Why do so many anime characters have blond hair?

DragonSJG · Aug 3, 2020

I know anime is made for a Japanese audience and thus, these characters are written as japanese. However, something I've been wondering for a while, like in anime like DBZ, Naruto, Sailor Moon and many more, why are so many of these characters blonde? I know anime characters have like hair not found in real life, so is it reflective of that or something?

Imperfected · Aug 3, 2020

Your question isn't, "Why do so many anime characters have white/blue/green/purple hair"? That's usually where people go with this.

It's because most manga artists learn to draw faces in a very narrow range of styles, so to differentiate similar character designs they use different hair styles and colors. The more same-y the faces they draw, the more outlandish they have to be with hairstyles/colors.

nsilvias · Aug 3, 2020

its because they are either gyaru, are rich, foreign, or just naturally blonde or dye their hair blonde

Mobu · Aug 3, 2020

It comes from manga and they do it in manga to save on ink

Alastor3 · Aug 3, 2020

because most of asian have brown/dark hair

Vern · Aug 3, 2020

I've never watched sailor moon, dbz, or naruto... but are they really supposed to be Japanese? Isn't it all, at best, like a fantasy version of Japan? I'd like to think their is a distinction. In fantasy world of Japan there are lots of blonde people.

Lulu · Aug 3, 2020

Cause manga, mostly

TiC · Aug 3, 2020

Vern said:
I've never watched sailor moon, dbz, or naruto... but are they really supposed to be Japanese? Isn't it all, at best, like a fantasy version of Japan? I'd like to think their is a distinction. In fantasy world of Japan there are lots of blonde people.

Sailor Moon takes place in Japan.
Dragon Ball and Naruto are in fictional worlds.

anamika · Aug 3, 2020

Racism. White, blonde, blue eyed characters with Caucasian features is the norm in anime/manga because of an idealization of white people.

Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court

In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Like this is how Naomi Osaka was drawn for example...

Rutger · Aug 3, 2020

In the case of Super Saiyans in DB, it's because Toriyama got tired of always having to ink in Goku's hair.

BlackGoku03 · Aug 3, 2020

anamika said:
Racism. White, blonde, blue eyed characters with Caucasian features is the norm in anime/manga because of an idealization of white people.

Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court

In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Like this is how Naomi Osaka was drawn for example...

Damn. Didn't know they did her dirty like that.

Vern · Aug 3, 2020

TiC said:
Sailor Moon takes place in Japan.
Dragon Ball and Naruto are in fictional worlds.

Sure, but it's not Japan, it's "Japan" ... I mean, aren't they like school girls that chase chaos emeralds and shit? It's fantasy. Their hair can be any color. Maybe I didn't make my point clear? If it was supposed to be a real representation of Japan then maybe the hair color matters, but it's some outlandish version of it from the few pics I've seen from any of these animes. Again, haven't watched them.

Benzychenz · Aug 3, 2020

Idolisation of a Eurocentric idea of beauty.

DragonSJG · Aug 3, 2020

Anyone know about the term mukokuseki? I heard that Japanese people see them as Japanese, not white

brinstar · Aug 4, 2020

In order to make them stand out

RiOrius · Aug 4, 2020

Vern said:
Sure, but it's not Japan, it's "Japan" ... I mean, aren't they like school girls that chase chaos emeralds and shit? It's fantasy. Their hair can be any color. Maybe I didn't make my point clear? If it was supposed to be a real representation of Japan then maybe the hair color matters, but it's some outlandish version of it from the few pics I've seen from any of these animes. Again, haven't watched them.

Okay, but why hair? Why is it so common for anime characters, even those set in actual normal-ass Japan, to have strangely colored hair, and yet not have, say, elf ears or third eyes or random other fantasy features? Like, if your argument is "because fantasy," there's a lot of stuff that that would explain that we don't see nearly so often, so... clearly there's something more going on.

And while I think there is something to be said for the eurocentric idealization, I do think there's something to be said for "because faces are hard." Wildly different hair colors are an easy and obvious way to distinguish characters. And this also explains why there are so many anime characters with blue hair, purple hair, white hair, etc. Honestly I find it super convenient. I'm terrible with faces.

Ashdroid · Aug 4, 2020

anamika said:
Racism. White, blonde, blue eyed characters with Caucasian features is the norm in anime/manga because of an idealization of white people.

Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court

In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Like this is how Naomi Osaka was drawn for example...

that image feels like it takes "I don't even see color" to a whole new level

Khrno · Aug 4, 2020

Because they are all super saiyajin obviously.

The ones with blue hair are god level.

TigerBrownie · Aug 4, 2020

Well in manga which is typically black/white some authors use blonde hair because it's easier to draw (it's white so they don't have to colour it in). Akira Toriyama said one of the reasons he made the super saiyan transformation blonde was so that they didn't need to colour it in like black/dark hair.

Deleted member 4532 · Aug 4, 2020

anamika said:
Racism. White, blonde, blue eyed characters with Caucasian features is the norm in anime/manga because of an idealization of white people.

Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court

In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Like this is how Naomi Osaka was drawn for example...

Bout time someone said it. And wtf at that image.

Vern · Aug 4, 2020

RiOrius said:
Okay, but why hair? Why is it so common for anime characters, even those set in actual normal-ass Japan, to have strangely colored hair, and yet not have, say, elf ears or third eyes or random other fantasy features? Like, if your argument is "because fantasy," there's a lot of stuff that that would explain that we don't see nearly so often, so... clearly there's something more going on.

And while I think there is something to be said for the eurocentric idealization, I do think there's something to be said for "because faces are hard." Wildly different hair colors are an easy and obvious way to distinguish characters. And this also explains why there are so many anime characters with blue hair, purple hair, white hair, etc. Honestly I find it super convenient. I'm terrible with faces.

I don't know man. The last anime I watched was Crying Freeman when I was like 13 years old. I seem to remember everyone had black hair, and the assassin cried when he killed people. It seemed to be set in a "realistic" version of Japan, so the hair was normal? I'm no expert.

rusty chrome · Aug 4, 2020

Obsession with white blonde people just like Hollywood, probably?

KoopaTheCasual · Aug 4, 2020

Benzychenz said:
Idolisation of a Eurocentric idea of beauty.

anamika said:
Racism. White, blonde, blue eyed characters with Caucasian features is the norm in anime/manga because of an idealization of white people.

Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court

In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Like this is how Naomi Osaka was drawn for example...

These threads always get super uncomfortable, because fans don't want to talk about the obvious euro-centric racism that's become normalized as "stateless" in Japanese media.

While there's an argument for some of it (Toriyama admitted to being lazy with Super Saiyan), a lot of it is just fucked up beauty standards.

CoolestSpot · Aug 4, 2020

Cause they have history of thinking that's the ideal.

Mahonay · Aug 4, 2020

anamika said:
Racism. White, blonde, blue eyed characters with Caucasian features is the norm in anime/manga because of an idealization of white people.

Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court

In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Like this is how Naomi Osaka was drawn for example...

That's fucked

CoolestSpot · Aug 4, 2020

Let's also bring in the concept in anime that the hero has to work hard and train to get where they are, to make the idea of struggle to success still something worth reaching for, but instilling it still has to be in your blood and class that some are just "born better" that's in a bunch of Shonen.

Moose the Fattest Cat · Aug 4, 2020

anamika said:
Racism. White, blonde, blue eyed characters with Caucasian features is the norm in anime/manga because of an idealization of white people.

Whitewashing racial bias: The ball's in Japan's court

In what felt something like a case of deja vu from last year's Masatoshi Hamada blackface fiasco, Japan welcomed in 2019 with yet another racially insensitive controversy, this time in the form of an ad from food company Nissin.

www.japantimes.co.jp

Like this is how Naomi Osaka was drawn for example...

Thank you! Correct answer was in the top 10 but it was close there for a minute. Good example.

Also, it's why all anime fans -- and fans of anything that are also fans of not living in Nazi states -- should be aware of its prevalence basically everywhere, in both malignant and benign forms.

This thread is ongoing -- https://www.resetera.com/threads/an...t-right-neo-nazis-in-the-anime-fandom.260391/

DragonSJG · Aug 4, 2020

KoopaTheCasual said:
These threads always get super uncomfortable, because fans don't want to talk about the obvious euro-centric racism that's become normalized as "stateless" in Japanese media.

While there's an argument for some of it (Toriyama admitted to being lazy with Super Saiyan), a lot of it is just fucked up beauty standards.

Can you elaborate on the stateless part? I also read that to the Japanese, they see the characters as japanese
but that commercials so f*cked

Deleted member 2761 · Aug 4, 2020

Asians have access to hair dye you goddamn weebs.

Hattoto · Aug 4, 2020

Might have to wonder: if Western culture weren't dominant or if Japan didn't westernize in the Meiji period, would the Japanese still be depicting fictionalized versions of themselves as such?

gully state · Aug 4, 2020

Repeat after me...East Asian ideals of beauty are not Eurocentric.. you actually think we have yellow skin?

lupinko · Aug 4, 2020

Imperfected said:
Your question isn't, "Why do so many anime characters have white/blue/green/purple hair"? That's usually where people go with this.

It's because most manga artists learn to draw faces in a very narrow range of styles, so to differentiate similar character designs they use different hair styles and colors. The more same-y the faces they draw, the more outlandish they have to be with hairstyles/colors.

One and done.

DragonSJG · Aug 4, 2020

gully state said:
Repeat after me...East Asian ideals of beauty are not Eurocentric.. you actually think we have yellow skin?

Read the article posted above

RestEerie · Aug 4, 2020

because akira toriyama is too lazy to ink goku's black hair.

gully state · Aug 4, 2020

DragonSJG said:
Read the article posted above

Learn some actual history about East Asian beauty standards...It's not to emulate white people.

RestEerie · Aug 4, 2020

DragonSJG said:
Read the article posted above

china's never been 'colonized' by the west (not in the traditional sense) and they prefers 'fairer' skin as well.

It's not 'western-envy'. It's more of 'class' based envyness.

In china and countries with majority ethnic chinese (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore basically), the fairer skin a person is, the more supposed 'higher class' is..the thinking because a tanned/darker person works in the field/out in the sun and thus from the 'lower' class. That's why many chinese, especially the ladies, are obsessed with fairer whiter skin. Nothing to do with 'western-centric' sensibilities and thinking and racial bias and preferences. i can't speak for japanese (& Koreans) but i reckoned they got something similiar in terms of skin-tone preferences, not due to 'race', but due to 'class'.

Contrary to popular believes, the world doesn't starts and ends with 'western' perspectives

P.S. Am chinese myself.

gully state said:
Learn some actual history about East Asian beauty standards...It's not to emulate white people.

Yes. Agree. And i speak of this as a chinese.

DragonSJG · Aug 4, 2020

gully state said:
Learn some actual history about East Asian beauty standards...It's not to emulate white people.

the article actually goes into detail on this
give it a read and let me know what you think

Lunar Wolf · Aug 4, 2020

TiC said:
Sailor Moon takes place in Japan.
Dragon Ball and Naruto are in fictional worlds.

Vern said:
I've never watched sailor moon, dbz, or naruto... but are they really supposed to be Japanese? Isn't it all, at best, like a fantasy version of Japan? I'd like to think their is a distinction. In fantasy world of Japan there are lots of blonde people.

In Naruto's case, the author's said that the Naruto world is meant to be racially diverse despite everyone having Japanese names and cultural customs. According to him, Naruto & Sakura are Caucasian while Hinata and Sasuke are Asian.

And then there's most of the Cloud Village who are obviously meant to be black.

DragonSJG · Aug 4, 2020

Lunar Wolf said:
In Naruto's case, the author's said that the Naruto world is meant to be racially diverse despite everyone having Japanese names and cultural customs. According to him, Naruto & Sakura are Caucasian while Hinata and Sasuke are Asian.

And then there's most of the Cloud Village who are obviously meant to be black.

Link?

Kalentan · Aug 4, 2020

Lunar Wolf said:
In Naruto's case, the author's said that the Naruto world is meant to be racially diverse despite everyone having Japanese names and cultural customs. According to him, Naruto & Sakura are Caucasian while Hinata and Sasuke are Asian.

And then there's most of the Cloud Village who are obviously meant to be black.

Yeah gotta ask... link?

Chaos2Frozen · Aug 4, 2020

This topic comes up once in a while and it's as silly as when people confidently claim all Anime characters are base on white people because they have big eyes and white skin.

Lunar Wolf · Aug 4, 2020

Kalentan said:
Yeah gotta ask... link?

DragonSJG said:
Link?

He's given two quotes on it. I can't find the other one but here's one where he commented on what race should play what for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura:

Shonen Jump: If an American Naruto live-action film ever got made, who do you see playing Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke?

KM: Naruto has blue eyes and blond hair, so any child actor in America could play him. Sasuke would be someone Japanese-American, and Sakura, someone European. I'm not all that familiar with the names of child actors. I only remember Dakota Fanning... [laughs] I love movies and know actors' faces, but not the names

It's from one of his many interviews.

Delicate Genius · Aug 4, 2020

They prefer facial features that happen to mostly be exclusive to one particular race.

Furthermore, even if they think they're 'Japanese' characters, that doesn't change how the characters actually look.

gully state · Aug 4, 2020

DragonSJG said:
the article actually goes into detail on this
give it a read and let me know what you think

.

RestEerie said:
china's never been 'colonized' by the west (not in the traditional sense) and they prefers 'fairer' skin as well.

It's not 'western-envy'. It's more of 'class' based envyness.

In china and countries with majority ethnic chinese (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore basically), the fairer skin a person is, the more supposed 'higher class' is..the thinking because a tanned/darker person works in the field/out in the sun and thus from the 'lower' class. That's why many chinese, especially the ladies, are obsessed with fairer whiter skin. Nothing to do with 'western-centric' sensibilities and thinking and racial bias and preferences. i can't speak for japanese (& Koreans) but i reckoned they got something similiar in terms of skin-tone preferences, not due to 'race', but due to 'class'.

Contrary to popular belief, the world doesn't starts and ends with 'western' perspectives

Imperfected · Aug 4, 2020

Lunar Wolf said:
In Naruto's case, the author's said that the Naruto world is meant to be racially diverse despite everyone having Japanese names and cultural customs. According to him, Naruto & Sakura are Caucasian while Hinata and Sasuke are Asian.

And then there's most of the Cloud Village who are obviously meant to be black.

It's not quite as pronounced as One Piece's cast, but they're supposed to be relatively diverse, yeah.

Kalentan · Aug 4, 2020

Lunar Wolf said:
He's given two quotes on it. I can't find the other one but here's one where he commented on what race should play what for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura:

It's from one of his many interviews.

Ultimately kind of vague since you could assume he would assume that they would likely white wash them to an extent. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Chaos2Frozen · Aug 4, 2020

Delicate Genius said:
They prefer facial features that happen to mostly be exclusive to one particular race.

Furthermore, even if they think they're 'Japanese' characters, that doesn't change how the characters actually look.

Oh? How should Japanese characters look?

Lunar Wolf · Aug 4, 2020

Kalentan said:
Ultimately kind of vague since you could assume he would assume that they would likely white wash them to an extent. Maybe I'm reading it wrong.

Good point. It could be interpreted that way.

But at the very least, he sees Sasuke more soldily Asian than Naruto/Sakura even though it may be because he has a more typical Japanese look than Naruto & Sakura do.

Imperfected said:
It's not quite as pronounced as One Piece's cast, but they're supposed to be relatively diverse, yeah.

From what I remember, Luffy is meant to be Latino, Usopp is black, Zoro is Japanese while Nami, Sanji, Robin and Franky are white.

I can't remember Brook.

Imperfected · Aug 4, 2020

Lunar Wolf said:
From what I remember, Luffy is meant to be Latino, Usopp is black, Zoro is Japanese while Nami, Sanji, Robin and Franky are white.

I can't remember Brook.

I remember the mangaka actually getting somewhat specific with nationalities (Luffy was Brazilian, I think?), but that's more or less the gist, yeah.

Also Chopper is, of course, a reindeer.

KoopaTheCasual · Aug 4, 2020

DragonSJG said:
Can you elaborate on the stateless part? I also read that to the Japanese, they see the characters as japanese
but that commercials so f*cked

It's called Mukokuseki. It's the ultimate "I don't see color (but all the 'color-less' features are caucasian)" defense.

Also super weird that this thread is devolving into "the west never colonized China," talk, when this thread is explicitly about Japan's beauty standards

Edit: Like you cant tell someone to learn about East Asian beauty standards, and then lump the unique experience of Japan vs China into a neat little package.

Why do so many anime characters have blond hair?

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