We can hardly create a character who is recognized as a black person because the criticism on this count had been raised against publishers and creaters continuously by some internal left-wing citizens` groups. Such movements are exemplified by the cases in 1980s: the prohibitation of sale "Little Black Sambo" and the claim on the character "008" from the "Cyborg 009".
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Anonymous2005-12-21 10:58
>>1
We don't need them, anime is made of beauty and cuteness and thus it requires very pale skins
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MJP@work!6PkDOHSmxo2005-12-21 17:21
Yakitate!! Japan episode 48/49 directly references Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but they kinda completely miss the point. They applied it to a circus going to perform in Libya, and they are then attacked with terrorists wielding harisens, a la Kaname from FMP... :-/
I've seen silly use of black people in series running in Shounen Jump ("The strength of blacks is still a mystery" in One Piece, and Bobobo himself in Bobobobobobobo), and you'd think they wouldn't want legal problems. Do you have any more about this?
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BIX NOOD2005-12-22 2:17 (sage)
There are black people in Japanese animation and Japanese comics, but not many, and how they are represented varies wildly by artist and by era. The same can be said of people of non-Japanese cultures. Just as the civil rights movement altered American culture, Japanese pop culture has been changing, and just as attitudes differ person by person in the U.S., the same is true in Japan.
In this page I will try to be forthright in the hopes of encouraging understanding.
So, why are there so few black people?
One simplistic answer is a combination of (1) Japan is an Asian country with a long history of homogeneity and, even now, very few racial or ethnic minorities (walk down the streets, and it's almost all Japanese, once in a while a white tourist or businessperson, and that's about it!) (2) the world's most popular marketed culture is apparently American entertainment, and the mostly white nations have most of the world's power (a recent Boston magazine lamented the spread of Western pop culture to Fiji, where people promptly began dieting and trying to look like those models). Given all this, Japanese popular media will, I believe, tend to fixate on both things familiar (Japanese) and things highly popular by worldly standards (white Western/American).
In an island nation historically physically separated from other cultures, from where will that nation get its images of other people?
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Anonymous2005-12-22 2:54
Japs love black people & hip hop. No seriously they do. They go as far as to tan themselves as dark as wesley snipes and wear "hip hop" clothing. NO JAPS DO NOT WEAR ANIME COSTUMES REGULARLY IN PUBLIC LIKE MOST OF YOU NERDS FANTISIZE ABOUT. But they do run around dressed like "niggers" and they LOVE NIGGERS.
Oh, and there's no black people in anime because ink is fucking expensive. It's that simple bitches.
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Anonymous2005-12-22 4:11
>>ink is fucking expensive
Nadia went from Black to Foreign to save costs. Miyazaki's original designs for her called for tight, kinked curls.
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ケンダル2005-12-22 4:36
The anime tenjou tenge has a main character named Bob that is indeed black.
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Anonymous2005-12-24 17:20
there is also a bit in the manga where maya talks about the "innate springiness of black people" in reference to bob. lolol.
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Anonymous2005-12-28 5:21
Hop Step Jump!
Hip Hop Jap!
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Anonymous2005-12-31 12:34
others that come to mind include Betruccio from Gankutsuou (who is not a major major character but is awesome and hot beyond belief) and Rude from FF, although he's not really ANIME per se.
>>71
So that's where all this Capoeira love is coming from in their dance/fighting games.
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Anonymous2006-01-06 23:25
>>71
So that's where all this Capoeira love is coming from in their dance/fighting games.
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Anonymous2006-01-08 19:02
CRACKERS!!!!
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Anonymous2006-01-08 19:03
Afrosamurai, can't wait
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Anonymous2006-01-10 15:51
how many anime have you watched....?
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Anonymous2006-01-14 1:30
Mr Popo is black
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Anonymous2006-01-14 14:20
Luxandra Frail from Divergence Eve is black too
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Anonymous2006-01-16 15:58
Just how dark-skinned does an anime character have to get considered African American? Cause not all African-Americans have really dark skin, not all African's for that matter either.
Akio from RGU, is black, and even if he isn't, he is black by attitude and pimp-style alone.
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Anonymous2006-01-16 21:42
Nabeshin from Excel Saga. He may not be technically black, but he's a soul brotha on the inside.
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Anonymous2006-01-25 7:38
in truth their have been a few black character but most of the time they are extra or a stereotypical version of a black person exp. chocolove(shaman kings)any black character in dbz, and etc. and a afro does not make u black. yes there was a black character in cyborg 009 but for some reason they gave him the ability to swim fast and breathed under water which really did not make that much sense since he was a freedom fighter from africa. in that show didnt they give the cyborgs there power base onther already giving skills
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Anonymous2006-01-25 7:41
mr popo is not black he just dark
and even if he was hes a servent
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Anonymous2006-01-29 21:00
i know a lot of dark skinned people in anime shows like anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena,urd from oh my goddess, nadia form nadia the secret of the blue water,kaolla su from love hina,mihoshi from tenchi muyo,ming ming from beyblade,rose from fullmetal alchemist and scar,most everyone in boondocks,rami from rave master,b.c. from vandread.and many more i can't think off now
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Anonymous2006-01-29 21:01
i know a lot of dark skinned people in anime shows like anthy from Revolutionary Girl Utena,urd from oh my goddess, nadia form nadia the secret of the blue water,kaolla su from love hina,mihoshi from tenchi muyo,ming ming from beyblade,rose from fullmetal alchemist and scar,most everyone in boondocks,rami from rave master,b.c. from vandread.and many more i can't think off now
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Anonymous2006-01-29 21:43
What is the series where a large black lady is fighting a magical girl who whips out a sniper rifle and headshots her? It was done in 3D mostly.
Caolla Sue from Love Hina is Indian and not African
Rose and Scar from Fullmetal Alchemist are a Gypsy/Indian, not African
Urd is tanned to Ganguro and is not African
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eggmanl33t2006-02-05 20:22
Whoa what about
the black boxer from hajime no Ippo
Weda and Hale from jungle wa itsumo hale no guu
I love anime, but unfortunately it is true; there aren't many black anime characters, and when they do have them they darw them unattractive. But there are a few anime episodes that portray blacks as intelligent as well as attractive: like stated above Cowboy Bebop in "Mushroom Samb" i think the episode was called, where they had a beautiful black woman chracter w/ an afro; also the Cowboy Bebop movie "Breaking Down Heaven's Doors" in the beggining had a beautiful drawing of a man with dreds in the opening credits & also a black child that Spike was kidding aroung with while asking him for directions. And in Full Metal Alchemist the librarian at the military library is black.
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Anonymous2006-02-18 16:51
>>112
>unfortunately it is true; there aren't many black anime characters
And if there were anime would be better?
I'd say if there were, it would feel like all the US crap which has token characters for every minority.
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Anonymous2006-02-18 17:35
>>28
Umm, Japanese were Aryans according to Nazis. I know it sounds strange, but they even did expedition to Tibet to "prove" Japanese aryanity.
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Anonymous2006-02-21 9:05
>>38
and there were a lot more of black characters of Cowboy Bebop. Though I don't remember anyone eating fried chicken.
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Anonymous2006-02-24 22:28
Well one of my favorite anime characters is black. Tatsuki Kuroi from super gals. He's funny and he isn't drawn in the stereotypical anime black character style.
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Anonymous2006-02-25 7:09
>>112
Does anyone else think that character in "Cowboy Bebop" is Cleopatra Jones from the 1970s blaxploitation film of the same name?
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Anonymous2006-02-25 8:37
>>117
I think it's more likely that the artists based her on Pam Grier, who played Cleopatra Jones and Coffey and a number of other similar badass black chick characters in those films.
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Anonymous2006-02-25 14:46
The library lady in Fullmetal Alchemist.
In other news, hearing Japanese with what appeared to be a "black" accent was pretty funny.
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horokoro2006-02-25 21:20
The dude from yu gi oh duel monsters that anzu dueled against the woman in dragonball, EVERYBODY in Blue Crisis High is black/lightskinned etc