Do anime characters look European or Asian?

[Anonymous]

Intro

Ever since I first saw anime as a kid, I always thought of anime characters as being white by default. I remember telling my parents that for some reason the Japanese make their cartoons look white, to which they said that it's because a lot of people in Asia want to look white or that they find white people more attractive. (I'm not saying all of them do)

https://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/25/health/asian-beauty/index.html

Now in the last 10 years in seems to have sparked more of a debate as some people are claiming that anime characters look Asian and how they always seen anime characters as Asian rather than white by default, this mainly being people of Asian or specifically Japanese descent, but some people in the West also seem to think so. So, even though I'm sure this question or topic has been raised before and it won't be the last time either, I would still like to share my take on this.

Now that I've looked back at some animes and cosplays I've come to the conclusion that some animes make their characters look White and some characters more Asian looking, even in the animes that take place in a Japanese or Asian setting. While in other animes the characters are drawn to look specifically Asian such as the anime movie Perfect Blue.

I added some links where you can see some of the additional images I wanted to include here *but you will have to look up some anime characters if you want to see the resemblance for some cosplays*. I would have liked to put more examples, but unfortunately, I'm limited to posting 20 images and 20 links. Maybe in the future I'll do another post showing more images of white people looking like anime characters.

Physical appearance:

In some animes the characters tend to have *big eyes, long slim pointy sloped shaped noses, thin lips, and white skin*. Some have blonde, red hair and have blue, green, amber, hazel eyes, which are all features that are natural and common on European people.

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/marie--291256300908462710/

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/103793966402068136/?mt=login

European or white people naturally have white skin, naturally have big eyes, have natural blonde or reddish hair, tend to have long slopped shaped slender pointy noses, and thin lips are very common on white people. All of these features are common on Europeans.

Big blue eyes, thin lips, slender pointy sloped shaped nose, white skin

If you watched Kagurui twin you can kinda see the resemblance especially with the long ponytail with the girl shown above her

White skin, big eyes, pointy slender slopped shaped nose full-thinnish lips

Ring girl model CJ Gibson kind of looks like a real life version of the anime girl with the red eyes

She's half filipina but you wouldn't know as she has big eyes and looks mainly European, her sister looks a bit more Asian though

side view of an anime long slender sloped shaped pointy nose

side view of long slender sloped shaped pointy nose

The brunette that looks like Isabella wasn't the best example for ''big eyes'' so I included a girl who was

There are girls that probably would be better examples to showcase the resemblance to Isabella from the Promised Neverland anime, but this is just to imagine and to give a quick example. I don't want to search hours on the web to find the girl that looks like her the most, I think you will get the idea that the model shown above looks like her if you zoom in.

Now some pure Asians have pale white skin (although some of them have unnatural white skin due to makeup), some have thin lips, but full lips tend to be more common for Asians, they tend to have flat wider noses in general, tend to have small or slanted brown to dark brown eyes and natural dark pointy hair. Some have pointy noses but it's very rare for some to have long *natural* slender sloped shape pointy European looking noses. Some have argued that anime characters tend to have rounder faces while Europeans have more rectangle faces or oval faces due to their jaws, but many white people have rounder faces with softer jaws and chins too.

So even though some Asians can have features that are more commonly seen on Europeans, (thin lips, pale skin, pointy noses), these are all features that are much more common on European not to mention the white skin, blond and red hair and light-colored eyes are all naturally seen on Europeans.

Now some people have argued that red, purple eyes, pink, blue hair etc are also unnatural but these features are unnatural on both European and Asian people whereas blue, hazel, green eyes and blonde and red hair are unnatural on pure Asians whereas those features are common and natural on Europeans.

So, because in some animes most characters tend to have a design of features that are much more common and natural on Caucasians then Asians, it only makes sense to say that anime characters in some animes look White (or are Caucasian) rather than Asian (even in the animes that are in an Asian or Japanese setting). So, I think the view where people say anime characters look white is correct.

Anime characters tend to have a unique design that fits the Caucasian racial group.

The animes Naruto (original) and Pokemon are good example that shows that in a Japanese inspired fantasy setting some characters are Caucasian while other look more Asian. Some examples:

White characters: Naruto, Sakura, Tsunade, Ino, Misty, Nurse Joy

Those who look in between White and Asian: Sasuke, Kakashi, Neji, Hinata, Ash Ketchum,

Asian characters: Shikamaru, Choji, Yamato, Brock

(The anime Naruto Shippuden has made some characters black such as Killer Bee who has darker skin, thicker lips and raps as to give a larger hint that he's ''black'' and not a dark-skinned Asian person, thus those that look like killer bee are also associated with being black. Other examples for black characters in anime are Mr Popo from Dragon Ball and the black lady from Promised Neverland which in my opinion are easier for people to identify as Black rather than possibly mistaking a black character from a dark-skinned Asian person in Naruto). So, this shows that the anime creators have included people of other races into their animes, so why wouldn't all the white looking anime characters be white then?

Cosplay and live action:

Now a big reason why I find anime characters look white is because I don't find the Asian actors that play anime characters in live action look like the anime characters at all. Now I have seen some Asian girls being able to cosplay some female anime characters in some animes, but I have yet to see an Asian guy who doesn't look ridiculous cosplaying an anime character who in my opinion looks white.

Example Naruto and even Sasuke (Event though Sasuke is supposed to be an ''Asian'' character I have yet to see an Asian guy that doesn't look ridiculous cosplaying him, and I think he would only look good being cosplayed by a white guy that looks like him). Sasuke for example (In the original Naruto) looks white despite his Asian hair due to his white skin, thin lips, pointy slim sloped shaped nose, even his eyes could be European. Whenever I see anime characters that look white to me I picture them looking a lot like these white people would in real life in this link:

https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/292311832059514296/

Reasons why white people look better cosplaying anime characters than Asians:

Now some Asian girls can do a very good cosplay where some can look like some specific anime characters but when they try to look like an anime girl who has bigger eyes and white skin, they often need to use makeup to make their skin lighter if they have tan or yellowish skin and they have to use a makeup illusion to make their eyes look bigger (which can sometimes look unnatural) on top of having contact lenses to give them an eye color that is unnatural to the Asian ethnicity. These links show some good examples of some Asian girls that are able to do good cosplays (The first link shows good and bad examples of Asian girls cosplaying):

Unknown characters, and the girl with purple hair from Tokyo ghoul:

Why white people think that anime /manga character look. White?

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/183240278578949804/

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/1063342161994486907/

Some Asian girls can look like some anime girls but they often have to make themselves unnatural looking and more European looking with their makeup, whereas Europeans don't need as much makeup and are more natural looking. No regular Japanese person would look like anime characters walking the streets of Japan (or I don't think they do anyways I don't know).

European cosplays for unknown character, Mei, Haku:

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/746682813233660198/?mt=login

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/616289530247417813/?mt=login

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/587297607636871955/

White people can naturally look great cosplaying the characters that specifically look like them, as anime characters tend to have white skin, big eyes, long slim sloped shaped pointy noses and thin lips, all traits that are natural & common on Europeans not to mention the anime characters that have blonde or reddish hair or blue, green, amber, hazel eyes are natural colors for hair and eyes for White people. Slim sloped shaped pointy noses are much rarer in Japanese while it's a common trait in Europeans.

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/585186545331880725/

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/577305245979292657/?mt=login

Kushina cosplay

Tsunade cosplay

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/796363146621994790/?mt=login

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/670614200754879124/

The link above is the best Asian Tsunade cosplay I could find, now even though she might look more like the anime character to many people over the white girl cosplaying Tsunade, which one looks more realistic and natural when compared which each other? Would you ever see an Asian girl look like that in real life? No, you would not. In a live action movie which one would you rather see playing the role of Tsunade, the Asian cosplayer or the White cosplayer?

Now tell me which looks better the Asian cosplayers or the European cosplayers for Sakura Haruno?

Asian cosplay:

https://br.pinterest.com/pin/586382813998458368/

European cosplay:

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/107593878587108333/

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/250160954293718048/

I doubt you will find Asian cosplayers that look more like Sakura and Sarada in terms of facial resemblance than the European cosplayers. Now I will admit that they made adult Sakura in Boruto slightly more Asian looking at times but in the original Naruto (especially the original) and Shippuden she is clearly a white girl. Now some Asian girls can look better cosplaying certain female anime characters that look more Asian, but the anime girls that are clearly white looking look the best being cosplayed by white people. I have yet to see a good Asian Sakura cosplay.

Seems like a pretty white girl to me, I've seen girls that have similar looking faces to her in real life.

Big green eyes, thin lips, white skin, long pointy sloped shaped nose

Big green eyes, thin lips, white skin, slender pointy sloped nose. Japanese girls do not have faces that look like this.

https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/575194183663620583/

https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/393431717439784459/

big green eyes, thin lips, natural white skin, long slim sloped shaped pointy nose

This girl has one of the best faces for cosplaying anime girls, I recommend you look at her other cosplays on Instagram.

Another good example of white people naturally looking like anime characters is the actor Dan Stevens looks like Vicious from Cowboy Bebop, well I think he looks like him anyways.

White skin, long slim sloped pointy nose, thin lips, wide ish eyes, blue irises

Clearly a white dude, you can see his eyelids are semi closed.

I read on some places online that some anime series creators have said that they made some characters look white on purpose for different reason although I have yet to find the interviews where they say it, if you have them I would appreciate if you could post a link of a YouTube video in the comments of some anime creators admitting to having designed the characters white to settle the debate (As this would 100% end the debate).

Now if you're still here I recommend you watch this video

Whoever made this video did a great job and I largely agree with what he says.

To conclude, depending on the anime, overall I think it's fair to say anime characters look white by default, but some characters are more easily identifiable as Asian than others. Even though some Asians can do really good cosplays of certain anime characters (not all), they tend to look unnatural, and regular Asian people don't look like that, whereas White people naturally look like anime characters that look white and their design fits the Caucasian racial group. Also features that are rare on Asians that are mostly shown in anime characters are features that are much more common on Europeans.

I am also aware that some animes take place in European type settings, such as Monster and Full metal alchemist, but some characters in those animes sometimes don't look too different from anime characters that are from a Japanese setting. Example some Sailor moon ''Asian'' characters looking like the German characters from the Monster anime.

Or sometimes in the old anime Crying Freeman, the protagonist and his girlfriend who are supposed to be ''Japanese'' look clearly like Europeans while some other Japanese characters look more Asian looking.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mukokuseki

Thoughts?

[Berethor]

GAG didn't block any of the links, nice, I think that Asians are obsessed with whiteness. :)

https://weta.org/watch/shows/independent-lens/independent-lens-do-asian-women-have-white-fever

[myTake Owner]

Does Gag usually block links?
Anyways thanks for commenting on my take, wasn't expecting many people to read the entire thing. What do you think of my take?

[Berethor]

Yes GAG was blocking a lot of links, yea it was very long, but it's nice my take. :)

[myTake Owner]

Thanks.

[myTake Owner]

There are some people I've worked with and went to school with that look a lot like some of the anime characters I listed here, I wish I could show it, but I'm obviously not going to put some of their social media pics on here.

[Berethor]

It's okay, I take your word for it, and with that big my take you already made your point. :)

[myTake Owner]

One last thing, I also did this post not so long ago if you're interested in checking it out, and for others coming across this post who might also be interested in checking it out (I couldn't put the link in an update like a regular post)
Anyone else disliked the Netflix Cowboy Beepop live action? What do you think of these casting choices if they decided to remake a good live action? ↗

some comparisons aren't on point like some of them are in this article as I had to specifically use actors for resemblance, but some of the images shown and the ones I added later in the comments of that link I think show a pretty good resemblance to some of the anime characters in the anime Cowboy Bepop.

[Berethor]

I didn't saw it but maybe someone here did, though I don't see other people here.

[myTake Owner]

In case someone later stumbles on this post he can check the other post out*

[Curiosity2006]

You should definitely win a prize! Shockwave: The biggest post in the entire recorded history! XDDD

I'm yet to read all of it, so wish me good luck!

[myTake Owner]

Thanks, what do you think of the comparisons between anime characters and real people I put?

[Curiosity2006]

Well, in my opinion they're made by Asians but probably very few of them look Asian. They mostly look european due to eye shape, eye color, nose size and hair colour apparently. (Though they ventured a bit too far regarding that latter XD)

[Curiosity2006]

And you did a great job in finding their human duplicates in my opinion! XDD

[myTake Owner]

Thank you.

[TheSpaceGnome]

This is more about how certain facial features are done in most eastern anime.

Most east Asian anime artists, for example, draw noses in a very minimal fashion, they are usually drawn proportionally much smaller than in life, and often sometimes leaving them almost absent entirely or making them out of a small single line, with no nostrils or detail. Meanwhile eyes for example often get super enlarged and hyper detailed, especially in the iris, while eyelids are usually minimized to the point of barely existing unless asleep or squinting, rather like in real birds.

This kind of art style is done in most characters of most anime for every race, and so a lot of the defining features you might view as ethnic variance, are missing, leaving things like skin color or hairstyle as the only tell.

Often because of this, Asian anime characters tend to have small or sharper chins, while white ones often get the superman style chin, but in many more anime, whites and Asians look pretty much the same. Anime like coyboy bebop are ironically the exception to this rule, where facal features are highly varied, and more preportionally accurate.

[AsaKyo]

I've never really looked at or even really thought about "race" concerning anime characters. Unless it is stated in the show that the characters are from a specific background. By default, I just assume they are Japanese men and women.

I feel the reason many Japanese anime characters don't look "Asian" is because of artistic creativity and wanting to appeal to a wider audience, possibly? Though, the characters in the Promised Neverland are European, pretty sure lmao.

[Kaneki05]

All I can say is Attack on Titan shows race perfectly in it's design. Most anime don't meet this. You can easily tell within this show that of different races.
Though I think this is more common with anime's with that as the goal.

For example an anime set in Japan with every character been Japanese there is no real need to add a variety to portray how they look different race wise.

[myTake Owner]

I've only watched the first season of AOT, I thought it was ok but it wasn't for me. So I haven't seen what you're referring to, I just remember thinking the half Asian girl not looking very Asian to me.

I spoiled most of the story on YouTube for myself, but I like the story or message it tries to tell as the series goes deeper in the following seasons.

[Kaneki05]

Mikasa clearly looks like a different race to Eren and the rest of the characters in the show because that's one the literal points of the story. If you can't see the difference then I don't know what to say because it's clear to everyone else and was the creators intention.

[MCheetah]

They usually look "white" to me, and not at all Asian. But I think it was explained that the Japanese (and other Asian races, like Koreans) don't care that much about racial aesthetics that much, because there ARE some anime shows made where the characters do aesthetically look "Asian." But they're rare. Same thing applies to anime characters having "natural" green, blue, purple, and pink hair. It's just an artistic choice they make.

[fembotnpc777]

I look exactly like Sakura and I'm White lol

[myTake Owner]

If that's true, you must be really pretty.

[Sour-rose]

C-can I just make this all in one answer for such a long question?

They look... like female/male people to the best they're drawn. Asian, european, fukin' black, they look like... regular people. :x

[FireGodGoesSeeknFire]

They look Asian. Only white people with a touch of Asian admixture (Slavs, Turkic, etc) courtesy of Ghengis Kahn can really pull off an anime look.

[myTake Owner]

Yeah, pretty sure that Croatian girl at the top looks like the anime girl with the blue eyes more than any Asian girl ever could.

[myTake Owner]

How much you want to bet that the amount of Asian dna in the girl shown above here (excluding CJ Gibson) is 0 to 5% max?

Anyone else disliked the Netflix Cowboy Beepop live action? What do you think of these casting choices if they decided to remake a good live action? ↗

A young Orlanda Bloom naturally looks more like Spike (Who's supposed to be ''Asian'' with the last name of ''Spiegel'' lol) than any Asian man ever could.

[myTake Owner]

girls* shown above here

[myTake Owner]

If this is about face shapes tons of western Europeans have small round faces and soft jaws and chins. Even though small round faces and jaws are more common on east Asians, some Asian girls also have big square jaws, and facial bone shaving is a big thing in asia so keep that in mind. So many Asian girls shave the bones in their face to get small chins and jaws, something very common in south korea.

Are longer, oval and square shaped faces more common in Europeans? Yes but lots of them have small round faces with short soft jaws too, and Asian women also have long square faces. you're just spouting off a myth made by Asians who haven't seen many white people and who aren't aware of Asian face bone shaving that think white people don't have small soft jaws and round faces. I've seen lots of white women who have round faces and soft chins and jaws. I think women like Angelina Jolie, and Olivial Wilde, Neve Cambell who are in movies make some Asians in asia think that all white people have long square jaws when a lot don't, lots of actresses have oval and square face shapes.

Also most young white girls in their teenage years have small round childlike faces until their faces get longer when they become young adults example Emma Watson, so young white girls can easily have the face shape of anime characters.



Western European girls:
Hayden Panettiere English, German, and Italian ancestry:




Cara Delivgne English ancestry:




German model:
www.modelmanagement.com/.../?tab=images

Western European girls can look just as good as eastern european girls cosplaying anime characters who most likely have no east Asian dna. Not all eastern european women have east Asian dna, I'd say most have none to some barely having anything significant.

[myTake Owner]

Same face shapes

[myTake Owner]

Lots of Asian women have long faces and square jaws and get surgery to get the stereotypical v shaped Asian face, white women don't need ''Asian genes'' to have anime faces so this Genghis Khan thing you tried to pull was bull. While Asian women generally have short round faces it isn't a trait that lots of Europeans don't have and long oval and square jaws are very present in east Asians.
www.asiancosmeticsurgery.com/.../
www.koreaboo.com/.../











www.alamy.com/...sed-in-kimono-image248631374.html

[myTake Owner]

Western european actresses of irish descent:





Very similar:

[myTake Owner]

Dutch model. Courtesy of western European genetics.

[jshm2]

Neither. You wrote a whole lot of shit there with no thought.

Anime style is an expressive art form not based on racial looks, but facial expressions.

[myTake Owner]

Yeah yeah, don't admit what's blatantly obvious.

[Apulu_Imback]

Well being pale is Asian beauty standards everywhere so they are white washing their anime characters which occasionally make them look European but they are meant to be Asian.

[NoUsernameSelected]

I don't think so.

I don't think they look Asian either.

Unless specifically drawn in a way to represent White or Asian, I don't think they represent any race.

[rienna888]

No they don't look European, they look like Asians who have bigger eyes.

[myTake Owner]

Find me an Asian girl that looks more like the anime girl with the blue eyes shown as the first example than the white girl that I put that looks like her. Some anime characters look Asian, others are obviously European looking, denying this is just sad, really.

I highly doubt you will find an Asian Sakura cosplay that looks better than the white cosplayer.

[rienna888]

Well of course the blond hair blue eye characters are meant to be/look european, like final fantasy and Attack on Titan characters. If you've visited Japan, many Asian people also look like anime characters.

[myTake Owner]

Does the first anime girl I used as an example look Asian to you? And does any Asian girl look more like Sakura Haruno that the white Cosplayer?

Anyone else disliked the Netflix Cowboy Beepop live action? What do you think of these casting choices if they decided to remake a good live action? ↗

A young Orlanda Bloom naturally looks more like Spike from Cowboy Beepop (Who's supposed to be ''Asian'' with the last name of ''Spiegel'' lol) than any Asian man ever could, unless of course you have any better Asian examples.

[rienna888]

lmao i don't think orlando bloom looks like spike at all, but yeah I see spike does look italian/albanian or middle eastern

[myTake Owner]

Sorry, a young Orlando Bloom, if you clicked on the link, I have no idea how you can say he doesn't look like him.

[rienna888]

I think orlandos face is wide and spikes is slim, but orlando bloom is still handsome, I just don't see the resemblance.

[myTake Owner]

Spike's face is cartoonishly long and slim, you have to transition the anime face and hair into reality, he has the same skin tone, same eyes, and same eyebrows, overall it's the same kind of look in real life, unless you have any better examples of people looking naturally like him?

[Aiko_E_Lara]

They don't look like Asians nor Europeans but rather mixed races. There are just plenty of different kinds of anime art styles so it's pretty hard to generalize.

[ronaldo75]

European. Asians are incredibly strong white worshippers. Its one of the worst aspects of living in Asia.

[iloko1]

They look like hapas I think, and many look like light-skinned Southeast Asians to me as well LOL unless they're actually of coloured ethnicity of course

[myTake Owner]

No one in the west knows what ''happa'' means.

[Anonymous]

yeah they pictured caucasian.

[foreveronly]

At best they look like K-pop idols

[Mcarlier84]

Asian

[myTake Owner]

Does the first picture of the girl with blue eyes look Asian to you?