Why do almost all anime characters look white?

Question

could u explain..I didn't actually notice until my mom,sisters,brother,&friends asked me

Or do they just give them the hair and eye colour of any colour from the rainbow and don't really care?

jusr wondering

there's no problem...just wondering since they're Japanese

umm.. i'm not wondering why they barely have black ppl..I'm wondering why the characters look white

I'm not trying 2 say they should have more races I don't really care about that...I'm just wondering why in almost all animes they look white-geez :| k pretend i'm white n answer the question lol it's not about me being black n wanting more black characters

n yes i've seen Full metal panic it's one of my favourite animes :)

READ!

wow k i didn't expect so many misinterpretation of my question..I'm just wondering why they wont make the characters resemble them more...like in Inu yasha- simple..has2 nothing do with me wanting more black ppl... 2 tell u the truth I really don't care I don't watch shows b/c they have black ppl I watch them if they're interesting

& yes I've seen a black japanese ppl n characters in anime..but that has nothing 2 do with my question

Answer 1

Probably because most Japanese people have lighter skin and that's usually where their characters and settings are based? That and in a lot of asian cultures (since most tan easily and the sun is hard to dodge for working class people :P) having a lighter complexion is seen as more beautiful.

The eyes and hair is just so you can tell the damn characters apart! XD Have you ever tried watching an anime and imagining X persons hair on Y? lol. Usually because artists have a set style, example Hayao Miyazaki (amazing works, all of his works are my favorite) most of his characters look the same but with different hair style/hair color. I'm sure sometimes though the colors have certain meanings that tell about the characters personalities.

Answer 2

Japanese animation was strongly influenced by Western animation- especially early Disney movies. Because of this, they were partially mimicing the animation style they saw and partially trying to appeal to western culture.

Not many other races were represented back in the day by any animation teams, so characters were prodominatley white. In addition, it's generally less expensive to print photos, animation cels and really any kind of printing in one color, caucasian being the most convient. This is also one of the reasons that it took african americans a while to break into modeling- some printers didn't want to spend the extra dough for the hassle of printing it differently.

Answer 3

GOOD QUESTION!
But it's not a racist thing. Anime is created in Japan where the people are mono-chromatic. They are all very similar in looks, pale skin, brown eyes and dark hair. This is the reason anime is the art of exaggeration because the Japanese search for ways to stand out from the crowd. But the reason they don't have many black people is simply Japan doesn't have a big black population. It's not part of the culture. I really don't think they mean to exclusive.

Answer 4

I read a graphic novel once where someone was supposed to have dark skin (because I saw a color picture of the character), but they skill had white skin, and I think it is because the people who print the books want to save on ink costs, and if the character's skin is too dark, then you can't see the emotions.

Answer 5

What are you talking about? i see so many different colored people in animes, the animes your family watch must be the american edited and crap anime, if you watch good anime, like Full Metal Panic, you can see all shades of colors.

Answer 6

Because Japanese people don't have to be politically correct like the idiots in this country.

Answer 7

well the characters are Japanese people but they dont look like they are Japanese but have you ever seen a black Japanese person(I havent) and any ways people transelate it to English

Answer 8

not only anime,most of the cartoon also have fair skin....like snow white,belle,cinderella and some more..(besides jasmine)
if you ask question about who do we like,most of the ppl would say them.
And most of the ppl like fair skin,
So,
We would easily attracted to them.

[edit]
because they want to copy cartoon?or maybe they want their anime character perfect with what models have?umm...hmm.......well.............. i give up!!!=p

Answer 9

because they try to appeal to americans exept when it comes to the overly busted women. also they only draw the old people as japanese.

Answer 10

That's not true. The Simpsons are yellow and The Boondocks are black.