Why are most anime characters white/caucasian?

[Cicada]

Well just if you're interested here's a chart from that article, and the final paragraph. It's an interesting thing to study, but I don't remember it as a particularly engaging article.

"In conclusion, the study provides support for the idea that some of anime's international success may be due to the perceived racial ambiguity of its characters. Such ambiguous features may have been internalized into anime character design over the years and these may contribute to the pervasive perception that characters are Caucasian rather than Asian..."

[dannyc]

Wow, interesting study. How do you find all these articles?

Excluding the study of "Other characters" (who represents the other characters?), I'll compare the section on "Asian characters" and "Caucasian characters". In the "Caucasian characters" section most people realized that the characters were Caucasian (77.3%, 82.9%, and 77.5%). But in the "Asian characters" section, the percentages were more even (only 47.2% of Asians thought the "Asian characters" were Asian). Interestingly both Asians and Caucasians thought that the "Asian characters" represented their own race. Why is this a problem only with the "Asian characters" and not the "Caucasian characters" section? Because the "Asian characters" look Caucasian. This does make the "Asian characters" to appear stateless. But this study doesn't ask "why most anime characters are white/Caucasian." It asks "do anime characters look Asian/Caucasian/other?"

[Cicada]

Originally Posted by dannyc

Wow, interesting study. How do you find all these articles?

I just graduated, but still have access to journal databases (which I'm stocking up on before being cut off). I've written essays on anime, and wrote my thesis on kogals and Japanese fashion. I'm pretty sure there are some good journals that are free to access - I think Intersections is one.
Intersections: Gender and Sexuality in Asia and the Pacific

Originally Posted by dannyc

Wow, interesting study. How do you find all these articles?

Excluding the study of "Other characters" (who represents the other characters?), I'll compare the section on "Asian characters" and "Caucasian characters". In the "Caucasian characters" section most people realized that the characters were Caucasian (77.3%, 82.9%, and 77.5%). But in the "Asian characters" section, the percentages were more even (only 47.2% of Asians thought the "Asian characters" were Asian). Interestingly both Asians and Caucasians thought that the "Asian characters" represented their own race. Why is this a problem only with the "Asian characters" and not the "Caucasian characters" section? Because the "Asian characters" look Caucasian. This does make the "Asian characters" to appear stateless. But this study doesn't ask "why most anime characters are white/Caucasian." It asks "do anime characters look Asian/Caucasian/other?"

I'm half asleep, so forgive me if I missed your point. It looks to me that when an artist explicitly means for a character to be Caucasian, those things they emphasize in fact do make it that much more obvious. If the baseline doesn't regularly distinguish between 'Asian' and stateless, that is, if they're Japanese, or 'it doesn't matter', that leaves things more open to interpretation, and Caucasians apparently are more likely to interpret something that isn't as explicitly Asian as Caucasian characters are explicitly Caucasian as indeed Caucasian. Gosh, that was a mess. The article does go into skin tone, and I'd be happy to forward it to you.

[dannyc]

Let me clarify. I was simply saying that animated "Caucasian characters" (shown as heading in graph) are recognized by most as Caucasians. Animated "Asian characters" appear to be stateless based on the chart percentages.

Caucasian characters = Caucasian
Asian characters = stateless, ambiguous (Caucasian or Asian depending on who the viewer is)

[Cicada]

Well then we agree. I think it's worth distinguishing two similar readings of 'stateless', since the word is popping up more and more often, and I'm not sure which is more accurate. In one instance we see that Asian characters (if not most characters) are drawn in a way, probably unintentionally but has become the standard depiction, that is racially ambiguous, and thus seems less foreign to the viewer - for example if you look at Evangelion with Shinji and Asuka, though their ethnicity is made obvious there is no real distinction in the way they are drawn. What I think was the original use of the word (I think coined by Iwabuchi), was in regards to sci-fi/cyberpunk, which made up a large percentage of early manga and anime and the majority of what made it to and in the West - I'm talking about seemingly white skin, clothing with no specific origin, off-the-wall hair and eye colors, etc - things that belong to no particular race and thus reasonably accessible to all.

[dannyc]

Yea, I can see that "statelessness" in sci-fi/cyberpunk anime. But I do think that most anime have Caucasian characters. I think its a very common trend. As for the confusion with Asian characters, its pretty easy to determine where they're from based on their location (even if they have light brown or blond hair).

Is their a way to add your signature easily? I don't want to go back to my homepage, and get it, and then post it.


Anime-Planet.com - anime | manga | reviews

[Cicada]

I think we can let this line of argument rest really.

- Anime's visual style is such that often the depiction of Asian characters can easily be read as Caucasian.
- Because Asian characters are not as consistently explicit in their racial and ethnic characteristics as the depiction of White, Black, etc. characters, they are often read as non-Asian, and in fact more likely to be interpreted as either Caucasian or own-race. This is a stylistic consequence, and not related to the characters themselves. In interpreting race, then, the context of the program can be important.

[revenantu]

they're actually not. they're japanese, unless specified (eg. their name, the setting).



**
and i'm sorry if you're asian and you have race-inferiority issues, but not all asians are like you. some people just like blue eyes. some people just like blonde hair. white people wear blue contacts and bleach their hair as well.

[Najaraja]

Seriously, why does everything have to be about race? Does it really matter?

[OtakuDan]

let me give you the simple and right answer to this thread. In Japanese society, the lighter your skin is, the more beautiful you are considered.