This might be a dumb question, but what race are anime characters supposed to be? Are they supposed to be an ambiguously post-racial mashup of European and Japanese?
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I still have a couple top recommendations tailored to you if you ever want to give it a go.
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No, life is too short. I only have 2nd Order interest since so many of you are into it. Kinda like football.
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Japanese. You’re not the first to ask. The fact that it is asked is, IMHO, as much a function of the enculturated way Westerners interpret racial signifiers as any idiosyncrasies of the anime style.
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I’m not a westerner but I get the idea. Anime hadn’t yet caught on in india when I was growing up there, so it’s always been alien to me.
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they're supposed to be Japanese, generally
like this guy
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If modern day setting, then location tells you what race. If England, most characters are white even if they look somewhat Japanese. If Japan, most are Japanese even with Caucasian-ish looks. If sci-fi/futuristic and characters have neutral names, then race doesn’t matter.
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osamu tezuka, considered anime's founding father, was heavily influenced by the disney art style and kinda set the trend for large eyed characters. also makes it easier & cheaper to depict emotion.
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Typically they are the Japanese people’s projections of themselves
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