Race in Anime

[Vexx]

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

Wait a minute, I thought that double eyelids were a Asian feature that Westerners don't have.

Some asians have the "epicanthic fold" removed to make their eyes seem bigger/rounder (or to keep their vision clear as they age) but that is pretty unrelated to "western eyes" and more to their own ideals that were around long before the Perry's ships arrived.

[justsomeguy]

Originally Posted by Vexx

Some asians have the "epicanthic fold" removed to make their eyes seem bigger/rounder (or to keep their vision clear as they age) but that is pretty unrelated to "western eyes" and more to their own ideals that were around long before the Perry's ships arrived.

When I looked it up in Wikipedia, I read that double eyelid surgery created the crease, rather than eliminated it.

But OUCH! I cannot help but imagine that eliminating the fold would open a hole into the eye socket!

[DonQuigleone]

Originally Posted by C.A.

During one of my animation lectures, my lecturer told us about a study on Japanese film, specifically on why do Japanese films like to do extreme close ups to the eyes of characters. This applies to all Japanese films, not just life action but also anime. In films all over the world there would be middle shots for characters, simple close ups to make a point or minute actions, but extreme close ups to just the eyes are very rare. This is a very peculiar camera angle, rarely seen outside of Japan.

One of the main conclusions is that Japanese believe that the eyes are windows to the soul, I'm sure lots of people here have heard of it. Exactly because of this, the Japanese use extreme close ups to the eyes and hold the camera there for a couple of seconds, allowing some sort of emotions to be conveyed to the audience. Does this really work? I do not know. Do the eyes really tell the audience everything? Or did the sound track and speech help the eyes convey the message clearer?

This obsession of eyes in Japanese culture is also why anime characters have such big eyes, you get extreme close ups to anime eyes every episode. Not only do they save frames with close up shots, they also look pretty enough to attract audience. People loved the eyes in Suzumiya Haruhi and kyoani used extreme close ups of the eyes so much, they even use it on a single eye sometimes, making Haruhi's eyes quite famous.

It works pretty well in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. It's of course quite egregious with the squinting eye shots. Certainly I think it works quite well to convey a certain level of tension.

Originally Posted by justsomeguy

Wait a minute, I thought that double eyelids were a Asian feature that Westerners don't have.

Other way around, all europeans have the crease, many asians don't.

I actually think Asians look quite nice without the crease. Makes the eye area "smoother".

[kk2extreme]

Dragon ball (series) has some of the most diverse races ever, you have tiger people and aliens

[SeijiSensei]

Historical dramas often have more realistic facial designs than ones set in modern-day Japan. For example, both Hyouge Mono and Genji Mononogatari Sennenki portray characters that look "more Japanese" than is the norm in, say, a school comedy.

Not all shows in an historical setting fit this model, of course. The reverse harem Hakouki Shinsengumi Kitan portrays the Shinsengumi with rather standard bishonen designs; the men themselves weren't all that bishie.

[Kudryavka]

Just saw a manga today with rather realistic character designs, intrigued me (though unfortunately the artist wasn't very good at portraying emotions).

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

Dragon ball (series) has some of the most diverse races ever, you have tiger people and aliens

What are you talking about? Not diversity in races, but the portrayal of people in anime.

An anime with realistic character designs would stand out like a sore thumb, lol. Some brilliant ones would even call it racist.

[ArrowSmith]

I used to wonder about how manga/anime characters are drawn with the large eyes and varied weird hair colors, but after watching enough anime I realized that they are very Japanese and Caucasians are depicted in racist terms.

[NoemiChan]

What's confusing in some animes is that some, portraits Japanese as blonde, black, with curly hair which obvious not a characteristic of a true Japanese person. Ex, Akagi of Slam Dunk and many similar charaters.

[ArrowSmith]

Originally Posted by genjichan

What's confusing in some animes is that some, portraits Japanese as blonde, black, with curly hair which obvious not a characteristic of a true Japanese person. Ex, Akagi of Slam Dunk and many similar charaters.

Never mind the hair color, it's the facial shape and body type that conforms to Japanese standards.

[NoemiChan]

Originally Posted by ArrowSmith

Never mind the hair color, it's the facial shape and body type that conforms to Japanese standards.

Does Akagi's flat top haircut, thick lips, black complexion, big muscles does mean anything?

[fanty]

Originally Posted by genjichan

Does Akagi's flat top haircut, thick lips, black complexion, big muscles does mean anything?

It means: cartoony exaggeration. Much too often, when people talk about anime, they forget that these are CARTOONS. You can make the whole cast green-skinned and purple-haired, and it will still work. Anime artists aim for distinct and aesthetically pleasing character designs, not for excruciating racial realism.

[Tempester]

Originally Posted by Kyuu

Go watch some Samurai/Ninja stuff like... Ninja Scroll. There's plenty of material out there that still depicts the Asian squinty-ness. :3

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Historical dramas often have more realistic facial designs than ones set in modern-day Japan. For example, both Hyouge Mono and Genji Mononogatari Sennenki portray characters that look "more Japanese" than is the norm in, say, a school comedy.

Don't forget that Urasawa Naoki's manga works, as well as the anime adapted from them, portray Japanese with very typical Mongoloid physical features. He doesn't spare the Japanese with generic art styles as do many artists.

On the flip side, there are many manga/anime artists who portray foreigners with the exact same art style as the Japanese characters. Often they just do a color palette change to give their characters stereotypical 'foreign' features to distinguish them (blonde hair + blue eyes, dark skin, et cetera).