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Representation of Black/African-American Characters in Japanese Anime
Representation of Black people in Japanese anime has been an ongoing conversation of major concern across all platforms in the United States of America (USA). Spaces where these conversations occur appear in face to face conversations, online chat rooms and discussion boards, social media platforms, and literature.

Japanese animation, better known as anime, has been popular in the USA since the 1970s following the release of Astro Boy in 1963  Within the American audience lies a community Black fans who have consumed this cultural product and contributed to its rise in popularity. The issue is Black representation has been suspect at best. What is important is that portrayals of Black people in anime depict imagery and literary narratives related to savagery or barbarism, animals , childlike immaturity , and criminal behavior. Such depictions have put a damper on the fan experience as Black consumers are forced to acknowledge that anime illustrations demonstrate how race and ethnicity is viewed and constructed in Japan. It begs the question, how does Japan view cultural others? Or perhaps, these misrepresentations reflect the limits of Japanese imagination. One can speculate if they like, but the fact remains that representation of Black and African-Americans in Japanese anime is problematic.

Fans of anime are an important part of Japan’s economic success. According to Saitō (2007), anime is Japan’s “greatest cultural export.” Therefore, fans being displeased with how they are portrayed should be of great concern. Especially since, “fans have been important historically in shaping the look and availability of anime/manga. A study conducted by scholars in 2012 revealed that in online chat rooms and discussion boards, fans sometimes directly critiqued shows for not representing groups positively and indicated specific programs that reinforce ideas that one’s race, ethnicity, or nationality is superior to another. “Why is it a common trend in Japanese animes and mangas to make there black characters so weak i mean come on now its so obvious that Kubo Tite [the creator] is a little biased .” In order to reach the Western audience, illustrators attempted to create culturally odorless characters that appeal to fans. This has resulted in most characters being racially ambiguous, or having perceived Caucasian features. However, characters of color are not so unrecognizable. Therefore, it is necessary to understand the historical context behind representation of Black people in Japan in order to examine how misrepresentation is occurring in Japanese anime today.

History of Representation
Representation of Black people in Japanese anime has changed throughout the years. According to Russell (1991), Japanese literary and visual representation of Blacks rely heavily on imaginary Western contentions. Dower (1986), points out that the position Black people occupy in a Japanese hierarchy borrows from Western racist thought patterns. Meaning that, anime portrayals are inspired by antiblack racist ideas and attitudes from Western nations. All of which further the idea that Black people as a whole are less than human beings. One may ask, what have Blacks ever done against Japanese people to deserve such treatment? Well, a deeper look into the history of Japanese and Black interactions may shed some light. Western influence over Japanese perceptions of Blacks date back to the 16th century when African slaves were accompanied Dutch and Portuguese traders to Japanese ports located in Nagasaki and Dejima. In Russell’s article he described—based on a diary accounts—how Japanese envoys viewed Black slavery as a fact of life and associated the slaves as timid-like apelike creatures that are dirty, unmannered, stupid, grotesque, and physically repulsive. This author moves on to conclude that Japanese dehumanization of Black people is a result of them trying to understand how they fit within a social hierarchy dominated by Caucasians. More specifically, black and white occupy opposite ends of a spectrum with “white” being associated with powerful, pure, and civilized while “black” is associated with powerless, undesirable, barbarous, and unclean. Asian people occupy a space of limbo, or a grey area, where they do not belong in either category. Instead of embracing their own, the Japanese aligned their values and attitudes with “cushy deliriums of Euro-American supremacy, '' which elevated their status to semi-civilized.

Typically when the conversation of Black representation in Japanese anime arises, fans are referring to a specific design style of Black characters drawn with over exaggerated features such as large circled lips. This design style was used commonly in Japanese anime from the 1960s to the 1980s. In recent years, this style is no longer as popular as it once was. Today, when fans of anime see that design style their mind associates it with the Minstrel Show. According to Russell (1991), the stereotype of Blacks as jesters or entertainers was introduced to the Japanese in 1854. After completing a trading deal with negotiators Commodore Matthew Perry treated them to an Ethiopian minstrel show performed by white crew members in black face. Evidently, the influence of this design style was huge. “Minstrel Shows were the epitome of promoting racism...It was another way of fueling already stereotypes against Black people that were put in place to ruin our self esteem & to teach us to hate ourselves & each other,” Deason said. Giving the historical context behind Japanese perceptions of Black people is  necessary for viewers to understand the meaning behind such harmful and degrading depictions, but also to gain insight about what motivates this undercurrent of racism in anime.

Examples of Misrepresentation
One important note to keep in mind is that anime's come in different genres and each genre represents races differently. However, the commonalty of misrepresentation makes Black characters more distinguishable than other racial counterparts. Anime consumers of color have been dissatisfied with Black portrayal and these controversies resulted in fans speaking up to share their experience. “They’re always recognizable. Growing up I can admit I did not see many anime characters that looked like me. When I did see actual ‘Black or ‘Black looking’ characters they were always different. But not different in a good way,” Deason said. This perspective is also echoed in another anime consumer. “Let’s just say that they don’t breathe life into anything that looks like any Blackness that I’ve ever seen,” Bridges said. Within this vein of misrepresentation are 4 categories: (1) Facial features, (2) skin color, (3) speech, and (4) character role.

Facial Features and Attributes
In this article, we have merely scratched the surface of racial representation in anime characters. So far, the focus has been on representation of Black people in anime, but there are two additional things to consider. First, there are many faces in Japanese anime. Anthropologist Koichi Iwabuchi argues that anime is culturally odorless. Cultural odor is defined as “the way in which cultural features of a country of origin and images or ideas of its national, in most cases stereotyped, way of life are associated positively with a particular product in the consumption process .” Why does this happen? Creators and producers minimize cultural references in their characters for marketing purposes in order to reach a wide audience. As a result, anime consumers will often see characters drawn with unrealistic, over exaggerated, and vaguely familiar facial features. But it works. Andrew Mckevitt (2010) points out a viewpoint from Japanese scholar Susan Napier that “non-culturally specific anime anime styles” appealed to American audiences in the seventies and eighties because it was aesthetically transnational. Second, how the use of culturally odorless characters affects Black fan’s cultural consumption. Creating faceless characters to reach a wider audience is a great strategy which has helped increase the popularity of anime. However, the notion of racially ambiguous characters has caused some controversy. For example, a 2019 advertisement commercial for Nissin featured a light-skinned anime version of tennis star Naomi Osaka, although she is dark-skinned due to being half-Haitian. The issue that Osaka was essentially white-washed in this commercial and it did not go unnoticed.

In the attempt to create culturally odorless characters audiences have begun to project their own race or ethnicity onto the characters. Thorn (2004) states Westerners tend to see a circle with “two dots for eyes and a line for a mouth, free of racial signifiers, as “white,” while Japanese people see it as Japanese. Interpretations that such characters look “Western” or “White” reinforce theories of anime as not contain- ing Japanese “cultural odor” but potentially the cultural odor of other groups. This notion that anime characters look White is common. Especially since many of the characters have blonde hair, and big-colored eyes. University of Rochester professor William Bridges IV (2019) stated that, “There is a way that Whiteness serves as a placeholder or a synonym for universal.” This is problematic for people of color (POC), not just Black people, because Whiteness is being used as a golden standard in a way that limits the amount of characters of color we see in anime. This is not to say that one cannot enjoy an anime if you do not see a character whom you racially identify with. Yet it becomes an issue if characters who are supposed to be culturally odorless represent a majority of one race. Now let us add this caveat to the fact that anime characters of color are not accurately representing the cultures that they are inspired by, and there are not enough characters of color in anime. This is a huge problem. One that could easily be solved by creating more diverse characters and not relying on stereotypes when designing them.

Skin Color
Next, the skin color is another issue in anime representation. Black people come in various shades ranging from tan to deep brown. In fact, Black people are not black-skinned at all. Earlier anime used to portray Black characters with pitch black skin and large, circled red lips. This has changed over the years as characters are being designed more realistically. An example of this is Mr. Popo in Dragon Ball Z. This character epitomizes the Minstrel Show style, and is a clear example of Black face.

Speech Pattern
Then, how Black characters speak is a topic of conversation as well. Viewpoints on this subject vary between people who take no issue and others see many issues, such as: Black characters being voiced by non-Black voice actors, characters with "Blaccent" or speak in ebonics, characters that rely on African-American jargon or slang , and characters who rap but it does not seem appropriate for the context of the show. Arguments you have seen is that certain attributes and personality types make it easy to identify if a character is Black or not. Arguments against that point, suggest that relying on certain stereotypes present a false depiction of Black people as a whole. An example is Killer Bee from Naruto Shippuden. Killer Bee is a power character who shape-shifts into an 8-tailed ox, but his most noticeable trait is that he skips in a rapping style and uses African-American jargon such as “yo yo.”

Finally, Black fans have expressed discontent with the role Black characters play in anime. Unlike Afro Samurai, who’s main character is voiced by American actor Samuel Jackson, most colored anime characters are sidekicks or nonessential characters in the plot. Released in January 2007, Afro Samurai is a unique show that features a Black man as the lead character. To my knowledge there are no other Japanese anime that have Black characters as the lead character. However, in America there is an anime inspired show called the Boondocks, which gained popularity amongst the Black audience and overseas.

Future Directions
Future research into this topic could examine the racism Black cosplayers experience at conventions and online, or the role Hip Hop/ Rap music has played in Japanese anime like Cowboy Bebop or Samurai Champloo.