In anime artwork, how does one tell if the character has "American" features?

Question

I'll confess I don't know much about anime, but from what little I've read from the library, I'm curious: is there a distinction in how "American" characters (or anglo-American features) are depicted in anime?

As far as I can tell, most of the standard with anime seems to be that ALL character have enormous eyes, wild hair and tiny noses and mouths. But then again, I've got much more reading to do.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The way I've usually seen American characters look in anime is blond, light-skinned and with blue eyes. Sometimes the eyes are drawn smaller and more real than the other characters. Most of the time these characters don't speak very good english, even if they're supposed to be American, because Japanese actors voice them. :)

There's more info here: http://j-fan.com/edit.cgi?selected=anime_gaijin

Answer 2

The thing is.. All anime character has enormous eyes is because it makes it look cute.. If a character is not cute, nobody will be interested to watch it unless the story line is really really nice..

Maybe you can compare Kim Possible character with Sailormoon or something or maybe characters from Initial D.. They all look the same.. Just some speaks english and some speaks japanese.. So when it speaks English you tend to think it has american features.. If it speaks Japanese you tend to think it has japanese features..

And yes all anime character look all the same. But probably the only thing that are different is the style of clothing..

Something like that..

Answer 3

Well, if you seen gundam wing, Duo Maxwell is American.

There are some anime with character profiles that tell their nationality. I've seen most of it on Newtype, or random sites.