I got attacked on tiktok because I wore kimono in japan. I rented it and was dressed in it by a mom and pop shop that’s was just trying to share Japanese culture with tourists and keep kimono wearing alive. I was called out for cultural appropriation when really it was cultural appreciation 🙃
I did the same thing when I was in Kyoto and I only found that people were really happy to see my friends and I wearing it as we walked around. I don’t think anyone who saw us in Japan (or at least in Kyoto) saw us as appropriating their culture. I didn’t share the photos online partly because I didn’t want to have that argument with people. Sorry you were harassed for it. Hopefully that’s all died down now.
because too many ppl like using the word without actually understanding the context on how and why it's being used to the point that it diminishes it to varying degrees
For sure is cultural appropriation, they let you rent it to wear it, and have the experience of your life! They wouldn't let you for sure if they disliked foreigners wearing them! Nice comment!
This irritates me to no end. Cosplay is about bringing your favorite characters to life. So me, of Middle Eastern descent, can only cosplay as like 2 characters in the entire genre. Stop it, this is in no way offensive.
What’s met a guy at a AX he did Ana amazing Josuke cosplay, while I was talking to him he said he got banned from a cosplay group cause he was a black guy who was cosplaying nonblack characters. The world sucks sometimes
@@jeremygeller9145 this is really common for black cosplayers. For some reason white anime "fans" think black people can *only* cosplay black characters, while white cosplayers are allowed to cosplay anyone(including black characters).
Sadly, as a black cosplayer, I’ve heard this a lot. Especially at conventions. People loved them I cosplayed Garnet from Steven Universe or Lance from Voltron, but as soon as I cosplay anime characters, people are like “No! You can do that! They’re not black!” Like, they’re not white either bud. Stop.
You know honestly your story sounds like a hot mix between racism and straight up toxicity. Sad that that happened to ya. Like who bullies someone for dressing up as a fictional character. There's exceptions sure but they're few and far between.
As a black cosplayer, I'm sadly not shocked by this, people love to bend backwards to invalidate our craft and looks in cosplay. I've seen so many people call out other black cosplayers for Asian fishing when they clearly are not Asian fishing, I feel really bad for that girl especially since her cosplay looks great in those photos. Edit; I also like how you said it might be Japanese people instead of it is Japanese people, cause when I see people (mainly on Instagram) calling out Asian fishing(when it's clearly not), they're usually not Asian. Also, I read some of the replies and It makes me very happy to see so many people supporting Black Cosplayers & their craft
yeah its really... weird because I've alwaya noticed its nom asian or japanese that will comment on blacl cosplayers yet for white cosplayers its not the same energy? like this is just sad
also, no-one can say what is appropriating the japanese culture other than japanese people. "asian" is such a broad term and describes a lot of experiences, and different cultures are going to have different boundries with their culture. the people setting japanese people's boundries should always be japanese people.
when you are Chinese yourself, but don't want to judge as Chinese because you were adopted from 2 very lovely european parents. And also I can judge for a whole country that might have other opinions >:'D
I'm just gonna say black cosplayers do fucking amazing cosplay. Why people would hate on anyone for doing what they love is just not in my realm of thinking. How can you hate on people doing amazing cosplay cause of their skin? What year is it and why are we confusing the timelines??
As a black man who lives in Japan I'm gonna go ahead and assume these people who attacked her weren't Japanese. Those who live in Japan know Japanese people love it when foreigners appreciate their culture and things that came from their culture. The only people I can think of who would hate a black person for wearing a kimono or a cosplay would be a racist non Japanese person. This shit has been happening to black cosplayers for years.
*"YOU CANT SAY KAWAII THATS CULTURAL A-"* Wait, so dose that mean learning another language that isn't from your ethnicity is also cultural appropriation?
@@animefallenangel I mean that could be said for 95% of languages that are still used in todays world with the only real exceptions being what remains of tiny native tribes
@@animefallenangel So does French. French has tons of words from other languages (like French Fry, which is an English word.) So does Japanese, a lot of words are from Chinese and English. So is Vietnamese, a mix of Chinese, English, and other words from other languages. Vietnamese even used the Chinese alphabet for some time, but switched to the Latin one. This is just how language works...
Funny, cultural appropriation isn't consistent. Like Attack on Titan imagery is mostly based on Germany with mostly german characters, Berserk is based in Medieval Europe, Vinland Saga is based in Viking Scandinavia and so many many examples. I don't see anyone saying the japanese people are appropriating the european culture and race.
Schwarzesmarken is basically World War II against aliens. As a German I couldn't watch it though but only because I strongly disliked it 😂 The only thing I got mad at was that once cosplay stores sold a cosplay of a Vocaloid video that had a Nazi symbol and uniform in it. They sold it with that symbol on. And that was the only time I got angry at cosplay because that's not even culture or sub-culture. That's a disgrace and shame and people shouldn't be selling that.
Well if European people don’t care about the “appropriation” why should anyone else? U can’t expect other people to care about their cultural appropriation more than them. And also those things aren’t cultural appropriation they just are taking aspects from the culture
Everytime I see one of these it tilts me. Why are people of a different culture getting offended on behalf of another culture, like those people can't speak for themselves? Like damn. They aren't daffodils, they can speak for themselves.
Because it's easy to speak for another when you're ignoring everything in your own life. These cultural pond-hoppers are nothing but sad people that don't remember what made them sad people in the first place. So when they get sad in the present they lash out indiscriminately until they feel they've won, not until they've worked through the issue. It's a fallacy all too common in people with damaged pasts
It's either from premature children or disabled/trolling adults. They seriously need to be fought with the same tactics as theirs. Fight fire with fire, or someone will start using nukes.
Happens to other races including white people. A friend of mine tried cosplaying as Dutch(black lagoon) and got ringed out by a bunch of people at a con because he wasn't black. It definitely happens to everyone.
@@MWKRider Black people getting harassed for having their own spin on light skinned characters because there is a lack of black representation in the media they like, and a white person cosplaying one of the few black characters there are, are not the same thing, WTF. Shit's making you sound like an 'all lives matter!1!!' kinda person, just fyi
@@YuTopian who gives a fuck about that when ur cosplaying. U cosplay a character cuz u like their design or their character and just wanna have fun. when u cosplay ur not making a god damn statement
@@DireW0lf0 There is definitely a difference between cosplaying as a character you like who is a different race, and being hired to portray said character in a piece of media.
Yeah, this wasn't "Japanese People" this was a group of racists that targeted an African American cosplayer and bullied the shit out of her, nothing more, nothing less... this was a racist attack for no point other than a lovely woman of color dared to cosplay a non colored character. Screw the haters!
All the experiences I've had it's always colorful hair weirdos lot of them are white ( I'm white and don't claim these people ) two more constantly white saviors to other races / cultures saying what defensive what's racist and what is not based on whatever so-called knowledge they claim to have which they never provide any sources of any kind and it's equally as frustrating that there's people out there who listen to these people! It's very frustrating how these people just can get away with breaking laws, verbal and physical violence death threats and whatever else just because they're a special small group people real they're not trolls and no offense these people don't seem to be mentally all there and breeding to everything that they're doing on the Internet it's not helping them
Ya those aren't Japanese people, they don't say stuff like "stooooop it's cultural appropriation" no, that only happens in America. Basically what's really happening is that Americans are trying to be offended for the behalf of Japanese people.... That's just really annoying
Thats sooo true. Japanese people mostly appreciate it and think its cool. I watch loads of Japanese YT channels where guys go around and interview people or just show around japan and teach a bit of about their society and culture. They like it when other people are interested in their stuff. Also it can't be cultural apropriation because Cosplay is a thing that exists since the 15th century - they already had costume parties. Cosplay is the name given by the japanese and they have probably the majority of anime and manga cosplayers there while cosplay is something that already existed before this since the first so called cosplayer was a lady from america - yea people who dress up like comic figures are actually cosplayers too. Idk how people say this is japanese culture when its an international hobby which no one can claim. They are offended about something they aren't even really informed about xD
That because all of that was done back then when its okay and accepted. It’s called cultural appreciation, at least not until westerners decided to called it cultural appropriation and bash people for doing something that is not of their culture.
Non black person does hairbraids or cornrows: "cultural appropriation" See the cycle of hypocrisy here? We're appropriating each other but also gatekeeping others.
It’s absolutely ridiculous. I recently attended a cosplay event in my country zambia and so many black people cosplayed as Anime characters. The Japanese ambassador to zambia was there too and he had the best time. Such a lovely man too.
@@angelsinthewindow I think someone posted a vlog. Just search Zambian cosplayers you should be able to see some looks. It was so fun because in small African countries it’s actually really hard to cosplay.
Imo- People can cosplay as whatever the hell they want also my opinion- a black person cosplaying a white skinned character just isn't a very realistic cosplay (which again, I can't be bothered to care how good someones cosplay is, it doesn't matter) Objectively if your skin color is "wrong" then the cosplay just inherently doesn't look as true to life if the "right" skin color was wearing the cosplay. And don't worry, this isn't a racist opinion because it goes both ways (white person cosplaying a black character just inherently doesn't look as realistic of a portrayal) End of the day though, how realistic the cosplay is hardly fucking matters, hell allot of the people in this comment section watch Connor cosplay as entirely different gender characters regularly lol. If cosplaying is fun to you, then who am I to say you can't have fun lol.
@@CrypticCobra Well that's the same logic people use to attack black cosplayers. Their skin doesn't match so they shouldn't cosplay them. But then they still say 'oh X character isn't black' but are perfectly fine with white people cosplaying them, even when X character isn't white either. They refer to race when denying a PoC the chance to cosplay but have no problems with anyone else doing it regardless of race, as long as it matches their skin tone. but at least I respect your choice to not be an asshole about it.
@@yellowcard8100 that happens, but it's usually bad actors being assholes. Just don't be doing blackface or yellowface (read: don't look like you're caricaturing somebody's race/ethnic group) and you're fine. I actually cosplay as Rose at the only Steven Universe con in the US, and everyone there is SUPER nice to everybody else. It's one big acceptance-fest. Also, this year will be the last one, so I'm sad.
@@yellowcard8100 tha fuck? Then literally no one can cosplay Amethyst. She's fuckin purple, without having naturally purple skin it's "disrespectful" for Amethyst or what?💀 Just let people cosplay and let them be. They ain't doing nothing wrong.
I actually follow that cosplayer. She's such an amazing talented person. I was there when the whole "you can't cosplay as a black woman" and "kawaii is a slur" stuff happened. Although happening at almost the same time, it was two separate issues and I feel like the article is mixing both up. Nevertheless, I am glad this issue is picked up by Japanese media. Also it's important to mention how much black cosplayers get attacked with racism under the cover of "wokeness" while there are many white female cosplayers out there who are profiting from Asian fishing/fetishising Asian (Japanese in particular) culture.
I've seen someone call a cosplayer disrespectful for wearing normal sneakers instead of traditional japanese shoes with her Demon Slayer cosplay, it's ridiculous
i wouldn't call that disrespectful,so much as just kind of lazy cosplaying. like,if you're gonna cosplay anything ya GOT to get the shoes right or it just kinda ruins the whole outfit.
@@JT5555 Yes and no. Open toe'd shoes can be a problem in certain places. Like here in Canadialand, cosplaying in November with open toe'd shoes would be an epic way to get frostbitten feet
@@JT5555 nobody that actually cosplays effing cares about someone else's "correctness" or how "lazy they are." Really, for most people cosplay is largely about how much you can do on the most shoestring of budgets, and how to make it actually practical for a con. Traditional Japanese shoes like that are expensive and wouldn't be as comfortable as sneakers. Try going to a con with unhappy feet one time, and you'll quit whining about people with the "wrong" footware.
In the time I spent in Japan people were nothing but welcoming of anyone trying to adapt to the culture. From what I understand, It's seen as making an effort and a show of appreciation. Cultural exchange is a really big thing in Japan. Heck, every second highschool anime has a foreign exchange student in it for a reason.
That's what I've observed over time with other cultures too (from people on youtube mostly who are of different cultures cause although I would want to I have not been able to travel much). It seems to me that in general people love when other people want to learn about and appreciate their culture. It's fun to share our cultures with each other.
@@Donika691 I'm Thai and I'd also be very happy if anyone adapt our culture into their lives whether its for aesthetic or actual lifestyle, since cultures always evolve by influence of other cultures. If they wanted to use it just because it looks cool or because they think it improves their lives, that'd be no problem at all. However, if they used it because they want to ridicule or disrespect the culture itself, then that'd be a big no for anyone (e.g. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves, that thing is literally the embodiment of what people shouldn't do in the first place :( ). The only thing that really matters is the "intention". [This part is purely my opinion and there is no solid prove either, so please don't quote this] I don't know if the cultural appropriation thing has gotten to this extent is because the western countries start to see the rise of other countries' "soft power", especially Asian soft power recently, and think that they may lose their influences in world economic scale. Japan's soft power is a really good example since their exports is heavily influenced by their soft power such as exporting Japanese ingredients for making Japanese food abroad, Japanese entertainment media (TV series, anime, games, etc.), and Japan's technology (musical instruments such as Yamaha or cars are some of them). These are something which not only Japan does either but also South Korea when it comes to entertainment media and Southeast Asia when it comes to food. So it would not be weird for them to start promoting something which can restrain their people from exposing to other cultures, such as "cultural appropriation". In this case, the only time where cultural appropriation is not really verbalized by western people is when it comes to food, since the influences of soft power regarding food has already been there for decades, so it's really hard to get rid of that part without being too obvious (Southeast Asia has been a big victim several times for this, since they are small countries with no significant power unlike Japan and China, they start to look for excuses to ban their products such as coconut, palm, and many others.) I hope this won't be too long tho lol
@@polawattantiransee3410 Yes intention is what matters. I agree that it's possible that there are ulterior motives behind this whole "cultural appropriation" thing being used in the stupid way it has been. It wouldn't be the first thing to be used for sinister reasons.
@@Donika691 Cultural appropriation means when another group of people want to use the culture of an ethnic group they hate and despise. Or when they use aspects of said culture without crediting them.
@@kenshix7902 thank you for explaining! Because when the discussion of kpop hairstyles came up I was literally like "all these kpop rappers I see with that hairstyle admire the culture it comes from.... wtf?" 😅
Both. Definitely both. I mean there’s definite merit in discussing how to be respectful of others’ cultures, but cosplay ain’t exactly on the same level as dressing like a nondescript Native American for Halloween or naming locations with the word “squaw” which is a Native American slur, particularly against Native women. I mean, not that that’s gonna stop white knights or last samurais from diving into the comments section to protect the culture they perceive to be hurt by someone *checks notes*…putting on clothes.
@@kaimcdragonfist4803 Right those kinds of people called SJWs that feel the need to get offended on behalf of other people, while those people that according to the SJWs should be offended are not actually offended. It's silly and stupid indeed. People need to think more about the context and intention behind people dressing up before they judge. Like is this person dressing up to mock the culture or are they doing it because they love and respect it?
It's extremely sad. I remember an instance of this not too long ago about a girl that has Japanese decent and some guy said something like stop wearing a kimono you white people need to stop stealing Japanese culture. Like, come on, if anyone wears if right, literally no Japanese person would be fucked to saying anything whatsoever it's not seen as cultural appropriation. I have no idea what has happened to the world but it's sad.
@@ZeroFire442 This makes me think of how some people have and still do look at Elvis Presley's music, as if he stole it and was disrespectful by playing it, but I read a biography about him and it talked about how he pretty much grew up in a black community. It's literally the style he grew up with, it's what he knew and loved. So why is it wrong just cause he had light skin? Yes back then the music industry was highly racist, and made it difficult for black artists but that wasn't Elvis's fault. I don't even listen to Elvis's music, but from what I have seen about him I know he just made what he loved to make and there should be nothing wrong with just doing what you love.
The gender, nationality, age, and whatever else should have nothing to do with cosplay. Cosplay is for everyone. I see cosplay as an art, people spending hours, money and skill to be someone they adore and like. I see that as something positive. Now, there was also some bullshit about painting your skin in the color of the character. It's literaly the character they are trying to be. Cosplay is for everyone. Cosplay is love. Cosplay is art.
This, I saw a woman at least in her 80ss dressed up to the best of her ability as Sailor Moon, being pushed around in a wheel chair by her grandson at a con by me years ago. She looked so happy being there!
Seen a video of an anthropologist who specialises in Cultural Studies heavily criticising the whole concept of cultural appropriation, exactly for that reason: there are no clear practical definitions. "Done respectfully", honestly is not a measurable value and can be abused like there's no tomorrow (which is actually happening). It is very subjective and if a person wants to justify their need to be horrible to someone on the internet, they will find a way to spin the "done resectfully" argument whichever way they please. Moreover, from the Cultural Studies perspective very little cultural aspects are left in the world, that would not have been earlier appropriated from another culture. For example, is then Ramen a culturally appropriated dish and should it not be eaten in Japan, which has a history of colonisation and terrible war crimes in China, that it refuses to acknoledge to this day? Clearly it's not being done respectfully, if the whole country is still refusing to take responsibility for its actions. It obviously sounds absurd, but technically ticks all the classic "cultural appropriation" boxes...
It comes from such a culturally privileged place to assume people don't want to spread their own culture. I'm sure a lot of Japanese people would be thrilled if the world started learning Japanese like it does English. Just be respectful and don't blatantly steal from other cultures.
So... Let me get this straight. It's cultural appropriation for someone to take part in/endorse/use/enjoy elements of another culture that isn't your own? That quite literally makes no sense, but don't you just enjoy gatekeepers.
Well, you got it right, buddy. Stick to your own culture and ignore the incredible diversity of cultures and experiences that exist around the world, you filthy racist. I hope you understand this is satire
@@adynat0n B-but I'm from the UK... We don't even _have_ our own culture, we just magpie other cultures and adopt them as our own. Hey, I live and breath Star Wars and _that_ was heavily inspired by Japanese culture, so are we cancelling one of the greatest franchise' of all time now? Give me a break, I can appreciate whatever the hell I want. (Not directing this at you - just making an overarching statement)
@@adynat0n Yeah, it gets annoying to hear. To some extent, it is true, but it's become a heavy overstatement. The UK _does_ have culture much like any other nation, whether or not it involves good and bad elements. Anyways, it's good to hear you can decipher sarcastic pessimism from text on a screen.
This unfortunately is pretty common on tiktok. I've seen this kind of harassment happen to a lot of black cosplayers on tiktok. A lot of people on tiktok use words and terms they don't understand to troll or harass people and it's unfortunate.
I have a Japanese teacher, and whenever we speak to him in Japanese or about Japanese things, you just see his face light up. Japanese people are pretty chill and like sharing their culture. If you did something they were not ok with (in the context that they understand what you are doing as things like cultural appropriation, which is a very western thing), trust me, you would know, they can be brutal, especially online, and they won't beat around the bush either. Most Japanese people can't even write a simple English message and have never heard "cultural appropriation". Japanese people, especially the older generation, will avoid foreigners not out of hate or anything but because of their English capabilities, the lack thereof. Unlike the West, Japanese people are culturally introverted. If you as a foreigner speak to them in Japanese even if it is not fluent, they, for the most part, will talk to you, as they know they don't have to feel embarrassed by not being able to speak English. The unfortunate thing is that a lot of the people who cry cultural appropriation will cry it because it breaks their view of exclusivity and superiority when a "minority" race cosplays, but these same people would probably be ok if they or a "white" or "ethnically ambiguous, more "white" looking" person cosplayed as another race or culture/subculture. Not all but a great majority that I have seen. N.B: I placed white in quotation because if you know anything about skin and melanin, then you know white skin doesn't exist and that it is only your epidermis that shows pigment. Everyone's dermis (the second-deep layer of the skin ), regardless of race, is white/white looking. Your epidermis is either transparent to opaque. If you look "white", it just means your epidermis is more on the transparent side as your melanin cells are not producing a lot. Sunspots, which many older people have (and is more noticeable in someone who has less melanin production), are just clusters of active melanin cells on the skin, that have had years of sun exposure. Freckles are the same, except they are more a combination of genetic predisposition (inheritance) and sun exposure. I also place minority in quotations because, for the oddest reason, the word minority has come to represent not just being a part of a smaller group in a particular area but, contextually, if you are not white, you are considered a minority in online spaces. social media Platforms like tik tok kinda cause/exacerbate this by the fact their algorithms are programmed to suppress minority subcultures (remember the tik tok leak), Unless they're racist, then those get to thrive. Discord among people drives revenue so they allow it.
This happened to me about 2-3 weeks ago... I, as an african american, cosplayed as Ganyu from Genshin Impact and posted it on facebook groups and reddit. I gotten so many hate comments and racial slurs about my cosplay, it was really depressing. Some of the coments had to be turned off because it was too much work for the admin and mods to deal with.
You mostly hear these kind of stuff from the west cause of the whole PC thing, so a better question would be “how tf is the west still standing?” Since it is devolving quite rapidly
because the biggest group just does not give a damn. Like me. If I want to dress in a certain way. I just do. If you don't like it you can talk to me about it in person or just move on.
@@Vivid_Sky23 Why leave race out of this? Have you seen the way some people in the community treat the black cosplayers? Theres a lot of people who think that you can only cosplay as the people who's skin matches your own.
@@Amirifiz Then those same niggas have the audacity to say "You can't cosplay Sasuke, he is White!!" Bruh most of them characters they be cosplaying are Japanese.
This makes me so sad. I used to go to college with her irl. In person she is so creative, bubbly, sweet, and super fun to be around❤ And it breaks my heart knowing this is happening to such an amazing person. I first found out about it ironically from another tiktoker, and it is shocking to find out that her story has gotten attention from Jspan. I do hope and pray she`s doing okay. We haven't spoken since last year, and I did reach out to her knowing I wouldn't get a response. But I do hope she is okay. And thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Joey. This is something that NEEDS to be talked about a lot more. Because quite frankly it`s fucked up that this is unfortunately happening to so many colored Cosplayers and of all people to get pissed off so much to give death threats, it's coming g from non-japanese assholes. GET WRECKED AND GET A LIFE.
This reminds me of back when I was in college and a girl I liked told me I couldn't cosplay Ikuto from Shugo Chara because I'm tall and black and not Asian height and white. Granted, we're still chill with each other and that moment is water under the bridge, but was definitely something that diverted me from continuing to try n ask her out. Lol
As an Indian, we are always happy to see someone wearing our dresses or participating in things of our culture. And I think most people in the west do not know that people in most cultures are actually really happy to see foreigners trying to fit into their cultures.
It's so sad that things like this happen. I think it's pretty obvious that she was targeted only because she's African American. Like, there are thousands of white cosplayers on the internet that cosplay as anime/Asian characters and nobody gives a shit about them and no one accuses them of cultural appropriation. So the trolls were not only stupid but straight up racist. I hope the girl is doing okay, cause we all know how badly such hating on the internet can end.
I think this is revealing an unfortunate issue of racism with weeaboos. They get pretty aggressive in their urge to protect the purity of the Japanese race even though they themselves are not Japanese. I've seen them say some very nasty things on other channels, especially if the content creator is south east asian, black or mixed race.
A lot of black people get hate, in general, for cosplaying as characters that are other races. It's honestly really sad. I followed someone who got death threats for "disrespecting a character" because instead of wearing a wig she used her natural curly hair and dressed up as an anime character. It's just really stupid and terrible problem.
Yeah, I just dont understand how people cant find the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation, like I said another thread, Im half Fijian and Half South Asian, and my dreads have been brought down from my tribes ancestors to ancestors, but when I was studying in the US as a foreign student I used to get alot hate from some black people and white people saying that Im trying to be black and appropriating their culture.
I would pose a question. because if a non black person wasnt to cosplay a black character they particularly like, they are crucified for black face, especcially when they want to be authentic to that black character. I remember the german cosplaying that loved Lifeline from Apex Legends who cosplayed as her, and to be more accurate she darkened her skin tone with makeup to look closer to that character. She was hit with the most hateful and vitriolic reactions for simply wanting to accurately cosplay a character she likes. So instead of making a huge generalization. look at the mind set of those individuals, not their skin color, but their mental state for being so hateful.
@@CRAM079 you can dress up as a black character without doing black face....yeah people get hate for blackface because your wearing the skin tone as a costume verse the character. It's not respectful at all. My skin tone isn't a costume for people to wear just like cultural aspects aren't a costume.
@@brianna7148 yet a women who wanted to dress up as a black character because she liked that character, so she used makeup to better represent that character and was attacked for it. You are an individual, not a skintone. So stop using it as a crutch and define your self as a human being instead of what color you are.
Can't see the dislikes. UA-cam is retraining my brain to be more considerate of whether I upvote or not, I'm okay with trying this. Fascinating psychology behind this.
I like how Joey approached this subject in a mature way. I agree that just avoiding the topic or laughing it off is not gonna get this community anywhere so I’m glad that this video was created ⭐️
Man I remember when an asian cosplayer made a Sombra cosplay from overwatch and there were a lot of people crying out that she was being racist, none of those who cried were even remotely close to being hispanic or even being in contact with that culture lmao. I remember a lot of actual latin american people were celebrating her and shitting on those who were calling her a racist lmao
Joey, there's this video called "Cosplaying While Black: An Open Problem In The Community" by Veridis Joe (250k views). Good takes and he's funny. I really really hope you watch it. My black weeb friends really appreciated his video because everyone knows it exists but the community is not talking about it. It's obvious that BIPOC cosplayers are being targetted by racists. It's racist trolling online trying to gatekeep anyone black or brown out of the community. Tactics vary from selectively claiming cultural appropiation or harrasment of cosplayers by claiming "x" character would never be a "y" slur.
This. It's not just a really good video, but it's an extremely important one for the community as well. The issue isn't just people screaming "cultural appropriation" at stuff that isn't. There's a lot more to it. Specifically racism.
I unfortunately dont think that video is in itself the best discussion on the topic. It is very informative, and a very good starting point, but the typical inflamatory nature of those kind of "Hate me all you want" UA-cam channels kills the whole point of "Your skin color does not matter". There's a clear part of the video where he defends harassing white people who cosplay as black characters, with "It's not the same because X, Y and Z". This is not a BIPOC cosplayer issue, it's a race and cultural issue. Black people can't cosplay white characters, white people can't cosplay black characters, Mexican (like myself) can't cosplay fucking anything. Nobody can cosplay anything they aren't. Heck, they can't even PLAY anything they aren't. Now even voice actors are being judged based on race and skin color. Voice actors. There's this MHA VA who was harassed on Twitter because she was playing a Black character and didn't sound black, even tho the VA was literally black.
@@franciscodelico No. No, he does not defend harassing white cosplayers who cosplay black characters. He literally just says that white people cosplaying black characters is okay as long as they don't do blackface.
This is quite sad honestly. I never understand these, quote on quote, fake online Japanese people personas who just downright lash out about something this trivial. This reminds me of that one incident where this American girl (she was white) who wore a yukata for her school's spirit week and she also received death threats because this "Japanese" person (btw it turned out that this person was also white) called her out on Twitter for cultural appropriation or something and thus started some bandwagon to slander the poor girl who just wanted to wear a yukata.
I’m glad you made this video. As a black person I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been discouraged from cosplay or even have been told that I could “paint my face” if I wanted to be lighter, which at that time and after a lot of learning to love myself I didn’t. We can’t combat the racism of people in the community if no one can bother to be uncomfortable for a few minutes. Thanks for this and cheers
Imagine going to Japan and going around asking a native full blooded Japanese what a "Japanese Kawaii Culture" is. They'll think you're crazy. It's like going to the US and ask people in California what their "California Cute Culture" is, it makes no sense how some of these social deprived people think.
even if cute anime girls was actually "culture" still not an excuse to be mad at someone of a different ethnicity cosplaying it. If anything you should welcome that cosplayer into enjoying your culture. Gate keeping your culture makes it a pretty toxic culture.
people don't even know the different style variations (from yami/yume kawaii, lolita, gyary, etc) and pretend to be all so high and mighty while being offended about someone just wearing a style they like. like gee i guess no one can wear jeans except the people of the country where they were invented. it's stupid, and kawaii is not a slur, what are these people on
I remember reading an article saying Speedy Gonzalez was taken off the air because it was "Cultural Appropriation" but was immediately put back on because of the backlash they got from the Latino community
if imma be honest I wish anime didn't get as big as it has today, anime fans were so quiet and peaceful now its hella toxic, i guess thats why i moved to mostly readng manga lol
I'm with you on that. Been a fan of anime since I was little now I'm 33 and done with the shit. I just watch whatever, but mostly just read manga, manwha and webtoons. Anime gotten way to toxic.
Same here. I've been shifting towards reading manga for the past few years. Only some anime, especially if it's from a popular anime (more specifically, shonen anime), the fandom is insanely toxic. Us manga readers are on a whole different level
@@shyguy5473 Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry, wasn't really specific on it I thought it but didn't write it. Anime has been good not gonna lie some spectacular shows have come out. But, the thing is I'm not as engaged as I use to be in anime due to toxicity of fanbases. You want to really to involved and love a show and it's character with others only to see a flame war going on and how everything has to check boxes in order to work. It use to not be this way. It was always gray and now people are pushing people to choose black or white. This kinda negativity and unwelcome atmosphere does a lot more harm than good to an anime and the community. But, I'm just tired and want to watch and move on now.
I'm not a linguist or a culture expert, but imo something only qualifies as cultural appropriation if it makes ill-intended fun of culture or doesn't recognise it's origin and meaning, for example by claiming it as an original idea or inappropriately using sacred symbolism. Active learning and teaching is the reason humans are so much more advanced than any other species. It's a good thing and should be encouraged. A universal culture where everyone respectfully profits from good ideas from all over the world is a dream come true! And yet, some of us get butthurt when a non-native American adorns thier hair with feathers. Surprise: Birds exist all over the world! E.g. in Scotland, chiefs used to sport three eagle feathers. Are they appropriating NAs? Of course it's not as easy as that. If you walk into a reservation or the Highlands and mindlessly imitate the local way respected members of the community are wearing feathers, that's very disrespectful. But wearing a nice feather you found while out on a walk never hurt anyone.
A good example of actual cultural appropriation is "The Ring" and "The Grudge" movies. Both were originally Japanese, but Hollywood stole the ideas and made it their own. 99% of people wouldn't even know that either was from Japan at all
@@Rahnonymous I mean, adaptions/remakes are a thing. If they actually stole it wouldn't there be problems with copyright? I don't know if that would exactly be considered cultural appropriation either, afaik it's just a story...?
Issues like this need to be discussed. Cosplay is for everyone and then you have these idiots - who are most likely teenage weebs gatekeeping cosplay. I never saw the original tiktok, but in the pics, she looked amazing. It's a real shame that that her account was deleted. I hope that she's doing ok mentally, and don't stop doing what you love doing ♥
Asuka is literally from Germany and speaks German. She's some part Japanese I think, but she's like the token foreigner. Weird choice to get up in arms about.
Didn't you know only germans with a japanese grandparent get to cosplay Asuka? But yeah, weird choice to scream japanese cultural appropriation at. Like, the character is only japanese by blood! She's supposed to be culturally German.
@@mangamama9881 Can we not use the word troll here? It's not accurate and it's been misused so much like "literally" and has no weight anymore. Let's be honest. They aren't trolls, because that would assume they actually knew what they were saying was wrong.
Thank you for making a video of this topic. 100% agree that people are scared to even talk about these things. People are scared of being cancelled or labelled as something they are not. Honestly what's wrong with some people on the social media?
I love how Joey talked about this topic. Cosplay is open to legit EVERYONE, as long as they are being respectful of course. I really do agree with everything Joey said in this video. Hopefully someday, people will calm down and be more open minded to others.
What's weird is that the types of people who think this kind of thing is wrong, also think they are being progressive by defending another person's culture (regardless of what the people of that culture are feeling). Like through time we went from blatant racism, to this culture of being overly sensitive because it's extremely important to be "respectful" which it is but they take it to the point where they are being more disrespectful. They call everyone else racist for the smallest things while putting themselves on a "I'm so progressive and open-minded" pedestal.
@@kingmanic well yes you are right but if you read my comment a little closer you'll notice I didn't say they were progressives, I said they "think" they are. They act like they are "progressive" trying to cover the fact they are bullies. They are basically pretenders, fakes, imposters of actual progressive minded people.
@@Donika691 I agree with that, sadly it's those people who refuse to stop and think about what their going to say, before they say something that might hurt somebody.
@@CrypticCobra that's just shouldn't be happening 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️. Everyone should get their own opportunity and all. I'm happy that these content creators with some influence are actually talking about these coz their words can influence a lot of people
meanwhile white cosplayers and light skin asian cosplayers get a free pass while black people, dark skin asians, and other POC always get shit on for the obvious unfortunate reasons.
@@pondypoo i don't cosplay or care for it but that's bs 99% of the time its black people getting shit for it followed by dark skin people. White people, white women especially get a pass for cosplaying as any damn character they want even if they are overweight asf. Do white women cosplayers face harassment? Or course. Do white male cosplayer get ish? Of course but collectively its not even remotely the same. Once again, oppression Olympics. I dont even support BLM but once again white people have to all lives matter this. One group has it worse and its black and dark skin cosplayers by far, period. Edited I meant to say "harassment" not SA.
@@pondypoo First of all calm TF down my guy. I said black and darker skin people have it far WORSE than white people who cosplay and thats a fact. I never said whites dont get harassed. But black/darker skin people get all of that on top of racism which white people do not. Also white people are notorious for participating in harassment against black people through gatekeeping anime (and kpop) from black people who express interest in it as well, rarely if ever have I seen the reverse from black people and asian culture. Anytime someone is talking about this particular topic people like to say "whites go through it too" as if its a competition. Everyone goes through it when cosplaying but from what I've seen and read black/biracals have it way worse. And you saying "uh no white people go through it too" is more or less equating the harassment black cosplayers go through to white cosplayers and Im telling you its not the same. If you scroll down in the comments you even have non black people admitting black/biracial/darker skin people have it worse than whites.
I have been in Japan many times, as tourist, student and also worked there as an internship and all people I met, including my japanese friends were always so open about sharing their culture with me and happy that I was so into learning about everything. Never ever said anyone I can't do this or that because I am German. It was always about learning from each other and sharing. Cultural exchange is still a thing right? Because I feel like more and more people forget that and try to make the world a terrible place.
I mean these kind of people think they're doing a good job to "end racism" when they exactly create more hate by doing so. A formerly classmate went to Japan and lived there few years, learnt fluent Japanese and also study their culture, making friends etc. Once she posted a picture on Facebook of her wearing properly! a kimono during a festival there and she got so much criticism because of "kulturelle Aneignung". Of course not from Japanese people. That's insane. I mean think about it: It's like saying "You're not allowed doing this and that because you're Asian/European/African and not African/European/Asian." In other words you have the wrong heritage for it and that's ironically racism itself thinking that way.
This problem has existed since the earliest days of the community. The modern internet just makes it much more apparent and in your face. Like you said, it is a combination of factors. I remember seeing it on a small scale at a Con in 2003. Basically, it comes down to people being butt hurt about something and feeling anonymous to just blast their opinion without thinking of the consequences. If you like something from a culture you can take it as your own and make it apart of you, just be willing to let your influences known when asked or called on it. Just look at British Blues musicians in the 60s being influenced by/idolizing American Black Bluesmen or Kung Fu movies influencing the Wu-Tang Clan. This is how people grow and expand their worldview. Gatekeeping happens in every type of "fandom". Some people just want things one way (how they view it) and everything else you think or do is not sufficient and wrong. Good on you Joey for calling it out!
By the logic of the types of anime fans who harassed the cosplayer, yeah. It would count as CA, but they’re not trying to be against actual CA. They just wanted an excuse to harass a cosplayer cause she didn’t fit their weird views. They do this a lot.
Honestly it can be a thin line for some people I mean I wanted to go is Lilo & Stitch for Halloween but I got some people telling me that I would be doing cultural appropriation to Polynesian culture...😒
Yeah all that matters is that you are being respectful of the other culture. I don’t see why this is such a big issue for some people. People need to see it more as appreciation rather than appropriation.
Amen! Thank you for speaking up about this. As a black cosplayer, this is something to us that happens to us quite often. Again, thank you for speaking up.
thank you for talking about it is not everyone with a great communter who is warm to the heart to see this kind of video which encourages to share a passion earlier than to belittle a person who shares the same passion as does not have the same origin that you put it down
We definitely need that healthy discussion about cultural appropriation. In my country (Finland), there's this indigenous group (saamelaiset) and a large portion of their income comes from selling tradional handicrafts and stuff and I've heard that nowadays many people are too scared to buy them...which doesn't do any favors to keeping their culture alive :(
I feel like the term has been so twisted, the main issue with appropriating culture to me is when you're profiting, raising the prices and changing the name of things that you have no business doing so and that its a very fine line that gets missed so often :(
Even that definition is very vague, if you made a brand of cola drink are you doing cultural appropiation too? What if you where chinese? What if instead is a german doing a brand of green tea and call it "SuperGreen"? Things can twisted very easily.
@@nidohime6233 Culture appropriation means you profit off of a culture that does not belong to you, that you do not care about and that you would willingly modify just for profits. It is not just profiting off of other people's culture. If profiting is done with respect and fact-checked correctness, it wouldn't be an issue, you're getting paid for bringing a service (sharing the culture of another country/people) and you're doing it correctly. The issue comes when it's done purely for profit and disregard of any meaningful symbolism or associations that the culture has.
@@maineman5757 yea tbh i don’t disagree… good thing is I can rep anime clothes not get shit in fact people who go to my gym love the Naruto or Attack on titan merch I get compliments from buff ass guys… more women are into it now so I can finally put on tinder “looking for someone to anime and chill with” and it’s successful…. But yes the negatives are that people try and cancel shit cuz they don’t like the content of the show and rather than just not watching it because they don’t like it they feel completely compelled to @ the show creator and tell them to kill themselves and try and get ads to be pulled…. As we can tell these people are not mentally well but sadly they like as stated in the video have the loudest voice cuz they are on Twitter all day REEEEEing….. but once again the positives and negatives….
@@GoopyGoblins well some of these people who cosplay or does anime related stuff do it just because of the clout. And they are also the people who laughs at people who loves anime few years ago. So....why not hate on them
I like how Joey always try to defuse the situation by educating everyone and also emphasize that these are usually done by a small number of trolls or fake identities, and that majority of the Japanese friends he knows appreciate the community for loving Japanese culture.
I remember one time seeing a guy of latin decent dress up as Jotaro. My japanese friend saw that, and not only did she fan girl, she got a pic with him doing his pose.
I'm glad you talked about this. I follow her on IG and saw her dealing with that bs in real time. Unfortunately she conceded to them believing that those people were genuine. It was a sad time really 'cause people mess with her regularly smh
Cultural appropriation and gate keeping of culture might be one of the most utterly bizarre things I've seen in the last 10-15 years. Why would you be AGAINST people sharing each other's culture and showing appreciation for it? As someone who's also of two heritages, similarly to Joey, I'm super appreciative when I see people trying to learn about either, and would happily welcome it.
I agree. Some people act like toddlers and even if the others are asking nicely they want to keep everything to themselves. Cultures have been shared for ages and they have influenced one another. Why is that a bad thing now.m
@@mangamama9881 I don’t think you know the difference between appreciation and appropriation you were just defending black face you’re not a normal person
@@nash6472 I dunno ovbisouly pretending to be of another race or black face or whatever is just fucking weird, but honestly, I believe we shouldnt gate keep certain styles and fashions, but instead imbrace and allow people to express themselves with different cultures, at the end of the day sharing is caring 😎
ca was basically a way of stopping white people from making fun of poc culture and then claiming it, like when kim kardatian called box braids kim k braids and then decided to claim the japanese word kimono.
This is what happens when things that used to be niche become more mainstream. More eyes on every aspect of it and more people commenting about it. And most are people who aren't even people of those communities.
It feels very weird seeing people from an culture "criticizing" people for cultural appropriation of an other culture that they not even a part of. I think its getting out of hand really quickly, not only in anime/japan. I have seen it also in the kpop scene.
Yep. It's always anime and kpop. But the kpop scene is far worse when it comes to such topics I feel... Maybe because I haven't been in the anime scene much anymore but the kpop scene is pure drama
Every year (expect for he last two) my friends and I go to the Obon festivals at the Buddhist temples in our area. And every year we dress in yukata. We are respectful and wear them correctly. For those of you that don’t know there is a wrong way to wear them. But every time we go we run into Japanese people and every single one of them got so excited and told us how happy they were to see non Japanese people wearing yukata. The people harassing this poor girl are not Japanese. They are getting offended on behalf of people who aren’t offended!
Is the issue really that the “Japanese” people that commented really think this lady is cultural appropriating? or is it that they are trying to disguise their own racism since they don’t like people of color cosplaying? It seems the latter is the more probable reason, due to all the hate comments on tiktoks of poc cosplaying.
Well to be fair, most cosplay of "people of color" just doesn't look like what they were cosplaying. They were being talk shit because their cosplay sucks. Appearance do matter in cosplay.
@ERASED why did you assume the black refers to her race instead of skin color huh? Skin color do matter in cosplay you know? You can't cosplay as Hulk if you don't have a green skin color. Cosplay is about looking like a certain character, not by being yourself lol. Race and other crap doesn't matter in cosplay, only looks does.
ngl joey i like you a lot more now i had been thinking your main channel lacked your personailty often times but now that we know your true views you are very thoughtfull and a good person i feel like.
Some racist guy "yes i am japanese" and this shit is so god damn infuriating bcz a lot of people shit on people and pretend to be someone else and the other person gets shit its so god damn infuriating i hate it
i remember a case when a famous french cosplayer ( usually invinted to major conv as she is basically a pro cosplayer) cosplay as a dark elf and was called out for blackface as she was wearing dark makeup for the skin color. she was bully and banished from conv after that. i surely hope that the next person that cosplay as picolo wont get accused of greenface. the people accusing people that do cosplay and bodypaint of "color"face, appropriation are probably the same that think that orc in LOTR are black people.
I really like the message of this video. I definitely think we need to be more educated about this topic because even I don't really know much of the meaning of cultural appropriation. So I'm happy to have watched this and learned something new.
Will cosplay not necessarily look as good if you don’t resemble the character? Sure. Does that have any bearing on whether you should cosplay? Nope! Do whatever you want.
Not just in anime, but this term “cultural appropriation” is also being brought up a lot recently in kpop as well. Just felt like sharing that too. And you’re right, i think there are people who using it to attack others with it, even when they probably don’t know what it means
Everytime I hear the term "cultural appropriation" I'm out. The morons only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. Much respect for being a better man than me, Joey.
Reminds me of a korean girl who cosplayed Sombra from Overwatch and used make up to darken her skin. In the west there was some freakout accusing her for doing brownface. Meanwhile in México most of the comments I saw including myself were in support being a very good cospaly
@@asuraXTC i feel like giving yourself a temporary tan for a cosplay is a lot different from mkaing your face black and giving yourself big red lips to make fun of black people...
im sure Japanese people feel happy and proud when anime is enjoyed internationally. i know i love it when my country's culture is known by people across the globe. its a nice shoutout! as long as they are doing it respectfully, celebrating our culture, then hell yeah!!
First of all, the fact that this happened to an African-American girl just... sounds a bit too much like anti-blackness. With that out of the way: people have a shallow understanding of what cultural appropriation is and in reality things are more complicated than "EVERYTHING is cultural appropriation" and "there's NO SUCH THING as cultural appropriation". I generally consider if the *thing in question is being taken out of context and who (if anyone) is making money out of it: eg, renting a kimono in Japan is fine no matter your race, since you're supporting a local Japanese business likely run by Japanese people. Wearing a kimono as a "Japanese person" costume for halloween or some shit is Not Fine because, as it turns out, cultures aren't costumes. There's a distinct difference between these two examples. When it comes to cosplaying more often than not it's just... pop culture? (miiiiight be a little yikes only if the char in question wears really traditional clothes?) I don't care, though I usually draw the line at asian fishing, aka people trying to get That Asian Look. eg that model married to that One Direction dude who did her eyeliner then took pictures pulling at her eyes like people did to mock asian people (as I would very well know lolsob) or that dude who claims he's """"transracial"""" --- obviously those examples have nothing to do with cosplay which is precisely the point I'm trying to make.
@@asuraXTC I wouldn't say she's not black because that's how she was referred to in the article and idk how she personally identifies but yeah, I can definitely agree that darker skinned girls get it way worst.
Im glad that you talked about this especially bc youre kind of a big face in the youtube anime community. Growing up as a hispanic girl, I’ve never felt I could cosplay anyone bc of my skin tone. I’ve always wanted to cosplay anime characters but when even your family is telling you “youre too dark” it becomes very discouraging. So I never did it. But now that I’m seeing black cosplayer do great cosplay I feel encouraged to do the same. Although nowadays, I feel like the black cosplay community is always under attack by racists who just hate them. I’ve seen this sort of thing happen to people in tiktok and instagram multiple times and I hate it. Yeah theyre not the right skin tone but bc the white cosplayer next to her is, suddenly it’s alright? News flash, more than half of these characters are japanese. Anyways, I think those “Japanese” people are just a bunch of fake mfks who are just racist for no reason. I’m sorry I went on kind of a rant but I felt it needed to be said. Thank you for voicing your thoughts on this. (Also, since when has kawaii ever been a slur?)
"If a white guy wants to cosplay as a female anime character...", "Connor is free to do so*"
Like any amount of bullying is gonna stop him
@@kaimcdragonfist4803 if anything it would make him do it more
He's of Welsh/British heritage, he's built of sturner stuff, not the wet tissue paper most on the internet is these days.
@@Zicetec2000 unfortunate
or Lady beard.
I got attacked on tiktok because I wore kimono in japan. I rented it and was dressed in it by a mom and pop shop that’s was just trying to share Japanese culture with tourists and keep kimono wearing alive. I was called out for cultural appropriation when really it was cultural appreciation 🙃
I did the same thing when I was in Kyoto and I only found that people were really happy to see my friends and I wearing it as we walked around. I don’t think anyone who saw us in Japan (or at least in Kyoto) saw us as appropriating their culture. I didn’t share the photos online partly because I didn’t want to have that argument with people.
Sorry you were harassed for it. Hopefully that’s all died down now.
@@benherebefore it doesn't matter where in Japan you are.....no one anywhere bothers with a north american centric "cultural appropriation" bullshit.
because too many ppl like using the word without actually understanding the context on how and why it's being used to the point that it diminishes it to varying degrees
For sure is cultural appropriation, they let you rent it to wear it, and have the experience of your life! They wouldn't let you for sure if they disliked foreigners wearing them! Nice comment!
People on tiktok are idiots. Trying to act “woke” when they actually have no idea what they’re talking about.
"The use of 'kawaii' when used by none Japanese people is considered a slur."
I laughed so hard at that.
I just imagine someone walking up to a non-japanese cosplayer and saying: You are one kawaii motherfcker btch XD
So surreal
Just like the n word
Big f for all language learners out there
*Insert Kaguya picture*: O Kawaii Koto
its like the n-word for blacks or the m-word for greeks kekw
This irritates me to no end. Cosplay is about bringing your favorite characters to life. So me, of Middle Eastern descent, can only cosplay as like 2 characters in the entire genre. Stop it, this is in no way offensive.
u tell em Paul!
What’s met a guy at a AX he did Ana amazing Josuke cosplay, while I was talking to him he said he got banned from a cosplay group cause he was a black guy who was cosplaying nonblack characters. The world sucks sometimes
@ogey rrrat you know their are some anime and manga that are set in “our world” and have middle eastern people in the right
Yo you can be Muhammad Avdol
@@jeremygeller9145 this is really common for black cosplayers. For some reason white anime "fans" think black people can *only* cosplay black characters, while white cosplayers are allowed to cosplay anyone(including black characters).
Sadly, as a black cosplayer, I’ve heard this a lot. Especially at conventions. People loved them I cosplayed Garnet from Steven Universe or Lance from Voltron, but as soon as I cosplay anime characters, people are like “No! You can do that! They’re not black!” Like, they’re not white either bud. Stop.
That fucking terrible. I hope you continue to cosplay anime characters, please don’t let them ruin cosplay for you :(
People need to re-learn to ignore stuff they don't like.
You know honestly your story sounds like a hot mix between racism and straight up toxicity. Sad that that happened to ya.
Like who bullies someone for dressing up as a fictional character. There's exceptions sure but they're few and far between.
but they are not black though.
貴方は貴方の好きなキャラのコスプレをしていいんです！
I like how Joey spoiled the answer in the thumbnail because he couldn't be fucked with this topic😅
Any person with a functioning brain can automatically confirm the answer.
@@TurtleChad1 you be surprise how many levels of dumb humans can be.
H you t TV
@@jordanayala1617 Facts.
@@TurtleChad1 You are truly everywhere I go now on this platform
I thought that this was going to be some sort of satirical thing.... impressive in its own way, honestly.
Agreed
Lando Sensei. Also a man of culture
Good to see you outside of class Professor.
ah, good morning Professor. good seeing you here.
Professor is here?
As a black cosplayer, I'm sadly not shocked by this, people love to bend backwards to invalidate our craft and looks in cosplay. I've seen so many people call out other black cosplayers for Asian fishing when they clearly are not Asian fishing,
I feel really bad for that girl especially since her cosplay looks great in those photos.
Edit; I also like how you said it might be Japanese people instead of it is Japanese people, cause when I see people (mainly on Instagram) calling out Asian fishing(when it's clearly not), they're usually not Asian.
Also, I read some of the replies and It makes me very happy to see so many people supporting Black Cosplayers & their craft
yeah its really... weird because I've alwaya noticed its nom asian or japanese that will comment on blacl cosplayers yet for white cosplayers its not the same energy? like this is just sad
Plz continue to cosplay as who ever you want you have our support
also, no-one can say what is appropriating the japanese culture other than japanese people. "asian" is such a broad term and describes a lot of experiences, and different cultures are going to have different boundries with their culture. the people setting japanese people's boundries should always be japanese people.
when you are Chinese yourself, but don't want to judge as Chinese because you were adopted from 2 very lovely european parents. And also I can judge for a whole country that might have other opinions >:'D
I'm just gonna say black cosplayers do fucking amazing cosplay. Why people would hate on anyone for doing what they love is just not in my realm of thinking.
How can you hate on people doing amazing cosplay cause of their skin? What year is it and why are we confusing the timelines??
As a black man who lives in Japan I'm gonna go ahead and assume these people who attacked her weren't Japanese. Those who live in Japan know Japanese people love it when foreigners appreciate their culture and things that came from their culture. The only people I can think of who would hate a black person for wearing a kimono or a cosplay would be a racist non Japanese person. This shit has been happening to black cosplayers for years.
*"YOU CANT SAY KAWAII THATS CULTURAL A-"*
Wait, so dose that mean learning another language that isn't from your ethnicity is also cultural appropriation?
As if the English Language isn't a grab bag of appropriated and intergrated words from other languages anyway...
@@animefallenangel I mean that could be said for 95% of languages that are still used in todays world with the only real exceptions being what remains of tiny native tribes
@@animefallenangel So does French. French has tons of words from other languages (like French Fry, which is an English word.) So does Japanese, a lot of words are from Chinese and English. So is Vietnamese, a mix of Chinese, English, and other words from other languages. Vietnamese even used the Chinese alphabet for some time, but switched to the Latin one. This is just how language works...
Yes you should be someone who only learns 1 language and only follows 1 culture
Funny, cultural appropriation isn't consistent. Like Attack on Titan imagery is mostly based on Germany with mostly german characters, Berserk is based in Medieval Europe, Vinland Saga is based in Viking Scandinavia and so many many examples.
I don't see anyone saying the japanese people are appropriating the european culture and race.
Double standards my guy.
This is largely a generalisation I'm making, but I'm almost 1000% sure the commenters are some American kids or something.
Schwarzesmarken is basically World War II against aliens. As a German I couldn't watch it though but only because I strongly disliked it 😂
The only thing I got mad at was that once cosplay stores sold a cosplay of a Vocaloid video that had a Nazi symbol and uniform in it. They sold it with that symbol on.
And that was the only time I got angry at cosplay because that's not even culture or sub-culture. That's a disgrace and shame and people shouldn't be selling that.
Well if European people don’t care about the “appropriation” why should anyone else? U can’t expect other people to care about their cultural appropriation more than them. And also those things aren’t cultural appropriation they just are taking aspects from the culture
@@nash6472 taking aspects from a Culture is the definition of Cultural appropriation.
Everytime I see one of these it tilts me. Why are people of a different culture getting offended on behalf of another culture, like those people can't speak for themselves? Like damn. They aren't daffodils, they can speak for themselves.
Doing that is literally worse than any form of cultural appropriation could be.
Because it's easy to speak for another when you're ignoring everything in your own life.
These cultural pond-hoppers are nothing but sad people that don't remember what made them sad people in the first place. So when they get sad in the present they lash out indiscriminately until they feel they've won, not until they've worked through the issue. It's a fallacy all too common in people with damaged pasts
@@Crystantemum that part right there!!
It's either from premature children or disabled/trolling adults.
They seriously need to be fought with the same tactics as theirs. Fight fire with fire, or someone will start using nukes.
Or it might be pale-skinned people trying to get away with being racist towards dark-skinned people without being called out on their racism.
Being a black cosplayers seems so hard. Like the amount of “[character name] isn’t black” comments I’ve seen is crazy
Just the same as it was for Scarlet Johansson for Ghost in the Machine! (and she was playing a Japanese woman (brain) in a European cyborg body!)
Happens to other races including white people. A friend of mine tried cosplaying as Dutch(black lagoon) and got ringed out by a bunch of people at a con because he wasn't black. It definitely happens to everyone.
@@MWKRider Black people getting harassed for having their own spin on light skinned characters because there is a lack of black representation in the media they like, and a white person cosplaying one of the few black characters there are, are not the same thing, WTF. Shit's making you sound like an 'all lives matter!1!!' kinda person, just fyi
@@YuTopian who gives a fuck about that when ur cosplaying. U cosplay a character cuz u like their design or their character and just wanna have fun. when u cosplay ur not making a god damn statement
@@DireW0lf0 There is definitely a difference between cosplaying as a character you like who is a different race, and being hired to portray said character in a piece of media.
Yeah, this wasn't "Japanese People" this was a group of racists that targeted an African American cosplayer and bullied the shit out of her, nothing more, nothing less... this was a racist attack for no point other than a lovely woman of color dared to cosplay a non colored character. Screw the haters!
It’s crazy how those using cultural appropriation as a attack are usually the real racists. This world sucks
THAT!
Possibly. If true, it's a pretty sneaky way for them to claim plausible deniability.
All the experiences I've had it's always colorful hair weirdos lot of them are white ( I'm white and don't claim these people ) two more constantly white saviors to other races / cultures saying what defensive what's racist and what is not based on whatever so-called knowledge they claim to have which they never provide any sources of any kind and it's equally as frustrating that there's people out there who listen to these people! It's very frustrating how these people just can get away with breaking laws, verbal and physical violence death threats and whatever else just because they're a special small group people real they're not trolls and no offense these people don't seem to be mentally all there and breeding to everything that they're doing on the Internet it's not helping them
Exactly!...I already knew that Japanese people weren't behind this shit
Ya those aren't Japanese people, they don't say stuff like "stooooop it's cultural appropriation" no, that only happens in America.
Basically what's really happening is that Americans are trying to be offended for the behalf of Japanese people.... That's just really annoying
it's always just some american "high moral ground "14 year olds who want to feel important by talking about serious topics
Thats sooo true. Japanese people mostly appreciate it and think its cool. I watch loads of Japanese YT channels where guys go around and interview people or just show around japan and teach a bit of about their society and culture. They like it when other people are interested in their stuff. Also it can't be cultural apropriation because Cosplay is a thing that exists since the 15th century - they already had costume parties. Cosplay is the name given by the japanese and they have probably the majority of anime and manga cosplayers there while cosplay is something that already existed before this since the first so called cosplayer was a lady from america - yea people who dress up like comic figures are actually cosplayers too. Idk how people say this is japanese culture when its an international hobby which no one can claim. They are offended about something they aren't even really informed about xD
Cowboy Bebop: jazz. “That’s cool”
Samurai Champloo: hip hop. “That’s dope”
FLCL: alternative/grunge: “I love it”
African American girl dressed like Asuka: “cultural appropriation”
It’s only bad when Americans do it ;)
@@kaimcdragonfist4803 you guys started this whole cultural appropriation things so don’t complain when the others use it against you.
That because all of that was done back then when its okay and accepted. It’s called cultural appreciation, at least not until westerners decided to called it cultural appropriation and bash people for doing something that is not of their culture.
Non black person does hairbraids or cornrows: "cultural appropriation"
See the cycle of hypocrisy here? We're appropriating each other but also gatekeeping others.
Yeah
FK 🤦🏻♂️
It’s absolutely ridiculous. I recently attended a cosplay event in my country zambia and so many black people cosplayed as Anime characters. The Japanese ambassador to zambia was there too and he had the best time. Such a lovely man too.
I would love to see pictures of those cosplays. I am sure they did amazing!
Sounds fun!
@@angelsinthewindow I think someone posted a vlog. Just search Zambian cosplayers you should be able to see some looks. It was so fun because in small African countries it’s actually really hard to cosplay.
Imo- People can cosplay as whatever the hell they want
also my opinion- a black person cosplaying a white skinned character just isn't a very realistic cosplay (which again, I can't be bothered to care how good someones cosplay is, it doesn't matter)
Objectively if your skin color is "wrong" then the cosplay just inherently doesn't look as true to life if the "right" skin color was wearing the cosplay. And don't worry, this isn't a racist opinion because it goes both ways (white person cosplaying a black character just inherently doesn't look as realistic of a portrayal)
End of the day though, how realistic the cosplay is hardly fucking matters, hell allot of the people in this comment section watch Connor cosplay as entirely different gender characters regularly lol. If cosplaying is fun to you, then who am I to say you can't have fun lol.
@@CrypticCobra Well that's the same logic people use to attack black cosplayers. Their skin doesn't match so they shouldn't cosplay them.
But then they still say 'oh X character isn't black' but are perfectly fine with white people cosplaying them, even when X character isn't white either. They refer to race when denying a PoC the chance to cosplay but have no problems with anyone else doing it regardless of race, as long as it matches their skin tone.
but at least I respect your choice to not be an asshole about it.
Isn’t asuka half German or something? Does that only mean half German/half Japanese girls are allowed to cosplay her?
She's just a quarter Japanese, so yeah
According to those racists is only offensive if the cosplayer has dark skin.
@@yellowcard8100 that happens, but it's usually bad actors being assholes. Just don't be doing blackface or yellowface (read: don't look like you're caricaturing somebody's race/ethnic group) and you're fine.
I actually cosplay as Rose at the only Steven Universe con in the US, and everyone there is SUPER nice to everybody else. It's one big acceptance-fest.
Also, this year will be the last one, so I'm sad.
@@yellowcard8100 tha fuck? Then literally no one can cosplay Amethyst. She's fuckin purple, without having naturally purple skin it's "disrespectful" for Amethyst or what?💀
Just let people cosplay and let them be. They ain't doing nothing wrong.
@@yellowcard8100 Jesus... That humanity still exists at this point
I actually follow that cosplayer. She's such an amazing talented person. I was there when the whole "you can't cosplay as a black woman" and "kawaii is a slur" stuff happened. Although happening at almost the same time, it was two separate issues and I feel like the article is mixing both up. Nevertheless, I am glad this issue is picked up by Japanese media. Also it's important to mention how much black cosplayers get attacked with racism under the cover of "wokeness" while there are many white female cosplayers out there who are profiting from Asian fishing/fetishising Asian (Japanese in particular) culture.
I've seen someone call a cosplayer disrespectful for wearing normal sneakers instead of traditional japanese shoes with her Demon Slayer cosplay, it's ridiculous
i wouldn't call that disrespectful,so much as just kind of lazy cosplaying. like,if you're gonna cosplay anything ya GOT to get the shoes right or it just kinda ruins the whole outfit.
@@JT5555 Yes and no. Open toe'd shoes can be a problem in certain places. Like here in Canadialand, cosplaying in November with open toe'd shoes would be an epic way to get frostbitten feet
@@JT5555 some people can’t afford to do 100% faithful cosplays as that’s both time consuming and expensive.
@@JT5555 nobody that actually cosplays effing cares about someone else's "correctness" or how "lazy they are." Really, for most people cosplay is largely about how much you can do on the most shoestring of budgets, and how to make it actually practical for a con. Traditional Japanese shoes like that are expensive and wouldn't be as comfortable as sneakers. Try going to a con with unhappy feet one time, and you'll quit whining about people with the "wrong" footware.
Bruh wtf?
In the time I spent in Japan people were nothing but welcoming of anyone trying to adapt to the culture.
From what I understand, It's seen as making an effort and a show of appreciation. Cultural exchange is a really big thing in Japan.
Heck, every second highschool anime has a foreign exchange student in it for a reason.
That's what I've observed over time with other cultures too (from people on youtube mostly who are of different cultures cause although I would want to I have not been able to travel much). It seems to me that in general people love when other people want to learn about and appreciate their culture. It's fun to share our cultures with each other.
@@Donika691 I'm Thai and I'd also be very happy if anyone adapt our culture into their lives whether its for aesthetic or actual lifestyle, since cultures always evolve by influence of other cultures. If they wanted to use it just because it looks cool or because they think it improves their lives, that'd be no problem at all. However, if they used it because they want to ridicule or disrespect the culture itself, then that'd be a big no for anyone (e.g. Coal Black and de Sebben Dwarves, that thing is literally the embodiment of what people shouldn't do in the first place :( ). The only thing that really matters is the "intention".
[This part is purely my opinion and there is no solid prove either, so please don't quote this]
I don't know if the cultural appropriation thing has gotten to this extent is because the western countries start to see the rise of other countries' "soft power", especially Asian soft power recently, and think that they may lose their influences in world economic scale. Japan's soft power is a really good example since their exports is heavily influenced by their soft power such as exporting Japanese ingredients for making Japanese food abroad, Japanese entertainment media (TV series, anime, games, etc.), and Japan's technology (musical instruments such as Yamaha or cars are some of them). These are something which not only Japan does either but also South Korea when it comes to entertainment media and Southeast Asia when it comes to food.
So it would not be weird for them to start promoting something which can restrain their people from exposing to other cultures, such as "cultural appropriation". In this case, the only time where cultural appropriation is not really verbalized by western people is when it comes to food, since the influences of soft power regarding food has already been there for decades, so it's really hard to get rid of that part without being too obvious (Southeast Asia has been a big victim several times for this, since they are small countries with no significant power unlike Japan and China, they start to look for excuses to ban their products such as coconut, palm, and many others.)
I hope this won't be too long tho lol
@@polawattantiransee3410 Yes intention is what matters. I agree that it's possible that there are ulterior motives behind this whole "cultural appropriation" thing being used in the stupid way it has been. It wouldn't be the first thing to be used for sinister reasons.
@@Donika691 Cultural appropriation means when another group of people want to use the culture of an ethnic group they hate and despise. Or when they use aspects of said culture without crediting them.
@@kenshix7902 thank you for explaining! Because when the discussion of kpop hairstyles came up I was literally like "all these kpop rappers I see with that hairstyle admire the culture it comes from.... wtf?" 😅
The fact that this is an issue is just so damn hilarious.
Edit: or sad
Both. Definitely both. I mean there’s definite merit in discussing how to be respectful of others’ cultures, but cosplay ain’t exactly on the same level as dressing like a nondescript Native American for Halloween or naming locations with the word “squaw” which is a Native American slur, particularly against Native women.
I mean, not that that’s gonna stop white knights or last samurais from diving into the comments section to protect the culture they perceive to be hurt by someone *checks notes*…putting on clothes.
Both of those plus stupid. It's a very stupid "issue".
@@kaimcdragonfist4803 Right those kinds of people called SJWs that feel the need to get offended on behalf of other people, while those people that according to the SJWs should be offended are not actually offended. It's silly and stupid indeed. People need to think more about the context and intention behind people dressing up before they judge. Like is this person dressing up to mock the culture or are they doing it because they love and respect it?
It's extremely sad. I remember an instance of this not too long ago about a girl that has Japanese decent and some guy said something like stop wearing a kimono you white people need to stop stealing Japanese culture. Like, come on, if anyone wears if right, literally no Japanese person would be fucked to saying anything whatsoever it's not seen as cultural appropriation. I have no idea what has happened to the world but it's sad.
@@ZeroFire442 This makes me think of how some people have and still do look at Elvis Presley's music, as if he stole it and was disrespectful by playing it, but I read a biography about him and it talked about how he pretty much grew up in a black community. It's literally the style he grew up with, it's what he knew and loved. So why is it wrong just cause he had light skin?
Yes back then the music industry was highly racist, and made it difficult for black artists but that wasn't Elvis's fault. I don't even listen to Elvis's music, but from what I have seen about him I know he just made what he loved to make and there should be nothing wrong with just doing what you love.
The gender, nationality, age, and whatever else should have nothing to do with cosplay. Cosplay is for everyone. I see cosplay as an art, people spending hours, money and skill to be someone they adore and like. I see that as something positive. Now, there was also some bullshit about painting your skin in the color of the character. It's literaly the character they are trying to be.
Cosplay is for everyone.
Cosplay is love.
Cosplay is art.
This, I saw a woman at least in her 80ss dressed up to the best of her ability as Sailor Moon, being pushed around in a wheel chair by her grandson at a con by me years ago. She looked so happy being there!
@@naraku971 yoooooo granma of culture 😁
Seen a video of an anthropologist who specialises in Cultural Studies heavily criticising the whole concept of cultural appropriation, exactly for that reason: there are no clear practical definitions. "Done respectfully", honestly is not a measurable value and can be abused like there's no tomorrow (which is actually happening). It is very subjective and if a person wants to justify their need to be horrible to someone on the internet, they will find a way to spin the "done resectfully" argument whichever way they please.
Moreover, from the Cultural Studies perspective very little cultural aspects are left in the world, that would not have been earlier appropriated from another culture. For example, is then Ramen a culturally appropriated dish and should it not be eaten in Japan, which has a history of colonisation and terrible war crimes in China, that it refuses to acknoledge to this day? Clearly it's not being done respectfully, if the whole country is still refusing to take responsibility for its actions. It obviously sounds absurd, but technically ticks all the classic "cultural appropriation" boxes...
Do you by chance remember what video it was and what's that scientist's name? I would like to check it out, it seems interesting.
It comes from such a culturally privileged place to assume people don't want to spread their own culture. I'm sure a lot of Japanese people would be thrilled if the world started learning Japanese like it does English. Just be respectful and don't blatantly steal from other cultures.
For a second I thought it's a new episode of Let's Fight, but this is good, too.
May as well be! Great comment i didnt even think of this haha
420 likes.
So... Let me get this straight.
It's cultural appropriation for someone to take part in/endorse/use/enjoy elements of another culture that isn't your own?
That quite literally makes no sense, but don't you just enjoy gatekeepers.
Well, you got it right, buddy. Stick to your own culture and ignore the incredible diversity of cultures and experiences that exist around the world, you filthy racist.
I hope you understand this is satire
yep.. We're living in Clown World ... I can never understand how appreciating another culture is "wrong"
@@adynat0n B-but I'm from the UK... We don't even _have_ our own culture, we just magpie other cultures and adopt them as our own. Hey, I live and breath Star Wars and _that_ was heavily inspired by Japanese culture, so are we cancelling one of the greatest franchise' of all time now? Give me a break, I can appreciate whatever the hell I want.
(Not directing this at you - just making an overarching statement)
@@uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh Lol, those who say that the UK doesn't have its own culture, need to go back to kindergarten
@@adynat0n Yeah, it gets annoying to hear. To some extent, it is true, but it's become a heavy overstatement. The UK _does_ have culture much like any other nation, whether or not it involves good and bad elements. Anyways, it's good to hear you can decipher sarcastic pessimism from text on a screen.
This unfortunately is pretty common on tiktok. I've seen this kind of harassment happen to a lot of black cosplayers on tiktok. A lot of people on tiktok use words and terms they don't understand to troll or harass people and it's unfortunate.
people have such a hive mind in there and always try to have some sort of a savior complex while constantly speaking over voices they say to amplify
that's one reason I don't use tiktok
@@tomfoolery2856 exactly
Guarantee you would lose your mind if a white person wore black face but if a black person wore white face you defend it.
@@bloodsports94 lol stay triggered boo 🤣
I have a Japanese teacher, and whenever we speak to him in Japanese or about Japanese things, you just see his face light up.
Japanese people are pretty chill and like sharing their culture. If you did something they were not ok with (in the context that they understand what you are doing as things like cultural appropriation, which is a very western thing), trust me, you would know, they can be brutal, especially online, and they won't beat around the bush either.
Most Japanese people can't even write a simple English message and have never heard "cultural appropriation". Japanese people, especially the older generation, will avoid foreigners not out of hate or anything but because of their English capabilities, the lack thereof. Unlike the West, Japanese people are culturally introverted. If you as a foreigner speak to them in Japanese even if it is not fluent, they, for the most part, will talk to you, as they know they don't have to feel embarrassed by not being able to speak English.
The unfortunate thing is that a lot of the people who cry cultural appropriation will cry it because it breaks their view of exclusivity and superiority when a "minority" race cosplays, but these same people would probably be ok if they or a "white" or "ethnically ambiguous, more "white" looking" person cosplayed as another race or culture/subculture. Not all but a great majority that I have seen.
N.B: I placed white in quotation because if you know anything about skin and melanin, then you know white skin doesn't exist and that it is only your epidermis that shows pigment. Everyone's dermis (the second-deep layer of the skin ), regardless of race, is white/white looking. Your epidermis is either transparent to opaque. If you look "white", it just means your epidermis is more on the transparent side as your melanin cells are not producing a lot. Sunspots, which many older people have (and is more noticeable in someone who has less melanin production), are just clusters of active melanin cells on the skin, that have had years of sun exposure. Freckles are the same, except they are more a combination of genetic predisposition (inheritance) and sun exposure.
I also place minority in quotations because, for the oddest reason, the word minority has come to represent not just being a part of a smaller group in a particular area but, contextually, if you are not white, you are considered a minority in online spaces. social media Platforms like tik tok kinda cause/exacerbate this by the fact their algorithms are programmed to suppress minority subcultures (remember the tik tok leak), Unless they're racist, then those get to thrive. Discord among people drives revenue so they allow it.
This happened to me about 2-3 weeks ago... I, as an african american, cosplayed as Ganyu from Genshin Impact and posted it on facebook groups and reddit. I gotten so many hate comments and racial slurs about my cosplay, it was really depressing. Some of the coments had to be turned off because it was too much work for the admin and mods to deal with.
Guess I can't cosplay No Face unless I'm a ghost now.
And I can't cosplay Nezuko unless I age down.
And I can't cosplay Bakugo unless I become an edgy teen
Guess I can't cosplay nina unless I'm a dog now
Sorry
And unless you don't have a face
@@syuk1212 You can't cosplay Bakugou unless you've suicide baited someone before
sometimes i see stuff like this and think "how tf are humans still alive?"
Bruh humans so dumb that warning labels and step by step directions exist
You mostly hear these kind of stuff from the west cause of the whole PC thing, so a better question would be “how tf is the west still standing?” Since it is devolving quite rapidly
because the biggest group just does not give a damn. Like me. If I want to dress in a certain way. I just do. If you don't like it you can talk to me about it in person or just move on.
@@Chicken_cocknballsoup7376 the west is unraveling lmao
The anime community acts in such a bullshit manner when it comes to black people and cosplaying.
She doesn't deserve death threats over this, wtf.
Why not? Shes cringe
@@yesyes7650 Just move on if you think she is cringe. That does not justify sending death threats.
@@Vivid_Sky23 Why leave race out of this? Have you seen the way some people in the community treat the black cosplayers? Theres a lot of people who think that you can only cosplay as the people who's skin matches your own.
Those were fake "anime" fans, and they're extremely reta***d.
@@Amirifiz Then those same niggas have the audacity to say "You can't cosplay Sasuke, he is White!!" Bruh most of them characters they be cosplaying are Japanese.
This makes me so sad. I used to go to college with her irl. In person she is so creative, bubbly, sweet, and super fun to be around❤ And it breaks my heart knowing this is happening to such an amazing person. I first found out about it ironically from another tiktoker, and it is shocking to find out that her story has gotten attention from Jspan.
I do hope and pray she`s doing okay. We haven't spoken since last year, and I did reach out to her knowing I wouldn't get a response. But I do hope she is okay. And thanks for sharing your thoughts on this Joey. This is something that NEEDS to be talked about a lot more. Because quite frankly it`s fucked up that this is unfortunately happening to so many colored Cosplayers and of all people to get pissed off so much to give death threats, it's coming g from non-japanese assholes. GET WRECKED AND GET A LIFE.
This reminds me of back when I was in college and a girl I liked told me I couldn't cosplay Ikuto from Shugo Chara because I'm tall and black and not Asian height and white. Granted, we're still chill with each other and that moment is water under the bridge, but was definitely something that diverted me from continuing to try n ask her out. Lol
As an Indian, we are always happy to see someone wearing our dresses or participating in things of our culture. And I think most people in the west do not know that people in most cultures are actually really happy to see foreigners trying to fit into their cultures.
Much love ❤️
Yeah it means they like or care about the culture enough to do so and it gives more visibility to that culture!
It's so sad that things like this happen. I think it's pretty obvious that she was targeted only because she's African American. Like, there are thousands of white cosplayers on the internet that cosplay as anime/Asian characters and nobody gives a shit about them and no one accuses them of cultural appropriation. So the trolls were not only stupid but straight up racist. I hope the girl is doing okay, cause we all know how badly such hating on the internet can end.
actually,there WAS a site (way back god knows when) that was all about how racist cosplaying is and it was about ANYONE that's not japanese.
I think this is revealing an unfortunate issue of racism with weeaboos. They get pretty aggressive in their urge to protect the purity of the Japanese race even though they themselves are not Japanese. I've seen them say some very nasty things on other channels, especially if the content creator is south east asian, black or mixed race.
A lot of black people get hate, in general, for cosplaying as characters that are other races. It's honestly really sad. I followed someone who got death threats for "disrespecting a character" because instead of wearing a wig she used her natural curly hair and dressed up as an anime character. It's just really stupid and terrible problem.
Yeah, I just dont understand how people cant find the difference between cultural appropriation and appreciation, like I said another thread, Im half Fijian and Half South Asian, and my dreads have been brought down from my tribes ancestors to ancestors, but when I was studying in the US as a foreign student I used to get alot hate from some black people and white people saying that Im trying to be black and appropriating their culture.
It's fucking stupid. I saw a black dude cosplay as Sanji from One Piece and he looked fly as fuck.
I would pose a question. because if a non black person wasnt to cosplay a black character they particularly like, they are crucified for black face, especcially when they want to be authentic to that black character. I remember the german cosplaying that loved Lifeline from Apex Legends who cosplayed as her, and to be more accurate she darkened her skin tone with makeup to look closer to that character. She was hit with the most hateful and vitriolic reactions for simply wanting to accurately cosplay a character she likes. So instead of making a huge generalization. look at the mind set of those individuals, not their skin color, but their mental state for being so hateful.
@@CRAM079 you can dress up as a black character without doing black face....yeah people get hate for blackface because your wearing the skin tone as a costume verse the character. It's not respectful at all. My skin tone isn't a costume for people to wear just like cultural aspects aren't a costume.
@@brianna7148 yet a women who wanted to dress up as a black character because she liked that character, so she used makeup to better represent that character and was attacked for it. You are an individual, not a skintone. So stop using it as a crutch and define your self as a human being instead of what color you are.
Can't see the dislikes. UA-cam is retraining my brain to be more considerate of whether I upvote or not, I'm okay with trying this. Fascinating psychology behind this.
I like how Joey approached this subject in a mature way. I agree that just avoiding the topic or laughing it off is not gonna get this community anywhere so I’m glad that this video was created ⭐️
Man I remember when an asian cosplayer made a Sombra cosplay from overwatch and there were a lot of people crying out that she was being racist, none of those who cried were even remotely close to being hispanic or even being in contact with that culture lmao. I remember a lot of actual latin american people were celebrating her and shitting on those who were calling her a racist lmao
Glad to hear people came out to defend her. Shitty that people jumped on her like that.
Joey, there's this video called "Cosplaying While Black: An Open Problem In The Community" by Veridis Joe (250k views). Good takes and he's funny. I really really hope you watch it.
My black weeb friends really appreciated his video because everyone knows it exists but the community is not talking about it. It's obvious that BIPOC cosplayers are being targetted by racists. It's racist trolling online trying to gatekeep anyone black or brown out of the community. Tactics vary from selectively claiming cultural appropiation or harrasment of cosplayers by claiming "x" character would never be a "y" slur.
This. It's not just a really good video, but it's an extremely important one for the community as well. The issue isn't just people screaming "cultural appropriation" at stuff that isn't. There's a lot more to it. Specifically racism.
I unfortunately dont think that video is in itself the best discussion on the topic. It is very informative, and a very good starting point, but the typical inflamatory nature of those kind of "Hate me all you want" UA-cam channels kills the whole point of "Your skin color does not matter". There's a clear part of the video where he defends harassing white people who cosplay as black characters, with "It's not the same because X, Y and Z".
This is not a BIPOC cosplayer issue, it's a race and cultural issue. Black people can't cosplay white characters, white people can't cosplay black characters, Mexican (like myself) can't cosplay fucking anything. Nobody can cosplay anything they aren't. Heck, they can't even PLAY anything they aren't. Now even voice actors are being judged based on race and skin color. Voice actors. There's this MHA VA who was harassed on Twitter because she was playing a Black character and didn't sound black, even tho the VA was literally black.
@@franciscodelico No. No, he does not defend harassing white cosplayers who cosplay black characters. He literally just says that white people cosplaying black characters is okay as long as they don't do blackface.
I thought that was an academic paper at first until I reread the sentence
@@franciscodelico
Lol
This is quite sad honestly. I never understand these, quote on quote, fake online Japanese people personas who just downright lash out about something this trivial. This reminds me of that one incident where this American girl (she was white) who wore a yukata for her school's spirit week and she also received death threats because this "Japanese" person (btw it turned out that this person was also white) called her out on Twitter for cultural appropriation or something and thus started some bandwagon to slander the poor girl who just wanted to wear a yukata.
SJWs am I right?
Did anything bad happened after that?
Maybe the person was jelous of how pretty the girl looked in a Yukata.
人種関係なくコスプレするのは自由だし、はっきり言って誰がどんなコスプレしようと、どうでもいい。彼女は日本のアニメが好きなわけで嫌な気持ちになる日本人はいないと思う。
I’m glad you made this video. As a black person I cannot tell you how many times I’ve been discouraged from cosplay or even have been told that I could “paint my face” if I wanted to be lighter, which at that time and after a lot of learning to love myself I didn’t. We can’t combat the racism of people in the community if no one can bother to be uncomfortable for a few minutes. Thanks for this and cheers
Imagine going to Japan and going around asking a native full blooded Japanese what a "Japanese Kawaii Culture" is. They'll think you're crazy. It's like going to the US and ask people in California what their "California Cute Culture" is, it makes no sense how some of these social deprived people think.
even if cute anime girls was actually "culture" still not an excuse to be mad at someone of a different ethnicity cosplaying it. If anything you should welcome that cosplayer into enjoying your culture. Gate keeping your culture makes it a pretty toxic culture.
people don't even know the different style variations (from yami/yume kawaii, lolita, gyary, etc) and pretend to be all so high and mighty while being offended about someone just wearing a style they like. like gee i guess no one can wear jeans except the people of the country where they were invented. it's stupid, and kawaii is not a slur, what are these people on
I remember reading an article saying Speedy Gonzalez was taken off the air because it was "Cultural Appropriation" but was immediately put back on because of the backlash they got from the Latino community
Old-school Speedy is very cringe
if imma be honest I wish anime didn't get as big as it has today, anime fans were so quiet and peaceful now its hella toxic, i guess thats why i moved to mostly readng manga lol
I'm with you on that. Been a fan of anime since I was little now I'm 33 and done with the shit. I just watch whatever, but mostly just read manga, manwha and webtoons. Anime gotten way to toxic.
anime has always been toxic tbh.
You mean the fandom got toxic. Anime itself has been great especially this year.
Same here. I've been shifting towards reading manga for the past few years. Only some anime, especially if it's from a popular anime (more specifically, shonen anime), the fandom is insanely toxic. Us manga readers are on a whole different level
@@shyguy5473 Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry, wasn't really specific on it I thought it but didn't write it.
Anime has been good not gonna lie some spectacular shows have come out. But, the thing is I'm not as engaged as I use to be in anime due to toxicity of fanbases. You want to really to involved and love a show and it's character with others only to see a flame war going on and how everything has to check boxes in order to work.
It use to not be this way. It was always gray and now people are pushing people to choose black or white. This kinda negativity and unwelcome atmosphere does a lot more harm than good to an anime and the community. But, I'm just tired and want to watch and move on now.
I'm not a linguist or a culture expert, but imo something only qualifies as cultural appropriation if it makes ill-intended fun of culture or doesn't recognise it's origin and meaning, for example by claiming it as an original idea or inappropriately using sacred symbolism. Active learning and teaching is the reason humans are so much more advanced than any other species. It's a good thing and should be encouraged. A universal culture where everyone respectfully profits from good ideas from all over the world is a dream come true!
And yet, some of us get butthurt when a non-native American adorns thier hair with feathers. Surprise: Birds exist all over the world! E.g. in Scotland, chiefs used to sport three eagle feathers. Are they appropriating NAs? Of course it's not as easy as that. If you walk into a reservation or the Highlands and mindlessly imitate the local way respected members of the community are wearing feathers, that's very disrespectful. But wearing a nice feather you found while out on a walk never hurt anyone.
A good example of actual cultural appropriation is "The Ring" and "The Grudge" movies. Both were originally Japanese, but Hollywood stole the ideas and made it their own. 99% of people wouldn't even know that either was from Japan at all
@@Rahnonymous I mean, adaptions/remakes are a thing. If they actually stole it wouldn't there be problems with copyright?
I don't know if that would exactly be considered cultural appropriation either, afaik it's just a story...?
Issues like this need to be discussed. Cosplay is for everyone and then you have these idiots - who are most likely teenage weebs gatekeeping cosplay.
I never saw the original tiktok, but in the pics, she looked amazing. It's a real shame that that her account was deleted.
I hope that she's doing ok mentally, and don't stop doing what you love doing ♥
Joey my man,
Doing the God's work.
Love you
Asuka is literally from Germany and speaks German. She's some part Japanese I think, but she's like the token foreigner. Weird choice to get up in arms about.
Probably trolls who hate all races.
Didn't you know only germans with a japanese grandparent get to cosplay Asuka?
But yeah, weird choice to scream japanese cultural appropriation at. Like, the character is only japanese by blood! She's supposed to be culturally German.
@@mangamama9881 Can we not use the word troll here? It's not accurate and it's been misused so much like "literally" and has no weight anymore. Let's be honest. They aren't trolls, because that would assume they actually knew what they were saying was wrong.
Context doesn't matter to these people
Joey's message to the trolls can be summed up by the writing on his shirt...
Thank you for making a video of this topic. 100% agree that people are scared to even talk about these things. People are scared of being cancelled or labelled as something they are not. Honestly what's wrong with some people on the social media?
Honestly it's really cool to see Joey actually tackling these issues in the community and is willing to put out his perspectives, good on you my guy
I love how Joey talked about this topic. Cosplay is open to legit EVERYONE, as long as they are being respectful of course. I really do agree with everything Joey said in this video. Hopefully someday, people will calm down and be more open minded to others.
What's weird is that the types of people who think this kind of thing is wrong, also think they are being progressive by defending another person's culture (regardless of what the people of that culture are feeling). Like through time we went from blatant racism, to this culture of being overly sensitive because it's extremely important to be "respectful" which it is but they take it to the point where they are being more disrespectful. They call everyone else racist for the smallest things while putting themselves on a "I'm so progressive and open-minded" pedestal.
@@Donika691 I think it's not progressives, I think it's alt right racists picking on a black girl.
@@kingmanic well yes you are right but if you read my comment a little closer you'll notice I didn't say they were progressives, I said they "think" they are. They act like they are "progressive" trying to cover the fact they are bullies. They are basically pretenders, fakes, imposters of actual progressive minded people.
@@Donika691 I agree with that, sadly it's those people who refuse to stop and think about what their going to say, before they say something that might hurt somebody.
@@dollhousenugget4559 Indeed, it's sad.
I don’t even know if I wanna cosplay anymore. I know I’d just crumble to bits if this happened to me, I hope she’s ok 😔💔
Don't worry. Just ignore anything. You do whatever you want and there are people who supports everything
Don't give up! :D
And btw I love your pfp! That's my favourite anime! 🤩
@@newbie4789 sadly you can't just ignore cancel culture and expect it to go away. You go away.
@@CrypticCobra that's just shouldn't be happening 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️. Everyone should get their own opportunity and all. I'm happy that these content creators with some influence are actually talking about these coz their words can influence a lot of people
@@CrypticCobra
Actually you can ignore cancel culture.
And cancel culture can go away if you ignore them.
I see, you've never seen a Black cosplayer comment section. Each time they cosplay they recieve massive amounts of hate. Like it's obvious why though.
meanwhile white cosplayers and light skin asian cosplayers get a free pass while black people, dark skin asians, and other POC always get shit on for the obvious unfortunate reasons.
@@Icarus975 Uhhh no, I've seen a lot of white people getting canceled by these imbeciles all the time
@@pondypoo i don't cosplay or care for it but that's bs 99% of the time its black people getting shit for it followed by dark skin people. White people, white women especially get a pass for cosplaying as any damn character they want even if they are overweight asf.
Do white women cosplayers face harassment? Or course. Do white male cosplayer get ish? Of course but collectively its not even remotely the same.
Once again, oppression Olympics. I dont even support BLM but once again white people have to all lives matter this. One group has it worse and its black and dark skin cosplayers by far, period.
Edited I meant to say "harassment" not SA.
@@friedchicken4735 Where the fuck did I say blacks don't get hate for cosplay? Can you even read?
@@pondypoo First of all calm TF down my guy. I said black and darker skin people have it far WORSE than white people who cosplay and thats a fact. I never said whites dont get harassed. But black/darker skin people get all of that on top of racism which white people do not. Also white people are notorious for participating in harassment against black people through gatekeeping anime (and kpop) from black people who express interest in it as well, rarely if ever have I seen the reverse from black people and asian culture.
Anytime someone is talking about this particular topic people like to say "whites go through it too" as if its a competition. Everyone goes through it when cosplaying but from what I've seen and read black/biracals have it way worse. And you saying "uh no white people go through it too" is more or less equating the harassment black cosplayers go through to white cosplayers and Im telling you its not the same. If you scroll down in the comments you even have non black people admitting black/biracial/darker skin people have it worse than whites.
I have been in Japan many times, as tourist, student and also worked there as an internship and all people I met, including my japanese friends were always so open about sharing their culture with me and happy that I was so into learning about everything. Never ever said anyone I can't do this or that because I am German. It was always about learning from each other and sharing. Cultural exchange is still a thing right? Because I feel like more and more people forget that and try to make the world a terrible place.
I mean these kind of people think they're doing a good job to "end racism" when they exactly create more hate by doing so. A formerly classmate went to Japan and lived there few years, learnt fluent Japanese and also study their culture, making friends etc. Once she posted a picture on Facebook of her wearing properly! a kimono during a festival there and she got so much criticism because of "kulturelle Aneignung". Of course not from Japanese people. That's insane. I mean think about it: It's like saying "You're not allowed doing this and that because you're Asian/European/African and not African/European/Asian." In other words you have the wrong heritage for it and that's ironically racism itself thinking that way.
This problem has existed since the earliest days of the community. The modern internet just makes it much more apparent and in your face. Like you said, it is a combination of factors. I remember seeing it on a small scale at a Con in 2003. Basically, it comes down to people being butt hurt about something and feeling anonymous to just blast their opinion without thinking of the consequences.
If you like something from a culture you can take it as your own and make it apart of you, just be willing to let your influences known when asked or called on it. Just look at British Blues musicians in the 60s being influenced by/idolizing American Black Bluesmen or Kung Fu movies influencing the Wu-Tang Clan. This is how people grow and expand their worldview.
Gatekeeping happens in every type of "fandom". Some people just want things one way (how they view it) and everything else you think or do is not sufficient and wrong.
Good on you Joey for calling it out!
If cosplay is cultural appropriation, then isn't wearing merch too??
You got a valid point there.
i guess so hahaha.
By the logic of the types of anime fans who harassed the cosplayer, yeah. It would count as CA, but they’re not trying to be against actual CA. They just wanted an excuse to harass a cosplayer cause she didn’t fit their weird views. They do this a lot.
Good point! Or any brand/property/food that’s not from your own country of origin right?
Honestly it can be a thin line for some people I mean I wanted to go is Lilo & Stitch for Halloween but I got some people telling me that I would be doing cultural appropriation to Polynesian culture...😒
Don’t listen to them you do you as long as you aren’t being rude
Yeah all that matters is that you are being respectful of the other culture. I don’t see why this is such a big issue for some people. People need to see it more as appreciation rather than appropriation.
Next time someone brings up cultural appropriation point out that without it most of the world would still be living in caves.
I swear to God that people in the future would be like: yOu cAn'T cOsPLay sTitCH, yoU aRen'T aN aLieN
Bro youre celebrating those characters, how on earth would that be offensive?
Amen! Thank you for speaking up about this. As a black cosplayer, this is something to us that happens to us quite often. Again, thank you for speaking up.
thank you for talking about it is not everyone with a great communter who is warm to the heart to see this kind of video which encourages to share a passion earlier than to belittle a person who shares the same passion as does not have the same origin that you put it down
We definitely need that healthy discussion about cultural appropriation. In my country (Finland), there's this indigenous group (saamelaiset) and a large portion of their income comes from selling tradional handicrafts and stuff and I've heard that nowadays many people are too scared to buy them...which doesn't do any favors to keeping their culture alive :(
I feel like the term has been so twisted, the main issue with appropriating culture to me is when you're profiting, raising the prices and changing the name of things that you have no business doing so and that its a very fine line that gets missed so often :(
Even that definition is very vague, if you made a brand of cola drink are you doing cultural appropiation too? What if you where chinese? What if instead is a german doing a brand of green tea and call it "SuperGreen"? Things can twisted very easily.
@@nidohime6233 Culture appropriation means you profit off of a culture that does not belong to you, that you do not care about and that you would willingly modify just for profits.
It is not just profiting off of other people's culture. If profiting is done with respect and fact-checked correctness, it wouldn't be an issue, you're getting paid for bringing a service (sharing the culture of another country/people) and you're doing it correctly.
The issue comes when it's done purely for profit and disregard of any meaningful symbolism or associations that the culture has.
@@mr.foxxie Especially when you bare discontent towards people of said culture you are profiting from.
This is as barebones an understanding as it gets for what this is but it's still leaps and bounds more accurate than what most people think it is
There was a celebrity that named her new fashion design “ kimono “ but changed afterwards due to the backlash understandably
When anime becomes main stream and the cringey everything is violence people start latching onto the next thing they can try and cancel....
Anime becoming mainstream in the US comes with positive and negative effects.
@@maineman5757 yea tbh i don’t disagree… good thing is I can rep anime clothes not get shit in fact people who go to my gym love the Naruto or Attack on titan merch I get compliments from buff ass guys… more women are into it now so I can finally put on tinder “looking for someone to anime and chill with” and it’s successful…. But yes the negatives are that people try and cancel shit cuz they don’t like the content of the show and rather than just not watching it because they don’t like it they feel completely compelled to @ the show creator and tell them to kill themselves and try and get ads to be pulled…. As we can tell these people are not mentally well but sadly they like as stated in the video have the loudest voice cuz they are on Twitter all day REEEEEing….. but once again the positives and negatives….
@@GoopyGoblins well some of these people who cosplay or does anime related stuff do it just because of the clout. And they are also the people who laughs at people who loves anime few years ago. So....why not hate on them
@@yesyes7650 ^ lol so true…
I like how Joey always try to defuse the situation by educating everyone and also emphasize that these are usually done by a small number of trolls or fake identities, and that majority of the Japanese friends he knows appreciate the community for loving Japanese culture.
Speech +99. Fight sharing kindness and wisdom. It's very effective!
I remember one time seeing a guy of latin decent dress up as Jotaro. My japanese friend saw that, and not only did she fan girl, she got a pic with him doing his pose.
I'm glad you talked about this. I follow her on IG and saw her dealing with that bs in real time. Unfortunately she conceded to them believing that those people were genuine. It was a sad time really 'cause people mess with her regularly smh
Cultural appropriation and gate keeping of culture might be one of the most utterly bizarre things I've seen in the last 10-15 years.
Why would you be AGAINST people sharing each other's culture and showing appreciation for it?
As someone who's also of two heritages, similarly to Joey, I'm super appreciative when I see people trying to learn about either, and would happily welcome it.
I agree. Some people act like toddlers and even if the others are asking nicely they want to keep everything to themselves. Cultures have been shared for ages and they have influenced one another. Why is that a bad thing now.m
@@mangamama9881 I don’t think you know the difference between appreciation and appropriation you were just defending black face you’re not a normal person
@@nash6472 I dunno ovbisouly pretending to be of another race or black face or whatever is just fucking weird, but honestly, I believe we shouldnt gate keep certain styles and fashions, but instead imbrace and allow people to express themselves with different cultures, at the end of the day sharing is caring 😎
@@mewtashi I agree ☝🏾
ca was basically a way of stopping white people from making fun of poc culture and then claiming it, like when kim kardatian called box braids kim k braids and then decided to claim the japanese word kimono.
This is what happens when things that used to be niche become more mainstream. More eyes on every aspect of it and more people commenting about it. And most are people who aren't even people of those communities.
It feels very weird seeing people from an culture "criticizing" people for cultural appropriation of an other culture that they not even a part of. I think its getting out of hand really quickly, not only in anime/japan. I have seen it also in the kpop scene.
Yep. It's always anime and kpop. But the kpop scene is far worse when it comes to such topics I feel...
Maybe because I haven't been in the anime scene much anymore but the kpop scene is pure drama
Every year (expect for he last two) my friends and I go to the Obon festivals at the Buddhist temples in our area. And every year we dress in yukata. We are respectful and wear them correctly. For those of you that don’t know there is a wrong way to wear them. But every time we go we run into Japanese people and every single one of them got so excited and told us how happy they were to see non Japanese people wearing yukata. The people harassing this poor girl are not Japanese. They are getting offended on behalf of people who aren’t offended!
Thank you for making this video Joey
Is the issue really that the “Japanese” people that commented really think this lady is cultural appropriating? or is it that they are trying to disguise their own racism since they don’t like people of color cosplaying?
It seems the latter is the more probable reason, due to all the hate comments on tiktoks of poc cosplaying.
Well to be fair, most cosplay of "people of color" just doesn't look like what they were cosplaying. They were being talk shit because their cosplay sucks. Appearance do matter in cosplay.
@@potatoes402 bruh cosplay isnt a competition💀
@@Ewiwwi it isn't but theres this thing called a "good cosplay" and a "bad one"
@ERASED why did you assume the black refers to her race instead of skin color huh? Skin color do matter in cosplay you know? You can't cosplay as Hulk if you don't have a green skin color. Cosplay is about looking like a certain character, not by being yourself lol. Race and other crap doesn't matter in cosplay, only looks does.
@@potatoes402 people were attacking her because of her races specifically. You are disgracefully ignorant
tiktok is just a different breed. I've seen people get cancelled for saying the words waifu, husbando, loli, and baka 🐵
Man 2 minutes in to this video and it’s sad to hear what people do sometimes
ngl joey i like you a lot more now i had been thinking your main channel lacked your personailty often times but now that we know your true views you are very thoughtfull and a good person i feel like.
I think this kind of video would be appropriate for your main channel, been missing more serious videos like this on there.
I haven't even watched the video, just a quick answer: no.
Some racist guy "yes i am japanese" and this shit is so god damn infuriating bcz a lot of people shit on people and pretend to be someone else and the other person gets shit its so god damn infuriating i hate it
Short answer: No
Long answer:noooooooo
@@collt091 complicated answer: no
Simple answer: No
@@nike8522 Alternative answer: no
i remember a case when a famous french cosplayer ( usually invinted to major conv as she is basically a pro cosplayer) cosplay as a dark elf and was called out for blackface as she was wearing dark makeup for the skin color. she was bully and banished from conv after that. i surely hope that the next person that cosplay as picolo wont get accused of greenface.
the people accusing people that do cosplay and bodypaint of "color"face, appropriation are probably the same that think that orc in LOTR are black people.
I really like the message of this video. I definitely think we need to be more educated about this topic because even I don't really know much of the meaning of cultural appropriation. So I'm happy to have watched this and learned something new.
Isn't it just an American thing?
Coz, I'm a Japanese and I never mind.
Cultural appropriation is just an American thing trust me
I think these are done by Korean disguised as Japanese, they criticize everything Japanese.
Will cosplay not necessarily look as good if you don’t resemble the character? Sure. Does that have any bearing on whether you should cosplay? Nope!
Do whatever you want.
Right, It's about fun not accuracy!
Not just in anime, but this term “cultural appropriation” is also being brought up a lot recently in kpop as well. Just felt like sharing that too. And you’re right, i think there are people who using it to attack others with it, even when they probably don’t know what it means
Sauce for the girl wearing a red microbikini in the poster(?) behind Joey?
Thanks for talking about this. This has become ridiculous in many aspect.
Everytime I hear the term "cultural appropriation" I'm out. The morons only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Much respect for being a better man than me, Joey.
Damn, I´ve never been this early
Same
Same😐
Reminds me of a korean girl who cosplayed Sombra from Overwatch and used make up to darken her skin. In the west there was some freakout accusing her for doing brownface. Meanwhile in México most of the comments I saw including myself were in support being a very good cospaly
Now that’s fucked up don’t do any black face shit
@@asuraXTC i feel like giving yourself a temporary tan for a cosplay is a lot different from mkaing your face black and giving yourself big red lips to make fun of black people...
@@xionmemoria who said tans are black face
@@Ellie-d6v why should you alter your skin color in anyway to cosplay just be yourself without any of that
Thanks for talking about this Joey! A much needed discussion
Can you move one of your skates out of view or change camera prospective? Because that looks dangerous 🧐
im sure Japanese people feel happy and proud when anime is enjoyed internationally. i know i love it when my country's culture is known by people across the globe. its a nice shoutout! as long as they are doing it respectfully, celebrating our culture, then hell yeah!!
This reminds me of that one Woody and Sora meme where the text says "14 year old white girls be like".
First of all, the fact that this happened to an African-American girl just... sounds a bit too much like anti-blackness.
With that out of the way: people have a shallow understanding of what cultural appropriation is and in reality things are more complicated than "EVERYTHING is cultural appropriation" and "there's NO SUCH THING as cultural appropriation".
I generally consider if the *thing in question is being taken out of context and who (if anyone) is making money out of it: eg, renting a kimono in Japan is fine no matter your race, since you're supporting a local Japanese business likely run by Japanese people.
Wearing a kimono as a "Japanese person" costume for halloween or some shit is Not Fine because, as it turns out, cultures aren't costumes. There's a distinct difference between these two examples.
When it comes to cosplaying more often than not it's just... pop culture? (miiiiight be a little yikes only if the char in question wears really traditional clothes?)
I don't care, though I usually draw the line at asian fishing, aka people trying to get That Asian Look. eg that model married to that One Direction dude who did her eyeliner then took pictures pulling at her eyes like people did to mock asian people (as I would very well know lolsob) or that dude who claims he's """"transracial"""" --- obviously those examples have nothing to do with cosplay which is precisely the point I'm trying to make.
She’s not even black ; darker skin girls get it way worst this girl is biracial
@@asuraXTC I wouldn't say she's not black because that's how she was referred to in the article and idk how she personally identifies but yeah, I can definitely agree that darker skinned girls get it way worst.
Im glad that you talked about this especially bc youre kind of a big face in the youtube anime community.
Growing up as a hispanic girl, I’ve never felt I could cosplay anyone bc of my skin tone. I’ve always wanted to cosplay anime characters but when even your family is telling you “youre too dark” it becomes very discouraging. So I never did it. But now that I’m seeing black cosplayer do great cosplay I feel encouraged to do the same.
Although nowadays, I feel like the black cosplay community is always under attack by racists who just hate them. I’ve seen this sort of thing happen to people in tiktok and instagram multiple times and I hate it. Yeah theyre not the right skin tone but bc the white cosplayer next to her is, suddenly it’s alright? News flash, more than half of these characters are japanese. Anyways, I think those “Japanese” people are just a bunch of fake mfks who are just racist for no reason.
I’m sorry I went on kind of a rant but I felt it needed to be said. Thank you for voicing your thoughts on this.
(Also, since when has kawaii ever been a slur?)
this is why I stay away from tik-tok and twitter, most most of the users are toxic smh 😑