Just my theory, they want to animate their characters as pretty and handsome as possible, and it so happens that most features that make a person very attractive are white features.
indeed, also white women are the most attractive and everyone wants them. Also other races don't have blue eyes or blonde hair, denialists try and pass it off as just artistic expression or something, but the point is it doesn't represent them, yet they like using it. They can't have it both ways. The fact is they love whites features.
If they didn't like whites so much (a global minority) they wouldn't always use western themes as the backdrop (medieval shit like villages and white scenery and buildings, social hierarchical structures like in Black Clover also see the success of Attack on Titan - the whole setup being whites with token black (singular) and some japanese). The excuse that they're just appealing to western markets and don't actually love using whites and white themes as the backdrop doesn't pass the smell test.
This is also seen in video games. Capcom was targetted by leftists because the amount of blondes they have in streetfighter (which I agree with since it comes across as cringe fetish at this point) and (again) all the medieval white theme backdrops in games. People who say they don't love using whites themes and white features and it's "just coincidence to sell to western markets" are just in retard-level denial.
People thinks saying the above is a slam on them, but it really isn't. White women really are the most desireable, it's just a fact.
You saw one poorly made video that fits with your preconceived notions and thought: Wow, this must be the exact perfect answer. You're right. To Japanese, they look Japanese. Why? Because Japanese exhibit a lot of traits similar to whites. You know why else? Making them racially ambiguous makes it easier to market to children in the wealthy foreign markets of Europe and North America. To whites, especially children, they look white. But you don't see them making obviously white characters in modern anime look more white do you? Take Attack on Titan. Only TWO characters in that entire anime (I've only seen seasons 1 and 2, didn't like the plot, stopped watching) were explicitly stated as being Asian and it's because they are the only two Asians known to even be alive. Levi and Mikasa. Yet every other character who must be white, looks relatively the same. FMAB? 90% of characters look the same as any other anime character, but to try to claim that anime doesn't take place in the West is foolish. Hellsing? Clearly based on the West. Literally any anime made about Dracula? The West. Look at video games too, since they follow a lot of the same styles. Fire Emblem games, clearly based on the West, all look like typical anime protags. Castlevania, clearly based on the West, even use Western names.
A lot of these got their start in the 80s and 90s, 30+ years ago.
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 1 point 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 12:25:40 ago (+1/-0)
The Japanese never tried to appeal to international audiences. The Japanese make anime for other Japanese. So they make their characters look Japanese. Some anime take place in fantasy worlds. Since it's fantasy it wouldn't make a lot of sense to have everyone be Japanese, so they make them explicitly not Japanese. There are also anime that do not take place in Japan, but in Europe. Same logic.
The reason they still look like "anime" is because they don't bother to change the style. Just like we don't bother to only have foreigners in movies that take place in foreign lands. Instead we have White people dress up as foreigners. Same concept.
Not all Asians have squint eyes. Big, bright eyes are seen as attractive to all humans. Additionally, a lot of early anime were based on Western action movies. Stalone, Arnold, etc. Also, as anime is generally seen as being "for children" the easiest way to market to children in the rich Western countries is to make characters that are not only appealing but similar looking to them. Makes it easier for them to relate. It's a common marketing strategy.
Pale skin was always seen as more attractive in Asia. Northern Asians generally have pale skin. Hair colors are so different in anime because it would get boring with everyone having shades of brown and black, also becomes too difficult to tell people in anime apart.
Best way to tell if a character in an anime is Asian vs white? Round chin = Asian, squared = white Deep set eyes with defined brow = white Setting is obviously European inspired = white Character is blatantly stated to be a foreigner = white
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 1 point 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 10:40:08 ago (+2/-1)
Which anime do you think were based on Western action movies?
The Japanese never actually cared for the Western market, so they never tried to appeal to it. The way anime came over was due to passionate western fans in the 1970s creating and distributing VHS tapes of anime with small brochures that included the translation. Once the tech became available they subtitled the tapes.
Cowboy Bebop (not as old as others, inspired by Spaghetti Western films) Fist of the North Star (Inspired by Mad Max) Astro Boy (inspired by Disney) just to name a few there are also a handful of lesser known ones based on spaghetti westerns like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Hollywood was a huge inspiration on a LOT of Japanese writers in the 70s and 80s. America was also seen as very luxurious and great to them at the time.
The Japanese never actually cared for the Western market, so they never tried to appeal to it.
In the very early days it was a matter of high risk and high cost versus potentially no reward. They were unsure whether or not it would do well in the West so they didn't market very hard until the late 90s.
The way anime came over was due to passionate western fans in the 1970
Probably for a handful of niche categories, but very few adults in the 1970s or 80s would be caught dead watching cartoons. It was shows like Sailor Moon and especially Pokemon that actually caused anime to become popular. Prior to that, the term anime would likely be found in very few Westerners vocabulary.
I was expecting some movies that actually feature Stallone and Schwarzenegger, who were 1980s action stars, not 1960s and 1970s cinema. Which Disney movie(s) is Tetsuwan Atom (Astro Boy) inspired by?
The only reason you got Pokemon and Sailor Moon was because of the efforts the fansubbers put in earlier, demonstrating that there is a market.
So it is backwards to say that anime tried to appeal to westerners. Some westerners just found anime appealing and made an effort to bring it over. There was also a period during the late 90s and earlier 2000s where some anime studios tried to appeal to the western market, but the strategy didn't work out financially and that approach was given up on.
Even today most anime isn't made with foreigners in mind.
The writer of Astro Boy said in an interview that he had watched Disney's Bambi in the double digits number of times growing up and it inspired him to become an animator and make child friendly content. I'm not a weeb. I don't know massive libraries of anime by memory, therefore I can't list names off like I've got them written down in an encyclopedia. Trying to use the internet to look up examples is very hard because all it wants to give me are examples of modern western cartoons that try to copy anime and usually end up failing.
Pokemon and Sailor Moon are the actual turning point and it has literally nothing to do with fansubbers. Both those aired on public television networks during the 90s and early 00s. Once again, prior to the 00s, anime was marketed almost solely to children in both Japan and the West. No adults would be caught dead watching cartoons in either country. You had a handful of very small communities here and there in both countries, yes. Fan subbers did bring anime over, yes. (Although it was mostly hentai, people like to leave that out) Pokemon was the actual turning point of when anime began to become truly popular in the West (almost 30 years ago). But if you look at genres when anime actually started its golden age, they were copying the West. Magical girl anime were inspired by transformation scenes in shows like He-Man and Transformers. Miyazaki, the man behind Studio Ghibli, stated himself he was inspired by Disney. He would then go on to inspire Disney.
Even today, most anime isn't made with foreigners in mind.
Anime today isn't made with anything in mind other than how to market and sell the most merchandise. To appeal to the largest audience possible and attempt to make money. Which is why they have become formulaic and samey.
But let's really just end it with straight facts and logic. Anime is a Japanese word that litera1lly translates to animation. Meaning ALL animation is anime from a Japanese perspective. Animation was both invented and refined in Europe and the US. Not even being considered as an art form or reaching any level of popularity in Japan until the late 30s, 20 years after its beginning. Meaning, at SOME point, SOMEWHERE in the time line, Japanese people had to have seen Western animations FIRST. Which would then inspire them to make their own animations which would spawn into the anime art style.
Adding some more to this. Anime started in the early 10s but didn't see any actual growth until the 40s when it, like western animation, began to be used for war propaganda. It began to slowly grow while targeting its Japanese audience until the 60s when it began to crash. It was revived in the 70s with shows like Tomorrow's Joe, a show based on Western style boxing. Lupin III, based on the French fictional character, Arsene Lupin. Heidi, Girl of the Alps, you should know where the Alps are. Vicky the Viking, you should know where vikings come from. These were some of the first anime to begin making it to the West. Hmmm, that's so weird! Almost like Western inspired shows got traction in the West and they could begin to actually start marketing there! Anime did not actually hit its golden age until the 80s when it began to appeal to Western audiences with the mecha/gundam genre. Let's not forget Star Wars hit the scene so they made anime like Gachaman: Battle of the Planets. Oh, then there was Evangelion. Which was made to revive the anime industry that was currently dying in Japan. You know, that anime that's 90% Christian religious symbolism but just happens to take place in Japan. Almost like they were trying to make Western culture appeal more to a Japanese audience instead of vice versa.
I know that the Tezuka (the father of both Manga and Anime) was inspired by Disney on a technical level of animation, but I cannot think of him taking inspiration from any stories, that's why I asked.
Pokemon (US, 1997) and Sailor Moon (US, 1995) were a consequence of fansubbers, who brought over shows like Ranma (JP, 1989) which established that there was a market for anime. The notion that cartoons are for children was exclusive to the USA. Japan had outright pornographic anime as far back as in 1984 and there were plenty of ultra-violent anime during the 80s aimed at young male adults during the 1980s. Those were really popular. Some of them were even really, really mainstream, like Akira (1988). In Japan, it is mainstream for adults to read manga and watch anime and it has been like that since at least the 1980s. There are also more specific anime targeting only a niche.
Transformers goes back to 1984 and He-Man (TV) goes back to 1983. Magical Girl anime, however, go back to Mahou Tsukai Sally (1966).
It's true that early anime where inspired by Disney on a technical level, but that wasn't the original claim.
Anime's golden era didn't even start until the 80s when they began to copy Western media and attempt to sell to the Western market. It was a dying industry that didn't start to revive until they began to market to the West. You also keep taking small sample sizes and acting like it's the entirety of the industry. Even the West had pornographic artists and cartoons as far back as the 50s but they never took off and no one was going to admit they viewed them. Same goes for Japan. It wasn't mainstream in either location until the 1980s. Which, once again, by that time was a dying industry in Japan. Marketing and selling to the West is actually what saved the industry. Pokemon was absolutely not a result of fan subbers. Nor was Sailor Moon. They were actively making deals with American networks like 4Kids during the run of the shows to produce proper English dubs. As well as paying for marketing and promotion. Sorry to burst your little weeb bubble, but all evidence says that anime's success is based on the Western market.
Again, they never tried to sell to the Western market. The West came to them because of fansubs and this only took off in the mid to late nineties - not the eighties. It wasn't dying, either. It was booming so hard during the 80s and 90s that they greenlit almost all projects. Anime only struggled a bit after aiming for the Western market, where they found out that unlike the Japanese, Americans weren't really willing to pay $300 for a twelve episode TV series.
Pornographic anime - which started in 1984 - was so popular, they made a non-pornographic movie out of it (Project A-ko which originated from the Cream Lemon anime series). And again, the market was booming, and no one in Japan gave two shits about the west during the 80s. Marketing and selling to the West in the early 2000s almost killed the industry, too. Studio Gonzo faced bankruptcy in 2008 because they marketed and sold to the West almost exclusively.
Neither Sailor Moon nor Pokemon would have made it to the west if it wasn't for fansubs. And the success of either show didn't translate to an overall success for anime. Only into an enthusiasm to bring lots of anime over and then realizing that Americans weren't willing to pay for them what the Japanese were willing, which in turn nearly killed the industry, because the Japanese weren't interested in buying these kind of anime, either. They moved away from mostly 26 to 50 episodes or longer anime to mostly 12 episodes long anime and they stopped marketing to the West, which saved them.
None of this had any effect on the mainstream children's anime like Pokemon, though, which even returned to TV after giving hundreds of kids a seizure.
[ + ] ThisGuy
[ - ] ThisGuy 2 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 08:37:06 ago (+3/-1)
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 10:41:35 ago (+0/-0)
https://www.voat.xyz/viewpost?postid=626bd1150be04
[ + ] Kozel
[ - ] Kozel 2 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 05:15:29 ago (+4/-2)
if they represent asians then why are their eyes so big?
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 3 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 07:53:31 ago (+3/-0)
[ + ] oyy_veyy_goyy
[ - ] oyy_veyy_goyy -1 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 09:24:01 ago (+1/-2)
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 10:32:34 ago (+1/-1)
[ + ] MuricaPersonified
[ - ] MuricaPersonified 2 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 06:33:19 ago (+2/-0)
Japs find larger eyes attractive.
They are more expressive.
They are better for animation.
[ + ] germ22
[ - ] germ22 2 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 08:39:04 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] Equalizer
[ - ] Equalizer 2 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 09:38:24 ago (+2/-0)
If they didn't like whites so much (a global minority) they wouldn't always use western themes as the backdrop (medieval shit like villages and white scenery and buildings, social hierarchical structures like in Black Clover also see the success of Attack on Titan - the whole setup being whites with token black (singular) and some japanese). The excuse that they're just appealing to western markets and don't actually love using whites and white themes as the backdrop doesn't pass the smell test.
This is also seen in video games. Capcom was targetted by leftists because the amount of blondes they have in streetfighter (which I agree with since it comes across as cringe fetish at this point) and (again) all the medieval white theme backdrops in games. People who say they don't love using whites themes and white features and it's "just coincidence to sell to western markets" are just in retard-level denial.
People thinks saying the above is a slam on them, but it really isn't. White women really are the most desireable, it's just a fact.
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 10:34:22 ago (+1/-1)
[ + ] throwawayaccount
[ - ] throwawayaccount 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 11:08:34 ago (+2/-2)
You're right. To Japanese, they look Japanese. Why? Because Japanese exhibit a lot of traits similar to whites. You know why else? Making them racially ambiguous makes it easier to market to children in the wealthy foreign markets of Europe and North America. To whites, especially children, they look white.
But you don't see them making obviously white characters in modern anime look more white do you? Take Attack on Titan. Only TWO characters in that entire anime (I've only seen seasons 1 and 2, didn't like the plot, stopped watching) were explicitly stated as being Asian and it's because they are the only two Asians known to even be alive. Levi and Mikasa.
Yet every other character who must be white, looks relatively the same.
FMAB? 90% of characters look the same as any other anime character, but to try to claim that anime doesn't take place in the West is foolish. Hellsing? Clearly based on the West. Literally any anime made about Dracula? The West.
Look at video games too, since they follow a lot of the same styles.
Fire Emblem games, clearly based on the West, all look like typical anime protags.
Castlevania, clearly based on the West, even use Western names.
A lot of these got their start in the 80s and 90s, 30+ years ago.
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 1 point 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 12:25:40 ago (+1/-0)
The reason they still look like "anime" is because they don't bother to change the style. Just like we don't bother to only have foreigners in movies that take place in foreign lands. Instead we have White people dress up as foreigners. Same concept.
[ + ] lord_nougat
[ - ] lord_nougat 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 11:11:04 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] throwawayaccount
[ - ] throwawayaccount 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 08:40:53 ago (+1/-1)
Additionally, a lot of early anime were based on Western action movies. Stalone, Arnold, etc.
Also, as anime is generally seen as being "for children" the easiest way to market to children in the rich Western countries is to make characters that are not only appealing but similar looking to them. Makes it easier for them to relate. It's a common marketing strategy.
Pale skin was always seen as more attractive in Asia. Northern Asians generally have pale skin.
Hair colors are so different in anime because it would get boring with everyone having shades of brown and black, also becomes too difficult to tell people in anime apart.
Best way to tell if a character in an anime is Asian vs white?
Round chin = Asian, squared = white
Deep set eyes with defined brow = white
Setting is obviously European inspired = white
Character is blatantly stated to be a foreigner = white
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 1 point 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 10:40:08 ago (+2/-1)
The Japanese never actually cared for the Western market, so they never tried to appeal to it. The way anime came over was due to passionate western fans in the 1970s creating and distributing VHS tapes of anime with small brochures that included the translation. Once the tech became available they subtitled the tapes.
[ + ] throwawayaccount
[ - ] throwawayaccount -1 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 11:02:09 ago (+0/-1)
Fist of the North Star (Inspired by Mad Max)
Astro Boy (inspired by Disney)
just to name a few there are also a handful of lesser known ones based on spaghetti westerns like The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
Hollywood was a huge inspiration on a LOT of Japanese writers in the 70s and 80s. America was also seen as very luxurious and great to them at the time.
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 2 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 12:14:23 ago (+2/-0)
The only reason you got Pokemon and Sailor Moon was because of the efforts the fansubbers put in earlier, demonstrating that there is a market.
So it is backwards to say that anime tried to appeal to westerners. Some westerners just found anime appealing and made an effort to bring it over. There was also a period during the late 90s and earlier 2000s where some anime studios tried to appeal to the western market, but the strategy didn't work out financially and that approach was given up on.
Even today most anime isn't made with foreigners in mind.
[ + ] throwawayaccount
[ - ] throwawayaccount 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 12:38:34 ago (+0/-0)
I'm not a weeb. I don't know massive libraries of anime by memory, therefore I can't list names off like I've got them written down in an encyclopedia. Trying to use the internet to look up examples is very hard because all it wants to give me are examples of modern western cartoons that try to copy anime and usually end up failing.
Pokemon and Sailor Moon are the actual turning point and it has literally nothing to do with fansubbers. Both those aired on public television networks during the 90s and early 00s. Once again, prior to the 00s, anime was marketed almost solely to children in both Japan and the West. No adults would be caught dead watching cartoons in either country. You had a handful of very small communities here and there in both countries, yes. Fan subbers did bring anime over, yes. (Although it was mostly hentai, people like to leave that out)
Pokemon was the actual turning point of when anime began to become truly popular in the West (almost 30 years ago).
But if you look at genres when anime actually started its golden age, they were copying the West. Magical girl anime were inspired by transformation scenes in shows like He-Man and Transformers.
Miyazaki, the man behind Studio Ghibli, stated himself he was inspired by Disney. He would then go on to inspire Disney.
But let's really just end it with straight facts and logic. Anime is a Japanese word that litera1lly translates to animation. Meaning ALL animation is anime from a Japanese perspective. Animation was both invented and refined in Europe and the US. Not even being considered as an art form or reaching any level of popularity in Japan until the late 30s, 20 years after its beginning.
Meaning, at SOME point, SOMEWHERE in the time line, Japanese people had to have seen Western animations FIRST. Which would then inspire them to make their own animations which would spawn into the anime art style.
[ + ] throwawayaccount
[ - ] throwawayaccount 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 12:53:22 ago (+0/-0)
Anime started in the early 10s but didn't see any actual growth until the 40s when it, like western animation, began to be used for war propaganda. It began to slowly grow while targeting its Japanese audience until the 60s when it began to crash. It was revived in the 70s with shows like Tomorrow's Joe, a show based on Western style boxing. Lupin III, based on the French fictional character, Arsene Lupin. Heidi, Girl of the Alps, you should know where the Alps are. Vicky the Viking, you should know where vikings come from. These were some of the first anime to begin making it to the West. Hmmm, that's so weird! Almost like Western inspired shows got traction in the West and they could begin to actually start marketing there!
Anime did not actually hit its golden age until the 80s when it began to appeal to Western audiences with the mecha/gundam genre. Let's not forget Star Wars hit the scene so they made anime like Gachaman: Battle of the Planets.
Oh, then there was Evangelion. Which was made to revive the anime industry that was currently dying in Japan. You know, that anime that's 90% Christian religious symbolism but just happens to take place in Japan. Almost like they were trying to make Western culture appeal more to a Japanese audience instead of vice versa.
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 14:31:59 ago (+0/-0)
Pokemon (US, 1997) and Sailor Moon (US, 1995) were a consequence of fansubbers, who brought over shows like Ranma (JP, 1989) which established that there was a market for anime. The notion that cartoons are for children was exclusive to the USA. Japan had outright pornographic anime as far back as in 1984 and there were plenty of ultra-violent anime during the 80s aimed at young male adults during the 1980s. Those were really popular. Some of them were even really, really mainstream, like Akira (1988). In Japan, it is mainstream for adults to read manga and watch anime and it has been like that since at least the 1980s. There are also more specific anime targeting only a niche.
Transformers goes back to 1984 and He-Man (TV) goes back to 1983. Magical Girl anime, however, go back to Mahou Tsukai Sally (1966).
It's true that early anime where inspired by Disney on a technical level, but that wasn't the original claim.
[ + ] throwawayaccount
[ - ] throwawayaccount 0 points 2 yearsMay 1, 2022 21:15:56 ago (+0/-0)
You also keep taking small sample sizes and acting like it's the entirety of the industry. Even the West had pornographic artists and cartoons as far back as the 50s but they never took off and no one was going to admit they viewed them. Same goes for Japan. It wasn't mainstream in either location until the 1980s. Which, once again, by that time was a dying industry in Japan. Marketing and selling to the West is actually what saved the industry.
Pokemon was absolutely not a result of fan subbers. Nor was Sailor Moon. They were actively making deals with American networks like 4Kids during the run of the shows to produce proper English dubs. As well as paying for marketing and promotion.
Sorry to burst your little weeb bubble, but all evidence says that anime's success is based on the Western market.
[ + ] Wahaha
[ - ] Wahaha [op] 0 points 2 yearsMay 2, 2022 04:56:00 ago (+0/-0)
Pornographic anime - which started in 1984 - was so popular, they made a non-pornographic movie out of it (Project A-ko which originated from the Cream Lemon anime series). And again, the market was booming, and no one in Japan gave two shits about the west during the 80s. Marketing and selling to the West in the early 2000s almost killed the industry, too. Studio Gonzo faced bankruptcy in 2008 because they marketed and sold to the West almost exclusively.
Neither Sailor Moon nor Pokemon would have made it to the west if it wasn't for fansubs. And the success of either show didn't translate to an overall success for anime. Only into an enthusiasm to bring lots of anime over and then realizing that Americans weren't willing to pay for them what the Japanese were willing, which in turn nearly killed the industry, because the Japanese weren't interested in buying these kind of anime, either. They moved away from mostly 26 to 50 episodes or longer anime to mostly 12 episodes long anime and they stopped marketing to the West, which saved them.
None of this had any effect on the mainstream children's anime like Pokemon, though, which even returned to TV after giving hundreds of kids a seizure.