How To Do Black Representation in Anime
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- Опубліковано 7 вер 2024
- Black Representation in media has been a topic of discussion for years now. It’s usually really good, But what about black representation in anime? How good is that? In this video, I will be talking about Black People in Anime and whether or not it’s does Black Representation well.
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"You don't write good black characters, you write good characters who are black" 🔥🔥🔥
Imma use this
@@JetTheProphet What's your stance on the word black-and-white?.. From my point of view I always wondered If it's just an example of colorism because there's no such thing black skin or white skin color. You only have light skin tone, a dark skin tone,. With the skin Tone coming in different shades.
Sometimes I feel that if you're a dark skinned you are labeled as black and Vice versa.
Even if you're not in the African American If you have a dark skin complexion you are labeled as black.. Discrimination against dark skin individuals Happens everywhere outside of United States.
Do You Feel it is Colorism? If you Somewhat agree do you think it divides people?
It doesn’t bother me. I view it as a way of saying African American or Caucasian
@@JetTheProphet understood.
popo is melanesian not african
A small note: not all black people are African American!! I’m a British Nigerian myself and it’s a little frustrating when people forget there’s a massive range of Africans
I’m carribean African
As a white person, I’m no expert of course but I always noticed that too, that’s part of the reason I think it’s weird when people say using the term black is offensive (which I never heard a black person say ) because tying being black down to your ethic continent of origin plus where you live seems strange to me, and yeah of course calling everyone black African American is silly and happens oddly often
Who forgets that? I think only Americans 💀
@@amphibian2982 it really does, even a (white british) friend of mine asked me if I was African American once even though she knows I’ve lived here my whole life…weird stuff
@@pastelpinksparrow9436 you mean people from the usa
In Atsushi's defense, everyone in Fire Force has fire powers 😂
Right!
ONG, i was like, brother, its FIRE FORCE, ITS IN THE NAME!
nah it's all about race
@@user-ox3du2pv2vbruh 😂
i was about to say this
I was hoping you'd at least mention Enrico Pucci. He is one of the most intimidating and well written anime antagonists we've seen in recent years.
I was thinking about it but never got to that part in JoJo
W
he’s italian lol, hes not black.
he only appears black since jojo doesnt have canon colours so you can colour them any way you like but he is not one bit african
@@d3_VVwhat are you talking about? He's weather report's brother, which automatically makes him black
@@d3_VVItalian black american
Ok but fr, Michigo is THE black, Brazilian, female, well-written, anime protagonist. And it’s so sad how underrated that gem of an anime is.
FRRRRR!!!!!! But the studio got shut down…
One of the common things I notice when people talk about "black representation" is that they don’t really take the time to define what "Black" even is. Which can lead them to including dark skinned characters as "Black" regardless if they are actually sub Saharan African or not. Because "Black" just like "White" is a racial category NOT a skin color. I don’t think Mila Rose from Bleach is black
Edit. Wow 582 likes🥹
yeah there are asiens out there that have darker skin
Pucci isnt black
@@BestOneEver247with an e…?
@@Aesos3429 the aborigines, the sentinelese , the innu tribe,Indians , southeast asians , The Negrito People of Southeast Asia?
Yeah, there are a lot of darker Indian people in Japan. Some of these characters can be Indian rather than black. I think when designers draw black characters, they are very definitive with the black features.
Nah, homie. I definitely don't want them obsessing over "making more black MCs". That's how you get more Jaden the Trobolone and fewer Michikos. If they make a black MC, I want them to be inspired to do it. Carol & Tuesday was so dope, and came straight from passion, unlike the umpteenth isekai cash-in. The quality difference is staggering.
Mhm, my black OCs were inspired by Sonic and a show Calles Glitch Techs, Miko was my favorite (she Asian as far as I know) I draw alot of black characters cause I just do
I am black myself and hand some of these OC’s at 11-12 and just made them black
And that’s it lol
Agreed.. Making it more natural.. Look on how Afro Samurai was presented. He was a game changer and the epitome of a Cool Samurai w/ Sam Jackson as the voice.
Don't shove it into people's throats that anime need more diversity.. Even Killer Bee in Naruto was cool. In time, Black people will get their own MC in Anime again. At the end of the day, Anime Creators will always cater to Japanese people first.
Yeahhh but neo yokio is a huge joke
Bro let’s keep it 100 no one like that like that they’re not gonna go out their way to make a super strong main stream black male character that equal or rival the powers of any of their group it will not happen but that’s with everything yeah Finna see it in the DC universe you ain’t Finna see it in marvels universe you barely don’t see it in Pokémon unfortunately are there nationality men just don’t like her for the most part other nationality men run entertainment business on all fronts in every country making positive strong male black character if you if not a thing for them doesn’t really matter in their eyes we have to build our own empire and community if we want to see change that’s it no one cares about us the way we do so that’s why no one is taking the extra initiative to do anything about it
but neo, Yokio was just a bad show and he didn’t say anything about how they should’ve set over making black characters you can just make a type of characters without it being an obsession
Good video. As a brazilian, i love michiko to hachin. Brazilian culture doesnt have as much race division per se as the american one. So because of that, even tho the characters were black, they represented me and my lifestyle very well. The anime was so well made, you have no idea. It was surreal seeing my culture like that.
Fax
There isn't as much vocalizations between the differences of the race, but there is as much division class wise.
Yeah that why your people tell your children to not date bl4ck people but white one. And call afrobrazilian slurs. Its just that they dont complain since they have been told all their lives not too so they arent 'division'.
That why a afrobrazialian got her pagent crown taken away because your people r10ted because she was bl4ck. At least if youre going to lie tell your people to not be overly racist so that it can stick. Japanese who prefer lighter skin tone were less racist and had less problem having a half black half japanese miss japan.
@@quincy9908 Yeah, in my experience as a black brazilian, Brazil really doesn't have that much racial issues, at least not comparable to the US and their division of black, lightskin, asian and white people. However, we have a classist mindset, people are judged heavily on what economic class they present themselves as. Unfortunately a lot of poor people aren't white so people just categorize it as racism.
I always worry when drawing characters of different races than my own that I'm going to accidentally make it offensive somehow lol.
Just gotta make sure your drawing with the intention of properly portraying them. Goes with anything, white, black, Asian. How long have you been drawing for?
@@JetTheProphet Been drawing since I was little and I'm 30 now. It's always been a side hobby and not my main gig
@timbomb374 ok that’s dope. Do you usually post your drawings?
@JetTheProphet Yeah, sometimes. Been pretty with life lately though. You can see some of my stuff on the instant photo place timbombstuff. Though I've posted more stuff to my book of faces account Tim R Driver Art. I'm hoping I can carve out some time to make more stuff soon.
WHY ARE YOU CALLING BLACK CHARACTERS WHO AREN'T IN AMERICA, AFRICAN AMERICANS? BLACK PEOPLE EXIST OUTSIDE OF AMERICA. @@JetTheProphet
I really vibes with this vid but I have 2 things to say.
1: Mr Popo was never black, he was a genie so he’s a bad example of bad black representation. You could have an argument for commander black tho.
2: on the note of more black main MCs, that’s something that has to be organic and not forced. Look at the way the appearance of black characters drastically improved over the years as Japan was introduced to more and more black people. The number of black main MCs will rise as time passes and it needs to be handled properly and not just “hey let’s make our mc black out of nowhere for the black bucks”
I agree with the MC thing too. I actually wouldn’t mind them not making mc’s black. But if they do include strong black side characters, they’ve got to do it like the artist for soul eater. Not only do his black side characters have various hairstyles and personalities, but they’re also strong and capable. Are they as capable as the main protagonist? Typically not. But the protagonists are usually written from the perspective of someone who’s the same race as the writer. Which with most anime is Japanese, and I’m okay with that.
Yea especially because it's Japan too. It's ok not to just spam black mcs everywhere if they're not here in Japan as much. I can agree it's better for buisiness though. I just don't want anime to just be solely black with Asian undertones. I like the anime because of its eastern flare and philosophy mainly.
You forgot that jinx is also not black it's a Pokémon, no trouble in Japan wasn't tell some white liberal saw it did ppl freak out
It’s been a debate since the manga but once you add up the details it’s obvious his depiction is a black person, or if you wanna call it a genie who is humanoid, and is black
There’s a lot of examples people who compiled to me the most obvious is his lips, they didn’t have to be that way but we all know characters who’s lips are like that are meant to be exaggerated black characters. His bucktooth that appears in a lot of scenes also makes it obivous
Like I’m black and I made my own POC OCs not cause I cared for diversity, it was an automatic thing I was 12 lol
I've got spoilers for Black Lagoon. Dutch's backstory is expanded in the newer volume and it's actually fascinating he is being hunted by the French and him managing to literally outsmart them and keeping his identity a literal secret and causing their pursuers to turn on each other.
Cant wait for the next chapter to come out in 2025 😎
having no idea what this show is, the french hunting someone in an anime made me giggle
I just hate it when people assume any character with slightly darker skin is black. Even if a series makes it clear the character is just Japanese with a tan.
I remember that's what ppl thought about when it came to usopp for the longest, then it turned out that oda really created him as black or of African descent. And thats like the most popular anime. So there's a good chance that some magakas don't like to draw us with darker skin maybe? Because there's others that just look japanese with a tan also
Yeah wont lie, was a huge personal win when they announced how diverse the crew actually was @AnimeIntrospective
I know because people hate us they hate to see us in anything that involves that well them in anyway in this world being black can be very difficult especially when everyone just thinks you’re crazy they think that there is not a issue we’re talking about there is no issue we’re fixing you are just black babies complaining all the time and as a black man you learned at a young age no one gives a fuck about you other than your mother
no way bro asked why he drew people in fire force to have fire powers 💀
« Because they are not proper representation of African Americans » I know what you meant but not every black person is gonna be African American🤣🤣
Yes like Ogun is quite literally Nigerian inspired from the Ogun god in the Yoruba religion
0:10 Celebrating *African-American* culture?
This is a common mistake I see. Don't forget, most black people aren't American. There's way more to black culture than just black AMERICAN culture. While the black American influence is great it's not the only piece of this large identity.
You are right but why is everybody so angry from our point of you that’s how we celebrated growing up in a country where they could care less about you we have to learn to build ourselves up we’re not trying to do like anyone else we’re just trying to be happy for ourselves like when we said Black Lives Matter we never said other lives do not matter we just need help with ours but once again people act weird with African-Americans I don’t know why the world dislike us so much Who knows that my children will go through the same things that I did
@@dericknelson5841black lives matter is a scam those founders used the money for themselves and gave the rest to the alphabet mafia. Also no one hates African Americans. There are bigots out there fuck them.
To be honest, most examples in the video are not actually black they just have darker skin than the average east asian as some people in Japan thinks darker skin is hot which doesn't really have a connection with black representation. Especially manga and anime are made mainly for their Japanese audience, they just go with what Japanese like or the author/artist's personal taste.
People thought that same thing for usopp and then it was revealed he was actually black. You can't know what the mangakas are thinking. Also people have this misconception that "black" people can't have curly softer hair or slim facial features.
@Wavy612 True their problem is that they need to see some stereotype to confirm that they are black. Why must we but bound by reality even in fiction? Let them draw black characters with straight hair.
so as an artist and creator myself who lives in a place with considerably smaller population of black people i might actually be able to shed some light on maybe why black representation is less common in major character roles
when i draw and make main characters im trying to look for something that is very appealing to me which means i draw and write based off my experiences, which makes this hard gap in my brain when i attempt to make a strong black character i really like because there is less experiences i have to go off of, so i dont know whats good and whats bad design which can make me hesitant to make those types of characters for other people to see
i have a feeling that many artists in japan making content might also have that same gap
thought their still are plenty of black characters i have made in major roles of my stories that i really really enjoyed making and drawing
also W anime characters you mentioned in this video
some personal choices of mine would be
Ōetsu from bleach for his design and
Kuzan from one piece cus hes *cool* as hell
I understand that but like I said in my video. You write good characters that are black. The bare minimum of a black character is a good character.
@@JetTheProphet i might of worded it out a little weird but my problem comes more to design more than anything but yeah my process to writing any character starts with how they fit in with the people around them, then the world, then the design which is hardest for me
love your videos btw keep up the hard work!
Dunno about Japanese artists and mangakas, but you could always reach out to other black artists and anime fans online if you genuinely (hard emphasis on genuinely) want to include black characters into your work; ask us about kinds of representation we’d like to see or see more of, what would make it harmful/ racist representation, find videos similar to this one discussing black representation in animation media and get ideas from those discussion points, research and learn how to draw different black hairstyles and find a way to incorporate them into your own style.
Honestly, just writing or coming up with the overall personality and traits for a character before coming up with the design works too. If there’s aspects of the personality that you later come to learn are seen as a harmful stereotype, you can just always go back and change it before incorporating it into your series. Luckily now there’s a lot of resources for people genuinely wanting to include other kinds of characters (and not for diversity browny points lol)
The excuses in your comment is crazy lmao the artists of SpongeBob hadn’t seen sea sponges either but I don’t see that stopping them
@@ilovekene9697 This comparison literally doesn't make any sense, obviously, since sea sponges aren't sentient they wouldn't be offended even if the representation was subpar (and since they aren't, you can't really say SpongeBob is a good or accurate "sea sponge representation".), which is different from black people who ARE SENTIENT, and CAN be offended by bad representation, accidental or otherwise.
You forgot Nana's friends from the NANA anime. The main character's friends are a black couple it. The character design on them looked pretty good. It's a bit old but a great music anime.
Glad to see I’m not the only one that remembers Junko! She was such a nice character :)
They are both japanese art students actually, must be the culture appropriation that made you think otherwise lol
@@aureliesene4487 Nope, in the manga it's stated that both are biracial
Junko's dad is black american, and Junko had to straigthen her hair when going to high school
As an Asian illustrator in Asia, it's really hard to draw black people in a not very exaggerated way. You can say that our eyes aren't trained well enough because we're lack of samples, there are not that much black community in our circle. We only drew from our immediate memories which is cartoon black face. But, if you're willing to do enough research, there is a middle ground for this, which I found is not making the lip or its color too contrast with the skin. And usually, Asian people forget that just like Asian, black people also has different skin tone. It's a good mindset to have when you're trying to introduce the black characters in your work.
Hoenstly, you should just experiment and only take the people who want you to improve words seriously.
@@Disheartthorn this one is a good mindset. Especially if you have a black friend to show, take their opinion as an account too.
Only black face to think of? If this were 20 years ago, that excuse would be more believable, but it's not. If an artist still does that in this day and age, with the internet more accessible for reference, then they're just being willfully ignorant.
@@aspebb Give us Asians a break, man!! For millennials artists from 3rd world countries like me, growing up, the only artistic media that depicted black community the most around 90s-00s are old tom & jerry or looney toon cartoons, which pretty outdated TBH (yes, our tv stations could only afford old shows due to budget, thus we only had old shows). We didn't even get fat albert, kids next door and such, if there is a drawn black character in my teen phase, it's probably from Disney like Bubble from Lilo & Stitch. So, we had difficulties to get a reference how to draw a black person without the stereotype racial features.
@@tsukuneboyI'm not attacking Asians, man. Everyone has a different experience of things, but it really is as I said - 20 years ago that excise would be more believable than it is now.
You're using UA-cam now so I assume your internet access is better now than it was 20 years ago. So you an other artists will have more access to different references
I'm saying this as an artist myself. If a person had better internet access (specifically the famous mangaka) and wanted to get better reference then they would. If they don't they're just being willfully ignorant.
As a Latin American, I really don't care if my people are underrepresented on anime, I can only recall one anime where the main character is Latin: David from Cyberpunk. I like anime the way it is, I do acknowledge the importance of avoiding negative portrayals of black individuals, but I don't believe anime should necessarily focus on incorporating more black characters.
Besides the point, anime characters don't look Japanese or Caucasian, they mostly look like "anime characters" which is good and neutral.
I´m latina too, I think most of those characters are just dark skinned people, they can be latinos, indians, mixed, filipinos or just someone with a tan, there are a lot of asians with dark skin. The ones who are really black are those who have very obvious black characteristics and culture. You can´t claim as black any character with dark skin.
One Piece and Michiko to Hatchin both feature Latin Americans and I love them both!
@@vanitydefenderthats true. guts from berserk looks more like pale brown skinned middle easterner and casca looks south asian
@@carla-2034 his facial structure is very middle eastern. And manga authors rarely give white dudes in anime dark black hair. Middle eastern doesn't mean just burqas and that Saudi prince look. Also guts in the color pages of the manga covers is drawn with a middle eastern skin tone, very pale brown. Not pinky white like white people. Which is why my canon is someone from North Africa/middle East.
@@carla-2034 I don't fully agree with that take because if you take the look/design of Zoro he looks very white just based off the anime but apparently he's Japanese and oda specifically stressed that Zoro has to be played by a Japanese actor. A lot of the times I feel mangaka draw their Japanese characters in a white looking manner you know what I mean?
4:45 everyone has fire based skills in fire force, with a few exceptions
Afro Samurai is by far one of my favourite anime characters, this anime just hits different.
I'm as white as a A4 paper sheet and that didn't stop 12 years old me to pretend to be Afro and break my mom's window using a broom as a sword.
As a Hispanic black young man goku has been my representation
W
Same. I don't care about a character because I think they are the same "race" as me. That's disgusting. I care when they are cool and awesome. Like Majin Vegeta. Even though I'm skinny darkskin tall and don't like face tattoos.
Nobody asked
@@nasty2168bro said that's disgusting
@@ytperson9303Quit trying to argue when you don't even have a point.
Tite Kubo was really the first in doing right black representatiion in early 00s with Bleach. Kubo loves hip hop and latin culture, so thats why Chad is a half black latin with japanese, and we got Tousen a really complex and cool character. Bleach have a lot of really cool black characters.
There were cool black characters in manga before that. You might want to take a look at Slam Dunk (1990) or even Tenjou Tenge (1997).
I think the main reason why we dont see much black people in anime (aside from japan itself) is that the japanese media is very focused on itself. It doesnt try to conform to anything outside that. Comparing it to american media and culture is just outright wrong.
That doesn't explain all those Isekai and JRPGs set in European settings Melyssa
@@kenshix7902 I think that has more to do with European settings being a staple of the fantasy genre. It's just kind of expected.
@@kenshix7902 all i am saying is that you cant just expect a culture to conform to yours. If they make something good with it, great! But you cant just expect that being the norm. And i say this as a poc myself
@@melyssavictoriasoaresnasci4749 so writing a non-offensive POC character is conforming to Western culture?? Ok.
@@suprememilkers413insane strawman fallacy 😂😂😂 also why u replying to some old ass reply
All these characters are original characters too. With a new character without any baggage you can make something entirely unique and have a history that suits them best. People get pissy about it, but a race swapped character will never be as cool as an original character with their own legacy
AlsoI like some of your points here and I agree with most of it.
But I don't like the idea that japanese are obligated to represent another cultures. I mean if they will, they need to do it respectfully, but saying that they HAVE to, is down right colonial.
The reason why america's role casting is diverse is cause America is extremely diverse, the people in the industry there are of different cultures and races. Why should a Japanese writer showcase a race they barely know about when they can pull from their own experiences?And black people should invest in these themselves.
I've worked at an anime studio before and in the time I've worked there a lot of African Americans would try to get something off the ground by hiring studios to work on their IPs, but I've noticed, a lot of them are just black naruto/dragonball or some hood story about prison or basketball(I'm not being racist, these were literally the first few projects I've had to animate for) with very little substance and we're often told that the characters being black was the selling point.
Also why does mirko keep ending up in these videos, she's a dark skinned gyaru, that's a thing.
Her being a gyaru was never a thing
@@melyssavictoriasoaresnasci4749 she literally wears her uniform like one and even then dark skinned Japanese exist
@@maxchaos44yah but shes not a gyaru. Just a dark skinned japanese person
@@melyssavictoriasoaresnasci4749 I mean regardless of skin tone, she's still very much gyaru based on how she dresses and acts. Loosened up uniform, loose leg warmers and long lashes.
Does this logic also apply when a Japanese mangaka does a manga based on viking history? Or Europe? Etc.
Michiko and Hatchin was set in Brazil, so the creators were definitely going for authenticity more.
Could it be that there are more Diverse characters in Western media, especially American media because America is a MULTICULTURAL Nation as opposed to Japan? As far as I'm concerned Japan has done their duress in having this many black characters in their shows.
Interesting video, but a few problems here
1. It's probably not a good idea to imply every character with dark skin is black, ie. mr. popo who others have pointed out is a genie, or chad from bleach(not saying you did that obviously) or Kīlauea who is implied to be Hawaiian or more broadly polynesian. With other characters its also ambiguous unless they have have distinctly black features or just from the word of god(the author).
2. I don't think we need MORE black MCs in anime, as you said yourself, "You don't write good black characters, you write good characters who are black." So shoehorning in black MCs, deuteragonist, side-characters for pandering purposes would just feel like the studio is filling out a quota, and at times doing so can create bad black characters, as a recent example Castlevania: Nocturne with Annette. Another reason this is a bad idea is because studios will make this an excuse to be lazy and just reboot a series with a race swap, which in the west is a huge issue already when it comes to western media, doing it to anime would not only piss off more people, but could potentially ruin a lot of studios seeing as many animation studios in japan already have terrible working conditions and pay, and they could potentially lose a lot of money due to this type of philosophy the same way Disney here in the west is losing money and caning shows after 1 season.
3. Finally, as someone who grew up watching anime around the toonami era, I never really felt the need for a black character to represent me, the whole point of watching anime, or any media for that matter at least imo, is to watch the stories and lives of other people, not the stories and lives of other people who look just like me, you can sill feel represented or feel a connection for a character without the need for their skin tone or hairstyle to match or look similar to yours.
Other than that yes there are cool and badass black characters in anime, even more than in this video, but at the end of the day we'll all feel represented in some way.
What are distinct black features though? The problem with this is it's a bunch of white Americans who have primarily only interacted with west Africans. You have no idea there's a whole other side of Africa that's actually where civilization began.
Gotta give a shout out to Tite Kubo for making so many awesome black women in Bleach too
Having black representation never mattered to me all I cared about growing up is that the shows were good or not but now that I'm older it is nice to see I suppose though I can't lie doesn't bother me really if they are or aren't there
For me I couldn't care what is the skin color of a character if well done. A show could have all black or all white characters and I wouldn't mind.
It only matters to unimaginative narcissists and people trying to make money.
I’m the same way but it’s also nice to see someone of your race. I’m a huge Peter Parker fan and relate to him but I also like Miles being around too
@@JetTheProphet it’s nice I think we all thought Piccolo was black back in the day lol
but people are demanding it like they have a right to it. I’m not a big fan of this rhetoric. It creates crappy black characters in all forms of media.
@@nichepaper true, that’s why I tried to make a argument for more and show examples of how to do it correctly
i love this video. you acknowledge real black characters and encourage others to create and uplift more!
i hate blackwashing so i seek out as many black artists, creators, and characters as i can because i feel like its better than coloring over a character and calling it a day. you did a good job! thank you!
People forget or don't seem to realize anime came from Japan, what's the majority and demographic in Japan is Japanese people and they're already a closed off traditional bunch of people. now thanks to globalization people are appreciating anime and making their own type cartoons inspired by the Japanese style. There are good black characters in American anime. It just irks me when I see a black american say they want more black people in Japanese anime when Americans have Castelvania, the boondocks and Afro Samurai. Don't tell a country what they should be writing for, they're not writing or creating things for America. Now hopefully American media are doing more western anime with more representation. Stay in your lane I say.
Wow good insight! Japan should make their own characters no matter what. If they decided to make all their characters pale forever. They can do that. Just make good characters
Not everyone in anime with a darker skin tone is meant to black or African American. Even among the examples you used in the video, Muhammad Avdol is Egyptian and meant to be Arab/Middle Eastern, Takenori Akagi from Slam Dunk is actually full blooded Japanese (despite his character design), Kiawe, if you take into account the setting of the Sun and Moon games, is clearly inspired by Polynesia or Pacific Islanders. Darker complexion characters in Japanese produced anime will always reflect the Japanese cultural zeitgeist. For example the Pokemon Jynx was never meant to invoke the image of black people; in Japan it is readily recognizable as a caricature of gyaru culture, especially the yamanba gyaru subset (which was in turn inspired by the mythical yokai yama-uba) that was popular in the 90s when Red/Blue first came out.
Claiming every anime character with melanin is black makes me feel like I'm watching the Racial Draft skit from Chappelle's Show all over again.
im pretty sure hes an black Egyptian. hes just Egyptian really but you can say hes black. Egyptian comes in all shades and he just happens to be black.
People like you are really annoying. He didn’t say every anime character with dark skin is black. If a characters race is ambiguous and up to interpretation, why can’t they be black? Egyptian is a nationality, so is Japanese. Blacks reside in those countries. You wrote a whole essay for nothing, triggered over the little representation black people get in anime.
Sincerely,
Stfu
There is a black character in Jojo though. He does but he was in part 2.
@@KazeShikamaruat least smokey became mayor.
About the black Itadori example, I think that stoties should be written around a black character, not a black character placed in a good story.
Why is it so important for some black people to see other black characters in media?
Isn't it far more important that characters should just be well written, as you said in the first part of this video?
Isn't empathy and taste for characters' personalities/skills not the main reason for being invested in a story, no matter what skin colour characters have?
As a white man I fucking loved Afro Samurai and Black Lagoon, and I also loved other movies like Black Panther or games like Spiderman: Miles Morales, and never once in my mind I thought "Yeah you know I enjoyed it but if the main character was white I would have appreciated this more because it makes my cosplay 'easier' "
Yes but for black people they can't relate to character that are not of their skin color because racism is ingrained in their dna
I mean...You're a white guy. The main character is a white guy like 80% of the time (or at least lightskinned), so you've never had a want for representation. I think you just lack the life experience to understand, and that's perfectly normal.
That's because you see lots of white characters in media. Let media take, say, a couple years vacation from writing any white protagonists and get back to me on how you feel.
@@mac533 I wouldn’t give any fucks. Mostly I would just focus on how well written the characters are. Also, I like black characters and black people in general, they got style.
If you don't care then why can't you be happy for the people who do care? I don't care about the Witcher, doesn't mean I can't want Witcher fans to get a good adaptation.
Asians, especially Japan who's far removed from western and african society, has no obligation to represent any kind of group in their media. It's brilliant when they do and they represent you in a fantastic manner, but Cartoons and Hollywood has a bigger responsibility than Manga and Anime.
lol mirko just simply gal japanese with classic tan gyaru
Technically anime doesn't have to represent black people at all considering it's primarily created for Japanese audiences. If they wanted to, anime and manga creators could exclude black characters and anyone whose not Japanese altogether which would be perfectly fine. So it's not really important for anime to represent black people, just the same as it's not important for anime to represent white people since we aren't the primary audience.
It's saying *how*
Black and Japanese here. It would be cool to see characters that look like me in anime more. They don't have to, but it would be cool. The video doesn't say "anime HAS TO DO THIS".
@@theyfw_nai you're not japanese you're black
@@ZrvZaza What??
@@ZrvZaza ??
All we need to do is make our own stuff. We dont need nobody to represent us but ourselves they can animate and create what they want and we will do the same.
We do that already too.
@@KazeShikamaruThen they should be happy
@@ifirespondiamstupid7750 japanese still more dominants and popular
I don't think we should be demanding Japanese to make more black people prominent in anime. They don't owe us that.
i agree, instead we should be supporting more black artists and animators
@@xLadyRaine nah i wont watch anything just to support black People. i only will wach it if its good
@@saba_350fair enough, I pretty much do the same. I was even thinking of drawing people from different cultures because it sounded like fun. No story or character idea attached to it.
not rlly about forcing them or demanding as much as "dont make them racist caricatures."
@@Disheartthorn it probably is fun.
Dude let's be honest here.. I don't think many people care all that much whether or not there are any black people in any anime show. The main thing to really focus on is if the anime is any good or not. You can have black people in it if you'd like, but if it's not good then there isn't any point to it since it's not enjoyable to watch. I'm black myself, yet you'd never hear me say a lot of what was said in this video. Btw half of the people mentioned in the video aren't even black
Good point, glad to see you willing share your opinion.
Tbh I don’t rlly get why people care about this sort of thing or feel the need to get represented by anime or whatever show they are watching. I’m like if it’s good and entertaining that’s all that matters 😂
I am Arab, and the only Arab character I can name from anime is Muhammad Abdul from Jojo. Seeing him was definitely cool but that was it. I wasn’t like “oh my god finally some proper Arab rep!!”
American care too much.
this video is so well put together that as someone who doesn't watch anime, i want to watch these shows for these amazingly portrayed characters and not just because their black. So many scenes and character designs I saw were breathtaking and you had a beautiful take on the subject that it makes me want to see these shows. And i dont even watch anime 10/10
I appreciate the compliments! Thank you. But yeah I like a lot of these characters and wanted to show them the respect they deserve
Some of the characters mentioned could easily be Kambodian or Middle Eastern. One of the lovely things about art style is that you can obscure race a lot. Dark skin is not the same as being black race.
You only talk about black representation referring to african-americans only, not actual africans... Why?
Lol
some of them were african..
he did mention nessa, he called her african american but she'd be black british if anything cuz galar is inspired by england
It would be nice for Japan to make more black characters. But as a black man myself, I don't want more because to me if they show up it's a 50/50 chance we'll like it or just hate it. I don't like it when characters in a show look like me and is a bad rep of me When I can just relate more to characters that look nothing like me, if you put a normal anime character and a black character on a paper and say "who do you relate with more? Ichigo kurosaki or Riley from the boondocks" I'm gonna say Ichigo because I how Ichigo acts is like me more than Riley. (They are examples dont get it twisted)
I disagree...
Don’t get me wrong. I get your points on wanting “well written” black characters in anime and I’m absolutely in support of that. (Just as I support well written characters generally).
But, no studio. Nor any artist should make it their goal to increase the diversity. You are right... Japan and America are very different.
In that America and western media generally are obsessed with race and diversity. Anime is considered great partly due to their carelessness for western sensibilities...
The last thing we need is for good media to start caring about diversity and quotas... just be thankful that we got what we do and if a Japanese artist/writer decides to write a story with a black person as the protagonist one day... then great. But, we shouldn’t force ideas or crap like that on them. True art is made organically. Not anyway else.
Also I understand you may not be demanding that. But my point stands... as many people just senselessly demand more black representation where it doesn’t work/matter. For example, Lord Of The Rings is a fantasy world with determined races yet the “Rings of Power” series decided to throw that all away by making all the races different colors and the like.
Race is also a marker of culture and society. It’s unrealistic and frankly dum to see a black elf in a setting where elves are meant and portrayed as being light skinned, immortal, almost ghost like beings. It’s unimmersive, annoying and counter to the lore.
I agreed right until the dark evles part that's lowkey racist
@@Dukdits how? Your telling me that clearly defined races with their own cultures and society’s should realistically be as diverse as people in the modern age?
That’s like if I traveled to ancient Egypt and just saw a Scandinavian walking around... what I said isn’t racist. It’s factually unimmersive, disrespectful towards the people who are supposed to be the focus in said show/media and overall wrong.
@@Dukdits it’s not racist to expect LoTR to be faithful to their source material. Elves are clearly based on the idea of a “Snow White” esk angel like people with almost ghostly like visages. This is obvious in the first LoTR movie even with the famous “night walk” where elves walk to the next world... imitating ghosts.
There being black elves throws that completely out the window and ruins any semblance of consistency.
Am I supposed to believe that there always were black elves? Or is there an explanation with an elf having a child with a Harad (effectively Harad in LoTR are a group of people who are based on African/Middle Eastern groups in real life and thus... more black then white).
It makes no sense.
@@Dukdits maybe my explanation is confusing you.
What I mean is that I want shows that actually use race as more then just a means to diversify a cast. A great example would be Game Of Thrones. Which places races in very specific and well defined continents with their own culture and identity. Westeros is very different from from Essos for instance with their people being clearly defined.
Race is more then just a diversity token in that show. It makes up groups of people. Which is realistic as our world is too.
The only reason why you think differently is because you had the privilege of living in the modern age which by virtue of being progressive has normalized diversity to you. Especially in the west. The truth is that society and story’s are often unrealistic and bad when they try and emulate modern day progressive diversity...
As those worlds often have no realistic progression that leads to them getting to that point.
It’s jarring to see a medieval fantasy like LoTR be more diverse and culturally enriched then even some parts of our modern “enlightened” world. LoTR is a war torn, heavy place. Where as we have surpassed that in many respects. So it makes no sense to see modern sensibilities in such a world space as LoTR.
That is my point.
Wait but isn’t Sid the teacher in Soul Eater black too? I know he’s a zombie but you know what they say; real ninjas don’t die, they survive and zombify
There shouldn't be any forced representation in anime, mangakas should create whatever they want.
Exactly what I said
If they won't make proper representation maybe they shouldn't make it at all, it's culture.
@@artstar_li0 nah they can do whatever they want
@@user-ox3du2pv2v that's how you start a war silly
@@artstar_li0I write my own stories for fun (as a hobby), but even authors who publish their works are not obligated to focus on creating good representation in everything they write or illustrate. They have the right to treat their intellectual property as their own and choose to share it for entertainment or profit. Regardless of the elements that they choose to incorporate.
There isnt really much representation of anyone other than asian people in anime, for.. obvious reasons.
Hey just a quick heads up, Michiko isn’t black, at least not African American. Michiko to hachin is inspired by Brazil and here, and she would be considered “pardo” which is an umbrella term for “brown” because she looks like a descendant of the native Brazilian indigenous people
Afro-Latino
calling black characters african american in fiction where america doesnt exist is funny ngl 😭americans forget black people exist outside of america too
You think Japan that barely has any black people would know anything besides what they see online which primarily African Americans culture/music.
A good video, although there are a few things I have to say. First of all, I get why there are little black people in anime. It’s because Japan is predominantly Japanese. You can’t fault them from not adding black people in their animes when they rarely even think of their existence. As more black people are introduced into their society, their image will soar into the public consciousness, more creating black characters. We can’t force this development, and it’s something that has to happen over time. Secondly, I don’t think it’s that serious to obsess over the race of the characters. Most of these character are from different worlds with races different from our world. Just like our world, their environment dictates their skin color. If there are blacks where it makes sense, then it makes sense. You can’t just add a random black person in just because.
But some people change character’s skin and call it “fix” is so wrong.
the other question is: its not even like african american shows are giving asians good respresentation either. why is it this way? yet theres no one asking?
voice your opinion on it. Let people know
本当それな。😂
自分達がやっていない事を他人に要求するのっておかしいと思うんですわ。
日本人が黒人のラッパーに"俺たちの事について歌え"なんてバカげた要求をしたことなんてないし
Another young black man here. Sad I didn't get recommended this sooner. I'll be subbed and look forward to your channel growing.
I knew from the title that this video was going to have some unhinged people in the comment section. Good stuff man, keep it up.
i never understood the this thing about black representation. anime is predominantly asian, they would focus more on the story than useless aspects such as representation of races and shit like that. why care so much about your representation in foreign media. also, stuff like black itadori is just wrong, plain wishful thinking. i think good representation of black people comes from shows like boondocks, afro samurai, etc. create your own stories, dont wish for others to be "inclusive". Also, if your thinking of representation and "black power" is stuff like Black Panther and movies like them, forget what i said, its a pointless conversation then.
Don't tell other people what we should and should not wish for. Especially when that "wish" is only beneficial for that person. I don't understand why y'all have a problem with a race of people who's image was made for them, wanting to see representation in a form of media they love. You saying "it's wrong to think about a black Itadori makes no sense? How is that wrong? Who is that thought hurting. Sometimes its better to say nothing at all than to say something about someone's opinion you no nothing about.
@@floasish2flo164Blackwashing is wrong.
@@floasish2flo164You addressed the OP's point perfectly. Why do YOU care that this piece of media where Japanese people find pale skin and large eyes attractive to represent you? You can make your own. If the people who make these stuff wants to represent you. They will. If not you shouldn't care and they definitely do not care. Look at Western media where you are represented and look at how trashy these forced represented characters are.
4:48 I mean the show is called fire force LMAO💀
I love this video btw I'm subbing
Lol but like bro. There as to be an agenda. And thank you
Why should anime have black representation? It is made by and for the consumption of Japanese people.
today i found out iris and leon are related! wow i'm so behind. absolutely love this video btw!!!
Glad I was able to teach you something
Look, i agree, but there's absolutely no reason why japan would make anime with a main character who is anything other than white and Asian.
Why white?😂 Why not just Asian then?
@@Nick-zp6wm そりゃ日本は長く白人国家と交流があった国だからだよ
それに彼らはフィクションを作るときの題材も豊富だしね(berserk, fullmetal alchemistとかね)
もっと言えば、彼らは基本的にフィクションでどんな描写をしても文句を言ってこないからね。
逆に言えばその二つの要因を兼ね備えてない人たちはアニメじゃまず題材になりえないってことを意味する
@@Nick-zp6wm who knows
I never saw Michiko as Afro Latina. I always saw her as Mesoamerican. You have to remember that women of Mesoamerican descent tend to be dark skinned with straight black hair, which is exactly how Michiko was designed. In short, Michiko's brown, not black. Or at least to me she is.
She is canonically Afro-latino but I understand your viewpoint
Same, I don’t see her as Afro Latino at all. Her hair shows she’s more Native American or just a pardo(mixed race).
Anime has “same face syndrome” so ALL characters seem racially ambiguous whatever their skin tone. The fact that the Japanese creators have to clarify what race their characters are, proves my point. This is mostly a Japanese problem because Korean manhwa have characters who are clearly East Asian. This is just something I’ve noticed.
Edit: Also, Americans should really stop monopolizing Blackness, there are other Black cultures, not just American.
all things considered, i don't really care all that much.
i just want black people to be represented in a respectful way.
Uhh...not every person in anime with a tan is black bruh lmfao.
another dope black character I think’ll eventually get the recognition he deserves is Lille Barro from Bleach, an ELITE Royal Guard for Yhwach who’s part of the Schutzstaffel
Ill be honest I thought Leon from Pokemon was hispanic till you said Iris was his cousin.
07:33 People like the person change the character’s skin is so disgusting. Stop it.
yeah. They're gonna be mad when black fictional characters are whitewashed, but blackwash Japanese characters with no hesitation.
They always have a double standard. so disgusting.
this video complains about the lack of black representation in anime, but ignores the issue of the lack of asian representation in their media.
That's why Japanese Anime will always be superior to Disney. We make original black characters, meanwhile Hollywood freaks, all they do is black wash an original white character. _cough_ The mermaid
not that I'm disagreeing with your video. However your point that there aren't enough black main characters in anime could be answered cause most anime is meant to appeal to the japanese audience first, then to the world. I could be wrong though, it's just my 2 cents on the matter.
if thats the case then dont but black people in it. if you are going to then do it right and show good rep. if not then just dont add black people.
@@luvrere5962Exaxtly! I can't like this comment enough! We should encourage them to make 0 black people in anime in the future because they will be opening up a can of worms from the SJW they shouldn't be opening.
I completely understand your enthusiasm fr
As someone whos mixed, half black i always love seeing characters that also shows some of my features, it feels much more natural
Boondocks Jazmine and Huey will always be my favorites
This video did the culture justice
I tried my best
this video feels like a parody🤣🤣. do you honestly think that any person with even slightly tan skin is black??
I've met non albino black people that were lighter than Italians. Being black doesn't mean you're as dark as the night.
well blak come in every shade you think we are all darksinned ?
That's fine and all but don't dismiss my man Simon from Durarara just because he was drawn like that, he's the goat
yeah no he was drawn goofy asl
@@luvrere5962 still one of the best characters in that show and it's not even close
I understand where you're coming from but when media is created it is first created for the people in the country other people outcome second most people in Japan don't know anybody black and when media is created it's to show the world around you and to reflect a bit of yourself I want to see black people in anime I not try to be too pushy about it cuz I understand a bit of what the culture is like over there it is very different from the ground 4 up animes not created for Americans in America there are a lot of black people and other other people the representation is really important to us it's hard to write about a culture you don't really understand like if I were to write a webcomic it would probably be in a city it would be about people like me cuz I can understand or based off people I know characters like that it's hard to write realistic characters so you have to grab from life it's a little hard when you don't really know anybody
Good for you. Never force other countries to change their media to suit the feeling of another race.
I don’t think Japan really needs to push to add more of what they have. It’s cool, but they don’t have many black people at all, so I’m grateful we even have this many to pick from. The main watchers of anime still are Japanese people by a margin now, and they still make up a minuscule amount of their country’s population, so they’re not going to make many more.
You are white
4:47 "why do all his black characters have fire powers" i got a feeling it might be cuz 3/4 of them are in a show called FIRE force
Well duh that was the joke
Honestly I don’t really care for representation in anime. I am half Hispanic my father came from Mexico I care for character arcs and how they react to there world. I am fine if they don’t have a character that is my skin color.
Manga called "Me and Devil Blues" by Akira Hiramoto, the author of Prison School, had many black characters and was impressive. It's a shame that it hasn't been completed.
Isaac from castlevania is simply the G.O.A.T
At first i wasn't sure what you meant, but now i get it, i think everyone should have a level of joy when they see a person that they enjoy in anime, i love seeing a powerful character that represents me, and those around me.
"i didnt watch any of the anime with black main characters" yea would have a hard time finding one worth watching lol. also stop claiming tanned/ slightly tanned characters as black like iris and leon are south asian. if theres no reason to add black anime characters dont add them, name me one anime with a black main character that did well besides the boondocks lmao. stop blackwashing anime you narc
well boondocks isnt an anime , its an american cartoon specifically made in the style of anime.
One issue with anime remains that people from the west tend to map our own interpreations onto works created in a very different cultural environment. For example, changing only the hair, skin, or eye color does not make a chatacter "not-asian" in anime. We often see all the many many MANY yellow-haired anime characters as white, but characters like Bakugou or Sailor Moon are intended to be asian with different colored hair and eyes to provide color variety on screen. It's just a color swap. Same reason characters have green, purple, pink or blue hair. Essentially, unless the story context/culutre or facial features, not just color palette, tells us a character is not asian....they are likely east asian by default. A lot of characters with brown skin in anime are intended to imply they are southeast asian or argentinian/brazilian.
We're all allowed to project our expectations and intepretations onto anime all we like, and there's a lot of benefit to doing so. But it does make giving credit to Japanese character designers for genuine black representation more complicated, and I think you addressed that super well in the characters you chose to highlight here, who are NOT color swapped. Thank you!
(Note that 3 facial features to check if it's a color swap vs white/black/latinx/indian are 1) hair texture/style, 2) nose shape/size, 3) did they draw/fill in the upper lip or just the lower lip)
It's good that we get to see black people in Japanese anime art style to represent us as a people so that is so cool but there's things that I need to point out we should not depend on other people were concerns Japan because it's true that their population do not have many habitants that live in their country I also feel like that we need a black anime platform our own representation so this is what is going on majority of Japanese anime the characters look very eurocentric so I believe we need to get our own anime representation what represents us as a people in the different aspect
Exactly make your own ones. Let Japan do their own thing.
@@ifirespondiamstupid7750 I think in Japan they don't have many black people so they will draw black people in their anime how they see black people in movies TV series so they will decide to put black people in their anime for the sake of representation so that add some black characters in the anime that have nothing to do put their own personality in real life so we are not always treated better in Japanese anime
the design aside, i loved sister crone and her character conclusion i think it perfectly setted up the dark themes of the show promised neverland and it was so poetically represented btw amazing vid i kind of found killer bee funny but i understand yr point
Nice video and all that but what about other races (even dark skinned people who aren't black)
Does the sentiment of this video apply there?
And what about America representing Japan?
Of course other races matter but keep in mind, I am a black American, who made this video during black history month. Tried to keep it focused on black people. But yes this video still applies to other races too.
dutch is the goat but im just gonna throw it out there mugen from samurai champloo ain't black he's just a pirate so he's hella tanned
yh that's true.
Well he is from Ryukyu Islands, Kyushu and Okinawa and stuff. So it's not just a tan. They have more of that old first Japanese people DNA and genes and stuff in them. Something like Ainu people, but from the south of Japan.
true
@@enemy1191
Look bruh, I like your video for the most part but African Americans aren't the only black people on this planet G. It just bugged me because some of the characters you mentioned wouldn't be American, especially with Pokémon which is in a fictional world. Salute from South Africa.
My brother in Christ, you know what I meant
@@JetTheProphet I mean yeah but your vid isn't the only one that had that issue so it just bugged me. But yeah I got the point.
Really loved this video, im still new to anime and struggle to find things i enjoy and the only Good representation of Black Ive seen was In The Boondocks but u really showed me some new shows i might have to check out
I don't know how many I have to say this but Mr Popo is a genie, he doesn't represent black people because he's not human. He's an entirely different race.
4:09 Fun fact, in the manga, they're actually twin brothers and sisters!! I love black representation esp in ohkubo's works as well and love soul eater / fire force. great video !!
Anime is from japan so there is no real reason why there would be black and white characters in it but ye sure ig
Bro, you really help me out. I was writing my manga about this kid who goes to wonderland (like Alice in wonderland) to search for his friend. The main character is indeed black. This video really helped me make sure that I would write a more natural character black character.
Thank you. Glad I could help
The main themes of manga revolve around psychological aspects, comedy, and storytelling, with little consideration given to race or political ideologies. The reason for the scarcity of black main characters becomes apparent when one actually tries to draw manga with a G-pen. The same holds true for anime. (Do you know why Saiyan's hair is white?)
In Japan, around the 1980s, pressure groups representing black and Korean communities frequently protested against the portrayal of their respective groups in creative works. This led to frequent protests, and characters of black and Korean descent came to be perceived as risky and became targets of cancel culture. Consequently, black and Korean characters disappeared from anime.
Even in 2023, it remains impossible to depict "evil" black or Korean characters, and creating deep, nuanced characters from these backgrounds is challenging. Characters that only emphasize positive aspects are as shallow as seeing a landscape with one eye.
Good point.
To be fair to the authors there aren't many black people in Japan, Japan is famously pretty homogenous. Although the fact most foreigners in anime end up being white is defiantly noticeable and a lil annoying, but i mean I have honestly never heard of a Mexican in Japan for example so it isn't surprising there isn't a lot of representation there either. Really its mostly about getting rid of the bad representation more than anything, also Ima be honest the fact that so many dark skin characters in anime have white hair always was weird to me because that isn't a thing really.
TLDR: other anime’s characters are their characters first, their physical traits are secondary, they all have pale skin or tan skin anyways it’s never the first thing the artist thinks about besides “this character is a girl, shy etc”
But when writing black characters it’s the opposite, artists and writers make them black first physically and actual character traits happen after it’s drawn which ends up sucking
For me, I never think about how my characters look but more on personality, I focus mostly on ther aststletic more than features, features come last
I mean I had some of my OCs at 12
THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO! (ngl, I did not even notice Nujabes playing in background, because of your great voice over
Glad you enjoyed the video and thank you for the compliment! Much appreciated!
Black Representation in anime is something I never really cared for. I just love all the animes and the characters regardless of their gender, race, and it doesn't even matter. All characters that are black and white are equal.
Congratulations
@@JetTheProphet Thank you :)
Thats not what this issue is about. Its not one over the over. Its both
mr popo should be consider indian because of that outfit