Since anime is from Japan then why don't anime characters look Japanese?

[ThunderChicken]

Very good discussion. I, too, have always wondered this. Not so much the big anime eyes, because cartoon. Moreso the different colours of hair and eyes. There is no way to say this without it sounding racist (but I assure you, racism is not my intent): The vast majority of Japanese, indeed most southeast Asian people, have straight black hair and brown eyes. I've read before that Japan has one of the most homogeneous populations of any civilised country. So why do most Japanese cartoons/comics feature characters with blond, brown, red, (and blue, pink, green, purple, etc) hair, and with blue, green, grey, amber, (and very often, mismatched) eyes?

My guess is this: Cartoons are meant to be colourful. We've all heard the story that the Simpsons were given yellow skin so that they'd stand out to a channel surfer, but what of Marge's blue hair? Their bright pink house (or orange, depending on season/episode), decorated in colours no sane person would ever use? Marge's bright green appliances? Their kitchen's orange cupboards with pink/purple doors? Homer's pink 1973 Valiant?

Because cartoons are supposed to be colourful, or more accurately, they are more compelling when colourful. Cartoons are also meant to be fantasy, and fantasy also looks better when brightly coloured. Voltron's coloured lions look cool, but in real life if such a robot existed the lions would likely all be the same colour (for a more congruent assembled robot). Also, "Blue lion, Red lion", etc, sounds better than "Lion #1, Lion #2" or "Left forearm lion, Torso lion", etc.

That's just my two cents though... And they're Canadian cents. Canada doesn't even have pennies anymore, so that says something for the value of my two cents...

[NickRowler]

The vast majority of Japanese, indeed most southeast Asian people, have straight black hair and brown eyes. I've read before that Japan has one of the most homogeneous populations of any civilised country. So why do most Japanese cartoons/comics feature characters with blond, brown, red, (and blue, pink, green, purple, etc) hair, and with blue, green, grey, amber, (and very often, mismatched) eyes?

While a lot of people in Japan may have straight black hair, that doesn't mean everyone does. There are people who have curly or wavy hair. Some people's hair might look more dark brown than "blue black". People also dye their hair and get perms.

I think another part of is that colors have a lot of meanings in Japanese culture. Characters with black hair are usually conservative and traditional. Characters with blonde hair are loud and hyper or for women, sexy. Characters with white hair are evil or sadistic.

[BoomerZ]

Another thing everyone seems to be missing is simply character design. Anime faces, as well as manga, are very similar to one another. The different color hair and styles allows them to be separated from one another. The large eyes are not just a style choice but a artistic choice as it allows more expression for animation. You push poses. A realistic face actually doesn't have much movement to it. Look at disney cartoons form the past. The Princes that save the princesses were always just boring characters. The fun characters were those cartoony styled ones. Manga goes one step beyond that and makes the super simple emotion faces, with barely any detail, in reactions.

This is not just a japanese thing, this is an art thing. Hence why in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the different turtles have different color masks. In the original comics they all had red masks. They changed it so you could recognize them if they didn't have their weapons close at hand. In super hero comics, the brightly colored outfits allow you to see who everyone is (the full masks allowed artist to not draw faces and speed production time.). This is another form of the black silhouette test of good comic/animation characters. Another way to tell characters apart.

[amberina2004]

Another reason that manga and anime have big eyes is because that Caucasian/Latino/African eyes are bigger than Asian eyes, not all Asain eyes are slanted, but they're small when compared to a Caucasian person, also countless of these characters are not 100% Asain, but they are racially ambiguous with them having big eyes, implausible face and body features and implausible eye and hair color. Manga and anime are not realistic, artists draw characters anyway they want, the world is their oyster.

[gibwerks]

That is fascinating. And it makes so much sense why the anime catgirl developed in the East but not the West. Westerners love cats too, and cute girls, but we never tried to model one after the other. As the Japanese did so, I figure it was only a matter of time before one day, the ears just got left in there.

[rmmanlapit2023]

Okay, this might indicate what generation I'm from, but I remember the term Japanese anime was first used for Astro boy. So, I guess the term just naturally evolved in anything "animated". And the blond hair and eye color was to depict character's uniqueness and not really the desire to look European, I believe. This is a great insightful documentary on who I call the three legends of Studio Ghibli and elegant Japanese Anime that played between narration and the imagination, paving the way of great works like my neighbor Totoro, ooohhh and Kiki's Delivery Service, man, I loved those.

This should be playing in streaming sites like sflix and HBO.