager, so by now Im like.. 247 in otaku years. When thinking about animes exposure in America, Ive noticed that Ive been getting really tired of two specific responses from people: One being, Whats the deal with the schoolgirls and the tentacles? Im going to go over there now and judge you from a safe distance. Number two is, Ive always wondered about _______ in anime.

    Americans apply this thinking to Japanese drawings. But to the Japanese, the default human being is Japanese! So they feel no need to make their characters look Asian. They just have to make them look like people and everyone in Japan will assume they are Japanese no matter how improbable their physical appearance. Julian Abagond

    Watch the original cartoon that started it all. Released by Paramount in July 1935. This would be Betty Boop final frisky performance before she was cleaned up by the Hollywood code.

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    Why Do Anime Characters Look Better Than Real Attractive People

    Anime characters are not real-life humans. Their looks are somewhat unrealistic. The characters in Japanese animation are most often exaggerated. The artists will make them have certain desirable body features that are extremely accentuated.

    The characters undesirable features will also be un-accentuated or sometimes removed. These characters are made to be perfect.

    Whitewashing Racial Bias: The Ball’s In Japan’s Court

    GIFU In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last years Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

    The commercial, which has since been removed from YouTube, featured a light-skinned anime version of tennis star Naomi Osaka that bore little resemblance to her actual appearance as a mixed-heritage Japanese and Haitian-American. Almost instantly, accusations of whitewashing began to fly.

    Im tan, its pretty obvious, she told reporters at a news conference following the debacle. In the tradition of corporate cultural misunderstandings, Nissin apologized and claimed there was no intention to whitewash Osaka.

    In recent years, that word whitewash has more often referred to casting decisions in Hollywood, not Japan. In 2017, it was used to decry the selection of white actress Scarlett Johansson for the role of the Major in the live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirows Ghost in the Shell. The character is Japanese in Shirows original manga, the popular 1995 anime of the same name and, perhaps more importantly, in the minds of the franchises countless devoted fans a fact they made well-known on social media.

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    If You Want To Write Your Own Manga

    So, if you want to write your own manga story, books about “how to draw manga” usually tell you how to draw these repeating character types, but they’re not fun at all for the seasoned manga reader. Instead, play around with it and make sure your characters are unique, not clichés, but fully developed beings who feel real and human to us . Putting a lot of thought into your characters is one of the most important aspects of writing, so don’t half-ass it! And best of luck!

    If Youre From Why Are You White

    Japanese Anime Characters Who Look European(White) & Why.

    By: Von McKnight

    Its actually a really common question, one that I find myself wondering about on and off but have never really looked into. Why do the majority of Japanese characters seem to look more white than Japanese? There are a lot of reasons for why this is the case, and while all of them are valid in their own ways, there are a few that stand out as both answering the question and forcing the one asking to reflect on why they are seeing a character as white even though they may not be.

    In modern Japanese society, having lighter, whiter skin is seen as being more beautiful. Women will wear sunscreen, walk around under umbrellas, keep their skin covered on sunny days, and buy skin-lightening beauty products to maintain a light, fair skin tone. This beauty standard has existed in Japanese history independent of Europeans/Americans seeing white as the default/standard skin color , and could be seen as a reason for why Americans are seeing white in Japanese characters: because they are, but for completely different cultural reasons. However, given that this skin-whitening fashion style applies primarily to females, it doesnt really work as the go-to explanation for the whiteness of Japanese characters as a whole .

    Looking at the above image , what say you? White, or projected white?

    Ashcraft, Brian. Why Do Japanese Characters Look White? Kotaku. 1 Sept. 2010. Web. 29 Mar. 2015. < http://kotaku.com/5627268/why-do-japanese-characters-look-white> .

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