Y'know i keep telling myself I'll butt out of topics like these coz the replies are almost always a trip and a half but at the same times it's just really really funny
"Anime is fine as it is" We've got one big toe in the waters of diversity
"There's already lots of diverse characters" and more than a handful also fall into really negative tropes or racist stereotypes
"It's not anime/manga anymore if it features/looks like" manga and manwha are still comics we're just using different terms across languages (someone good at languages can elaborate if they want but when i did my digging it seems to boil down to just this)
"I don't like the use of 3D or AI" 1. most sane people hate generative images and the use of "ai" in general so it's still bound to die eventually or at least get less traction but that's a topic in and of itself 2. 3D in most cases is used as a tool and has been in anime for years (quickest example that comes to mind would be like the Love Live concerts or stage performances in the anime) so it's not really ruining anything and in most cases can help in the process of creating all those super cool wooshy dynamic anime things you like about anime
Also I'm really growing weary of the "anime/manga is sacred and adding or removing this or that taints this pure medium" mindset because who said this when and like idk proof? how? what do you mean, really? There's some mediums of storytelling or art that have very deep intrinsic cultural roots but animation in general has been around across the globe for a good long while so idk it's giving weird to me. A bit strange.
Getting to the point tho I think it'd be awesome to see more variety in terms of cultural representation in anime especially with respect to said groups (coz god knows doughnut lips as a trope has become so tired to me i could barf). Like it's adding flavor, it's opening a medium up to stories that haven't been explored that way but now they can and most of all it's interesting! It looks cool! It's fun!
Like i dunno what it is but i feel like people forget that it's just another avenue for telling stories. That's the point is telling a story and if adding folks who look a little different is so wrong it makes me question a person's worldview because why is that a bad thing? Like "it ruins the escapism" is literally such a red flag to me these days on the very topic because what are you trying to escape? What about the immersion is so violently destroyed by the presence of this person who looks different?
So like yeah cutting to the chase I think it'd be awesome but it'll likely take time before wider audiences become more accepting of the idea because /vague gestures to the commentary i've referenced/
