# How anime characters appear caucasian?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-anime-characters-appear-caucasian/491186>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 29, 2009, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-anime-characters-appear-caucasian/491186 "2009-03-29T15:02:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-anime-characters-appear-caucasian/491186/21 "2009-03-30T23:54:43Z")

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> [@furryman](#):
>
> By the way there are a few anime with Oriental looking characters, most notably Spirited Away and Tekkon Kinkreet.

It seems to me your missing the most important point. The Japanese can draw realistic oriental looking characters. So why don’t all character in all anime look like that?  
I too think Osamu Tezuka’s to blame.

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**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-anime-characters-appear-caucasian/491186/22 "2009-03-31T00:06:59Z")

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> [@furryman](#):
>
> It seems to me your missing the most important point. The Japanese can draw realistic oriental looking characters. So why don’t all character in all anime look like that?

Most anime characters don’t look like realistic _anything_. Nor do most cartoon characters in general. They are all very stylized.

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**Author:** ![StarsApart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)\
**Post date:** [March 31, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-anime-characters-appear-caucasian/491186/23 "2009-03-31T01:03:51Z")

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Since the anime mentioned in here is Bleach, I thought I would bring up as an interesting comparison the live action musical based upon it. You can see [here](http://thecompendium.org/images/Scans/Rock%20Musical%20Bleach%20-%20Saien%20DVD%20Special%20Photo%20Book/Bleach%20Saien%20Special%20Photo%20Book%2002.jpg) a comparison of the live, Japanese actors to their drawn counterparts, and the actors without makeup. I found it an interesting comparison.

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