Why are all anime characters white?

[Toriver]

It's the art style. It's heavily influenced by old Disney work. That said, the Japanese are often just as white as Caucasians. Features you might associate with generic Whites are explainable as well. Small noses for instance. We associate that with Whites because in comparison with those of Middle-Eastern or African decent, they are indeed smaller. Asians typically have even smaller noses though. Big eyes, something we don't usually associate with Asians, is mainly used because of the aforementioned influence, but also because especially narrow or small eyes is seen as a stereotypical image of deceitful or evil characters. Larger eyes used to be seen as a quirk, not sharing any implications despite those of the other end of the spectrum, but the Disney influence mixed with pre-existing stereotype changed that.

All of this is true. I have noticed, in my time living in Japan, that Asian-Americans have quite significantly darker skin than Asians themselves. And I also tend to even notice a slight difference among the East Asian people I know, with the Japanese having the lightest skin and Filipinos having the darkest. At least part of it is a cultural thing. Even before any sort of Western influence hit the country, lighter skin was a desirable trait at least in Japanese culture, because it was something of a sign of affluence. If someone had darker skin, it was probably because they were out working in the rice fields all day to make a living, meaning they were not likely to have much in terms of wealth. Wealthier people being able to afford more things to make themselves look more attractive would also amplify the situation. And yeah, today, most of the people I work with, both kids and adults, are only slightly darker than my ghost-white self, if that.

And rather than looks, what really gives away characters' ethnicities are their names. Even if a character actually has blond hair and light skin, if their name is Kentaro Fujita, they're not white, they're Japanese. Every single character from the real world in Bleach, for example, is at least part Japanese, and the only exception to being fully Japanese is Chad, who is half Mexican, with his skin being darker to show it. This includes the orange-haired Ichigo and Orihime, and the pale, blue-haired Ishida. Such variety gives characters a more clear and distinct personal look despite all of them technically being the same nationality. And in a great many cases, the setting is a fantasy world where we really don't know whether or not our own perceptions of race would really apply. So I don't really see where this idea that "all anime characters are white" is coming from.

Because japan idolizes western culture, so the whiter the better.

No, no they do not.

While there may be a good deal of fascination with Western culture, the Japanese decidedly do NOT idolize it anywhere close to as much as their own. At best it's given slightly less attention than Korean culture.

watch this

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

don't know how to imbed a video, sorry

EDIT: I seem to have been effectively ninja'd by this video, which I hadn't seen before. It is very well-done and says basically anything else I would want to say on the subject. Please watch it. Kudos to the poster, good find.

 

[Kinguendo]

Because they arent? Well, thats that sorted... is that the end of this thread?

 

[Smooth Operator]

Artists projection, they will always create something like to see and that is usually them as the hero doing all the shit they can't.
Also why animes got all sorts of kinky stuff going on.

Oh, why do they look Caucasian, well that would be your projection.
Cartoon characters are best known for their featureless look, so it is very easy for the viewer to imprint their view onto them.

 

[Korten12]

They aren't..? Pretty sure the majority of them aren't white. Though if the story takes place on another universe (One Piece) it would be up for debate what ethnicity some of the characters are.

 

[MrCherry]

http://www.animeclick.it/prove/serie/Bobobo-boBo-bobo/Bobobo-boBo-bobo3.jpg

This guy was for the win, also not very white o.o

 

[DigitalSushi]

Seriously I don't understand why in so many animes (especially ones taking place in JAPAN) ALL characters are white. Seriously I never see any asian features on any anime characters.
Maybe it's the art style but I don't see why everyone would look like an American white person.

SO why do you think even "asian" anime characters don't look asian at all?

Are you trolling?, Japanese, not Asian?

Am I the only person that see's this?

In the spirit of the thread, Afro Samurai! also a lot of anime characters have huge eyes and no noses, as far as I can tell, that's neither Japanese or Asian, or white or black for that matter.

 

[Furioso]

The ignorance in this thread astounds me, the Japanese do not worship white people, and the features seen in anime are pretty clearly Asian if you take the time to think about it, the videos posted above me explain that one pretty well, so I won't discuss it here

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

watch this

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

don't know how to imbed a video, sorry

Nice find, I shall be using that later on.

People seem so desperate to find something wrong with others that they often forget they're just seeing their own faults.

 

[ph0b0s123]

O
/¦\
/\

Is man above Caucasian or Asian. The idea is that Caucasian's see Caucasian and Asian's see Asian, due to lack of features as happens in anime. Excuse rubbish asci art.

So most are supposed to be Asian. But there is no way you are going to convince me that the two bothers Elric brothers from Fullmetal Alchemist with their blonde hair (yes, know lots of asian kids dye their hair) and blue eyes are Asian. No way.

Edit: After thinking about it more I know what race Amine characters are... Anime. When I look at anine characters the thing I can normally tell 100% is that they are anime characters, but that's about it. Their race can be ambiguous, as well as their gender and age. They are slightly empty vessels that the watcher puts their own personality into, hence this discussion. People see in them what the want to, that is why the appeal is so broad.

This is also why I have a problem with legislation that has to do with what drawings are allowed becuase of this inherent ambiguity. But that is a different subject, and I don't want to have one of 'those' threads again.....

 

[vivster]

Seriously I don't understand why in so many animes (especially ones taking place in JAPAN) ALL characters are white. Seriously I never see any asian features on any anime characters.
Maybe it's the art style but I don't see why everyone would look like an American white person.

SO why do you think even "asian" anime characters don't look asian at all?

and where do you come from to declare all anime characters caucasian?
they hardly belong to any of earth's known ethnicities
just look at their faces and statures
i don't see either japanese nor caucasian attributes in there

no one else but your mind puts them in the ethnicity you think they are
and that says more about you than about anime or its creators

 

[Crenelate]

Great video, should clear everything up then!

 

[StereoMike]

Seriously I don't understand why in so many animes (especially ones taking place in JAPAN) ALL characters are white. Seriously I never see any asian features on any anime characters.
Maybe it's the art style but I don't see why everyone would look like an American white person.

SO why do you think even "asian" anime characters don't look asian at all?

Japanese people watch anime and see Japanese people. The rest of the world sees white people. This is why I initially didn't understand the whole thing about white-washing the Avatar: The Last Airbender characters.

But what bugs me is that when I was living in Japan, people didn't seem to understand why we would think anime characters are white. Well take a look at "Ritsuko Akagi" from Evangelion:

Yeah, I have no idea where the confusion would come from...

 

[Snooder]

Seriously I don't understand why in so many animes (especially ones taking place in JAPAN) ALL characters are white. Seriously I never see any asian features on any anime characters.
Maybe it's the art style but I don't see why everyone would look like an American white person.

SO why do you think even "asian" anime characters don't look asian at all?

They aren't. Those people who look white to you are supposed to be asian/generic. If you'll notice, when they draw a character who is actually supposed to be stereotypically caucasian, he looks totally different. Like Major Armstrong in Fullmetal Alchemist. Large nose, square face, REALLY pale eyes, e.t.c.

http://www.animevice.com/fullmetal-alchemist/10-34/all-images/84-57080/armstrong/83-30698/

 

[Peteron]

Seriously I don't understand why in so many animes (especially ones taking place in JAPAN) ALL characters are white. Seriously I never see any asian features on any anime characters.
Maybe it's the art style but I don't see why everyone would look like an American white person.

SO why do you think even "asian" anime characters don't look asian at all?

Well honestly, they are all Asian for the most part, especially if they take place in Japan. At least, that's how they are intended to be. I assume you are referring to the large eyes in anime. Well, for the most part, they are bigger than white eyes too, so honestly saying they are all white isn't justified. I always like to think its up to interpretation, unless an actual location is included.

 

[Liquid Ocelot]

They aren't white. They're asian.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Err what?
I always view the characters to be asain unless it is stated to be from different ethnic origins like Chad from Bleach is from Mexican descend and Asuka from Evanelion is half German.
Also it's abit sterotyping if you view all asains to have black hair.