Poll: What race do anime characters look like to you?

[snowman6251]

I've noticed that many white people seem to think anime characters look white. I've also noticed that Japanese people (and I would assume asians in general) tend to think that anime characters look Japanese. I can understand why this trend might exist. People superimpose themselves onto the characters thus making them more similar and therefore relatable and I'm curious to see whether this trend is actually true.

I'm excluding other races from the poll because when an anime character is black, you're going to know they're black. I'd actually be pretty interested in the responses from black people because they're unbiased I guess.

Anyway I'm white and a lot of it really comes down to the show. The characters from GTO look incredibly Japanese. The characters from Code Geass do not (yeah I know half of them aren't supposed to be Japanese but some of the Japanese ones don't look very Japanese to me).

Then there's someone like Spike from Cowboy Bebop. Its weird because he looks pretty white to me but I know other people will think he's straight out of Japan.

Anyway anime is made in Japan so I'm pretty sure that unless otherwise specified most anime characters are supposed to be Japanese so lets try and avoid "Japan wants to be white" kind of comments. Anyway poll.

EDIT: Of course a very poll dependent thread has its poll get lost between the new thread screen and the post button. Whatever. Just post then.

 

[Julianking93]

Whatever race they're supposed to be.

Japanese raced anime characters tend to look pretty Japanese to me:

While Caucasian raced anime characters look Caucasian to me:

It's all about how they animators want the character to look.

Besides, a lot of times, people will look at the eyes as conformation of said anime character's race, yet the eyes in anime are a way to show their...eh, how do I put it? Intentions.

Evil characters typically have slanted eyes, while good characters have wide eyes.

 

[kyler288]

there apparently supposed to be Japanese but they look like European people or americans as people call them today but some characters are made too look different which makes that one character look weird

 

[Chicago Ted]

They normally look closest to caucasian to me.

Though, and while I admit I don't have much of an understanding of Anime and this is something I beleive I heard, I think the point of Anime characters not looking Japanese was in order to have a more general race that isn't that identifiable.

 

[Cody211282]

Whatever race they're supposed to be.

Japanese raced anime characters tend to look pretty Japanese to me:

While Caucasian raced anime characters look Caucasian to me:

It's all about how they animators want the character to look.

They both look white to me, Japanese aren't that pale.

 

[Drakmeire]

very few anime characters look asian, I think Roy Mustang from Fullmetal Alchemist looks fairly asian. as well as L from death note despite being from Britain. other than that almost all anime character look very white because manga originated from American comics so they took the character designs and added a slightly wood-cut look.
So in the end 90% of anime characters are extremely white.

 

[RatRace123]

Well, they always seem to look white to me, white with asian eye features.

Or crazy colored hair.

 

[snowman6251]

They both look white to me, Japanese aren't that pale.

Except they are (sometimes).

 

[The Warden]

I always thought they looked Cock-Asian.

 

[Gigaguy64]

Whatever race they're supposed to be.

Japanese raced anime characters tend to look pretty Japanese to me:

While Caucasian raced anime characters look Caucasian to me:

It's all about how they animators want the character to look.

Besides, a lot of times, people will look at the eyes as conformation of said anime character's race, yet the eyes in anime are a way to show their...eh, how do I put it? Intentions.

Evil characters typically have slanted eyes, while good characters have wide eyes.

Took the words right out of my mouth.

 

[Glover09]

As has been said, I think it's all relative to the show. I've noticed that nearly all animes I've seen(not many) seem to have different characteristics. As one who doesn't regularly watch animes, I'm probably the last guy you want to talk to about them, though.

 

[Dango]

Doesn't this depend on the anime? But still, if an animator wants you to believe someone is Japanese (or any other nationality/race), they will do so.

 

[Grayjack]

Usually like a mixture of Asian/White to me. Depends on the anime and the artstyle, though.

 

[AugustFall]

Very fine Caucasian features. Some do genuinely look asian but the hair colors and (Well aware this sounds bad) the eyes are generally more Western.

 

[GreyWolf257]

I generally think that most anime characters look white, but that's just me. Then again, I am of the cracker-ese race, so I might be superimposing myself onto the characters.

 

[The Geek Lord]

To me, anime characters look like the kind of humanoid aliens you'd see on Star Trek, with the exceptions of a few anime/manga, like Black Lagoon or--ironically enough--Berserk.

It seems that characters meant to be Japanese never look it.

Hi Chidori Kaname.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

You know, I've never really given it any thought. I never thought the ethnicity of the character was important unless it was important to the plot, but in those cases it will usually be specifically stated so I just take their word for it.

 

[Blueruler182]

I think they look human...ish... With giant heads and giant eyes they look more like babies than grown men, and not much like them.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing, before anyone gets their panties in a bunch. It's a cultural difference and I actually like a lot of the different anime styles. Hell, I love Fullmetal Alchemists stuff.