it doesn't make sense to me.
Reputation: 268
why do people in anime and videogames from Japan almost never look Japanese?
it doesn't make sense to me.
Reputation: 81
Exactly. Exactly.Originally Posted by shadowsworn
Anime is based on western cultural animation, thus though the storyline might be japanese the characters are made to copy the western cuture characteristics.
Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_don%27...#ixzz1BbxHtaF1
This is simple. Japanese comic culture has a fixation on caucasian beauty. To them, the typical white teenage girl is a Pinnacle of beauty, innocence and a general 'cute' auror. Many anime comics and animations reflect this by using characters which look Caucasians opposed to japanese, which to them is less beautiful.
Reputation: 218
Probably cause they're obsessed with Westerners just like Westerners are obsessed with them, so they make their characters look like white Europeans. Or cause, being Japanese, they think being Japanese isn't cool, what with their orderly lives and Japanese business men who bow 300 times a day. So they reflect that with their anime featuring white people doing kick-*** things like piloting giant robots, saving the world, running hotels full of hot chicks, getting really angry and turning into super-muscular Aryan men, being ninjas, etc.
Reputation: 81
I beat you to it, I rock more, go home, ha, ha, ha.
Reputation: 422
i thought that many times myself ... :/
But the answer is here!:
I've heard the question too many times when introducing someone to anime: "Well, if this is Japanese animation, then why do all the characters look white?" What most people are asking with this question is really something closer to, "Why don't they look Japanese?" It's time to answer the question once and for all.
Anime characters can look like elfs, mosters, robots, freaks, angels and whatever other fantastic creature the imagination can conjure up. Another question I've heard asked (in the same vein) is, "What's the deal with the big eyes?" Obviously the assumption here is that since the animators are Japanese, they would most likely animate eyes that look Japanese. This a severe limitation to place on such a diverse medium, and usually it is a question that only Westerners are concerned with.
Firstly, Japan has a wonderfully unique culture that is a combination of the ability of the Japanese to incorporate the sciences and art of outside influences into a Japanese society that is literally an island. That island becomes an incubator for ideas, and often outsiders are confused because they judge all things Japanese without considering the context of Japan.
In fact, the 15th century already saw the Japanese using just drawings to convey a story. While most of the world can't think of animation without simultaneously thinking cartoons and children, anime is not a genre to the Japanese but rather a medium for communicating a story. It is small wonder, combined with the freedom that animation allows, that anime can take on such a myriad of shapes and flavors. When plot, setting and character are completely without limitation, race need not necessarily be as large an issue as it has historically been in reality.
It all started in post-WWII Japan; Hiroshima and Nagasake are just more examples of how there is nothing in the world that quite resembles Japan. They have already been through the apocalypse, and it is evident in their society and art. Shortly after the war, in an action that is representative of the way Japan incorporates outside influences, Osamu Tezuka (the father of Manga) was searching for a new medium. He found it because of the popularity of Walt Disney cartoons at the time. It was the popularity of the medium that was the strongest influence. Japan was no stranger to the drawn story.
The most obvious link then between a Disney and anime character is the big expressive eyes, but that doesn't necessarily mean that anime eyes are a holdover from Disney. Possibly even more so than other cultures, for the Japanese the eyes are the windows to the soul. When you watch your next anime piece, check out the difference between 'good' and 'evil' characters. Good characters have the large eyes that can convey sensitivty and emotion while the badguys are often portrayed as being soulless. Other times, the badguys will have large eyes and very small pupils, the idea being that not enough light has reached their souls. Anime is just trying to do the same thing as every other artistic medium: move you. We as humans respond readily to the language and expression conveyed through the eyes. It is an automatic reaction.
Another possible influence for the larger eyes is born out of the fact that anime has largely been created with very little funding. Tricks such as moving two still shots across one another conveys movement without having to spend as much money on hundreds of drawings. In the same way eyes can convey a large amount of information about the character within a limited shot. The fact that anime has been able to do this so effectively is just another wonder of the medium, a gift from its artistic progenitors. To continue some conjecture, it is also quite possible that the severe individualization of characters in anime (such as the wild hair or the unique eyes) could be a product of a country where everyone has the same color hair and had to wear uniforms through school.
If I may be so bold as to claim a point in all of this, it would be that the amazing variety that anime contains doesn't necessarily denote a caucasian race, if it in fact conveys race at all.
Some Stories Are Just Way Better In My Head!
Reputation: 218
No one's going to read what you said anyway cause you're not PG6.
Reputation: 422
this is what they call "Power" xD
Some Stories Are Just Way Better In My Head!
Reputation: 101
Since when is blue hair/eyebrows and eyes the size of grapefruit cacausion characteristics?
Reputation: 15
At least the hairstyle in anime looks japanish.
@shadowsworn: your avatar sure looks creepy
ahh... I have a weak stomach for these kind of things.
Reputation: 265
That's funny, I always think that all the characters look Japanese.
Reputation: 372
Same here.
If people actually took a trip to Japan, they'd probably realize it too.
There are also several anime/manga where the characters actually look "traditional Japanese" - So it isn't really all that skewed.
However, Japanese pop-culture is influenced by, and influences, society in general.
You go to any big city in Japan, and you'll see people with all kinds of hair- and eyecolours(dye and colour-contacts anyone?).
The large majority of Japanese I've met(and I've met a few), do not have small eyes by any means.
In fact, creating an anime/manga/game taking place in contemporary Japan, where all the characters had black hair, and dark eyes, would be unrealistic - Much in the same way it would be unrealistic for everbody in a cartoon set in Germany to have blond hair and blue eyes.
But as mentioned earlier, this is merely artistic freedom.
They have abnormally large eyes, and gravity defying neon-coloured hair for artistic reasons.
Besides, like bonneau_14 said, when did anime/manga characters ever look especially caucasian?
The Common Sense United Front
ZAZAZAZAAAA, DADADADAAAA DAAAA, SHWAMSHWAMSHWAMMMM DUUUU DIIIII DAAAAAAAAAA
Reputation: 42
I always thought they looked Asian, except of course those people who are obviously from another country or world...or universe, or reality
I wish I had gravity defying hair, well I do, but to an extent. Also, I wish my eyes were bigger, it's so freaking hard to put contacts in >.>
Reputation: 268
@hian
most anime characters are pretty damn white, though
edit: also to the person who mentioned it, my avatar is the vocalist from a band called Darkspace. I chose this particular pic of her because I thought it was funny :P
Reputation: 233
Fixed .
Reputation: 120
in most anime, don't think they really look like any race as they generally have big eye's to display emotion's.
Reputation: 422
emotions ...: anger: >< normal: 0.0 crying: Q.Q happy: ^^
Some Stories Are Just Way Better In My Head!
Reputation: 265
As far as skin color goes a lot of East Asian people are a lot more pale than the average American. Can't speak for the Europeans though.
Reputation: 447
To be fair, they rarely look human.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear.
You shout and no one seems to hear.
Reputation: 201
Cause Japanese people all look the same and this is their way of being different!
That's my opinion anyways. And eh a lot of the time it seems like they want to be American or at least live a more western lifestyle but who knows. ramble ramble ramble...
An interesting note I will edit into this nonsense I call a opinion is that some people think that Japanese people have a warped vision of what beauty is and hell USA is just like that but hm there was also this other point about how they just try to make the characters look beautiful to attract a larger audience but meh I enjoy seeing animes about manly men just as much as I appreciate animes that have pretty teen boys.
Now lets talk about videogames! Now that is ****ing annoying. It's ok in anime but videogames should be more realistic instead of such pure fantasy.
Somebody flame me nao!
She knows how to party.
Reputation: 292
There aren't many anime out there which have enough detail in characters for me to correctly guess their country of origin.
Only the ones that go for a more realistic approach achieve this well enough.
If you make the noses like triangles and the eyes freakin huge it makes it really hard to tell.
If you know the subtle differences it's easy to tell where they are based from like;
or
or
or
Reputation: 372
And so are most Japanese people.
Arguably, a lot of Japanese are generally(except those from the country side/south, or those who spend large amounts of time in the sun/tanning) whiter than caucasians.
I never though of caucasians as white, they're pink-ish. The same way hardly any black person is actually black - They're brown.
Funny, I swear the same applies to alomst any people on this earth.
Point me to one single definition of video-game that says video-games should be realistic?
In fact, most gamers play games that are completely unrealistic. Now, that being the case, wth should the art-style have to be realistic?
Well, you're allowed to hold that opinion. Just think it's rather asinine.
If non-realistic graphics piss you off, you're missing out on tons of great games(Zelda series, FF series, Okami, etc etc).
The Common Sense United Front
ZAZAZAZAAAA, DADADADAAAA DAAAA, SHWAMSHWAMSHWAMMMM DUUUU DIIIII DAAAAAAAAAA
Reputation: 81
That's because you watch furry instead. D:
Reputation: 1151
As long as the boobs are completely disproportionate to reality, then it doesn't matter to me <3
Reputation: 201
LOL I know a lot of other people or groups of people are like that. And really this is the lounge and I was being silly.Though I do hate it when people take me too seriously... Maybe I need to start adding disclaimers for those who take things too seriously.
I meant the characters. How many men or boys in the world actually look that feminine? Honestly? And eh my whole post was meant to be in the same context and I did mention 'but meh I enjoy seeing animes about manly men just as much as I appreciate animes that have pretty teen boys.'. Fantasy in games is nice but I get bored with seeing so many JRPG boys looking so girly. Alot of the time it's like the boy char is a girl char just with shorter hair and a even flatter chest. But we all know how much the Japanese love to exaggerate breast sizes in games or anime.
She knows how to party.
Reputation: 292
As long as the boobs are completely disproportionate to reality, then it doesn't matter to me <3
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