this has always puzzled me somewhat, every time i see japanese manga, or other cartoons, the people in them always look western/white european. seldom do the characters resemble japanese/asian people. drawing comparisons between western cartoons shows that the represenation of its people are fairly accurately portrayed, whereas in the east this seems not to be the case.
anyone have any insight into this, do they simply just prefer the nordic european look?
Actually, I don’t see any way to tell anime/manga style characters ethnicity without relying on stereotypes. The spiky hair and big eyes are far removed from actual human appearance; I think that you are just interpreting the stylized appearance into what you are familiar with. Characters that do not have purple/unnatural hair are often fairly similar to the expected ethnic and social group; for instance Shinji from Evangelion is the typical Japanese student, while Rei represents something not found in nature.
When you look at a show like Vandread the body types do not always match up with what you would expect from an Asian, but anime does have a habit of exaggerating certain dimensions. In other cases the character being represented is in fact not Asian.
Even with all of these different reasons why a character might not be Asian or even represent an existing ethnicity, I think a major part of the explanation is your exposure to anime. A show or manga that is designed for a western audience is likely to have western appearances, more so than a show that is generally not appreciated by westerners. Basically, you see mostly western appearances because that is what you and others like you appreciate.
A lot of their noble “hero” types are represented as straightforward Japanese with stalwart features. The younger teens and many females exhibit the big round eyes and brightly colored hair, but that seems to be an effort to capture youthful exhuberance and style rather than portraying Western racial characteristics.
And characters meant to be actual caucasians or negros are quite different to the Japanese ones.
There have been a couple of discussions on this that you may find interesting.
url=“http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=190391”] Japanese cartoons tendency to big eyes
In this thread, Tigolebitties gives what’s most likely the answer to your question: most of Japanese anime today is very heavily influenced by Osamu Tezuka’s work from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Tezuka’s own personal style made use of oversized eyes to show emotion, a technique he picked up at least partly from Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
Another possible discussion of interest:
Westerners in Japanese Animation
A lot of manga comes out of a form of Japanese theater for adolescent girls. If you want to have a strong female character in a society in which swashbuckling isn’t a traditionally acceptable female behavior, it’s handy to be able to set the play in the far-off West.
The big example of this is “The Rose of Versailles,” about a woman who dresses as a male swordsman. It was originally a play, and was turned into a manga.
There’s a good book on the subject which I believe was entitled “Manga! manga! The world of Japanese comics.”
Look at such Western animators as the Fleischer Bros. (especially Betty Boop and related characters) or Gene Deitch (Gerald McBoingBoing). Do these characters look particularly caucasian? Same thing.
Anime and Manga tends to use a very stylized characters. Still, one can usually tell the non asian characters apart from the asian ones very quickly, with practice. Almost always the American or European character has a lighter skin tone than the rest of the cast, and blond/lighter colored hair is more common.
Other anime often includes humanoid aliens, like Ryouko from Tenchi Muyo!, and thus don’t need to look asian at all.
What I found really odd was an anime called Ruruni Kenshin which seems to take place in feudal Japan. The lead character is a Samurai, and, sure enough, a redhead. Huh?
Of course, this still doesn’t top the anime with Alexander the Great battling giant robots, but still.
.:Nichol:.
That’s because those characters are intentionally drawn as caucasians (or blacks, or whatever). The rest of the characters are neutral race.
I’d go for the Freudian explanation.
Perhaps repression? OK i know everybody rolls eyes.
But think about it: Anime represents many things normal Japanese* (or even humans) are not.
-Big, sharp, spiky hair
-Unusually coloured ie red, green, blue, etc
-Big, round eyes that fill up half the face
-Nearly Perfect bods
-Fantastical powers
I don’t really think it’s that Jap animators are trying to get their anime to emulate Caucasians.
Anime is an unrestrained exploration of creativity. I’d think the artists wouldn’t want to bother with normal day life, the way normal people look. Everything is exaggerated, to indicate some sort of fantastical wishful thinking - everything Japanese or normal Asians/Caucasians/humans are not. I think its more of a coincidence that they are similar to Westerners.
*I hope i didn’t come across as offensive since i didn’t intend to.