So once again its that time of the year. No. Sadly its not Hideo Kajima Day. Its Black History Month! Well it was when I wrote this. Yay! What? Not what you were expecting? Oh. Sad day…
I want you to take a moment. I mean, take a real moment and think about the last black character you saw in an anime. Now try and think of the last black main character you remember in an anime series. What did you come up with? If you named Mr. Popo at all you lose points. All of them actually. I could only come up with Dutch from Black Lagoon and from Claudia Grant from the Robotech series. As someone who has been watching anime for the better part twenty years, I must say that that is a depressing number. Especially when you consider that there are just as many minority, or more specifically, black Otaku’s roaming about.
Now I know what you’re saying. “But P-Chan its Japanese anime. Its based in a country where there are very few African Americans or blacks period. So how can you complain about a lack of them?” Well, it would be a lot like if I were to make a movie based in Brazil but then have a single or no Brazilian’s in the film. My problem comes about when American society is portrayed with only blonde haired blue eyed Caucasians and zero minorities. So, with a collective American demographic composed of let’s say, Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian American, why are blacks unrepresented or misrepresented? Its not merely in anime but in gaming and media in general. Here, same test, different media. Think of the last black protagonist in a game. If you thought of more than four, you did better than I did. I could only come up with Carl “CJ” Johnson from Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Barret from Final Fantasy 7. You have a gang member and a stereotypical Mr. T wanna be. That’s not a whole lot of personality for, what makes up 12.4% of the American population. Why? Why is such a large consumer group all but ignored in such large media groups?
As someone who has been into all kinds of so called “nerd” media, I have had ample time to look for those with like complexion in my daily doses of entertainment. Marvel Comics Group has been one of the best when it comes to racial diversity. I remember the first time I read a Black Panther comic book. A black king in Africa who is as smart as Reed Richards and as skilled as Captain America? Awesome! Even Wesley Snipes as Blade, a vampire hunter who is part human part vampire, was a strong main protagonist who kicks more ass than Toby Maguire and Hugh Jackman combined. I can’t tell you how great it was to black characters not supporting a white man as comic relief or spouting random token epitaphs. So why hasn’t anime caught up? One could make the argument that there aren’t that many Caucasian American’s in anime but you would simply not be looking hard enough. Anime is in dire need of catching up with times. What with, African American’s struggling to find appropriate cosplay options or some common ground with the characters they love, something will eventually have to give. How can the black community continue supporting an industry that discounts us or simply forgets about us? The answer is because of a love for the art and the understanding that time does eventually change.
All I ask is, that next time you sit down to play a video game or watch an anime see just how many minority faces you see. Then ask yourself if I’m just being too paranoid for my own good. I believe you will find that I may have a point.
Comments 10
What, no Afro Samurai?
afro samurai….
MARVEL?
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– Luke Cage – ex-con says “yes sir!” to blonde hair blue eyed Iron Fist/Danny Rand
– Cloak and Dagger? – drug with strange speech unless saved by blonde blue eyed Dagger
– Black Captain America – says “yes sir!” to blonde blue eyed Captain America/Steve Rogers
– Falcon – says “yes sir!” to blonde blue eyed Captain America/Steve Rogers
– Sunspot/Robbie DaCosta – melanin angry man says “yes sir!” by long flowing white hair Gideon
– Storm – straight white hair blue eyed small nose theif until saved by the white X-men
– Maggot – straight white hair and sunglasses, can turn skin blue if that ‘s still too black
– Bishop – angry killing black man being saved by the white X-men
– Robbie of Daily Bugle – white haired negro says “yes sir!” to J Jonah Jamenson
– Robbie of Daily Bugle’s son – white blonde blue eyed girlfriend
– the black computer wiz kid of Runaways… SURPRISE! HE’S A BAD GUY! written out of series
– Black Iron Man – Keep the mask on, nigga and say “yes sir!” to the white man
– Tombstone – di bleacha teacha
– Black Panther – keep the mask on nigga!
– Prowl – keep the mask on nigga!
– Deathlok – zombie white skin with no nosejob or lips and white hair… and half cyborg face if that’s even too black
– Deadpool – “battle rapping” zombie with no skin, nose or lips… and keep the mask on, nigga, if that’s still too black
– SPAWN (IMAGE) – zombie with no skin, nose or lips and green eyes… and keep the mask on, nigga, if that’s still too black
– 12 different Supermen (dog, girl, woman, boy, etc.) none have masks… except the nigga
– Milestone? look up Alonzo Washington… and get outta town before sundown, niggas
– Kingpin and Harvey Dent villains can be niggas in the movies
– Sync – just focus on the rainbow, nigga
– M – talks funny and zones out with that nice straight hair
– that force field X-Men doctor – keep the force field on, nigga!
– some Stevie X-Men NPC doctor – nice orange hair, nigga!
– Firestorm – if he’s always in flames and the melenin can look like shadows, let that nigga suffer peacefully
– can’t speak on black Green Lantern, Green Lantern is just gay in general and don’t know much about it
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read manga instead (at least they can say they just don’t know, ask the OG’s, they been on this for years and Marvel just don’t give a shit about compliaining niggas), trust, or if you wanna support your own, visit http://blacksuperhero.com forums and support the independants
– Gateway – nice savage tribeal nigga… don’t let him speak at all
– Marvel’s Ancient Egypt – all white pharoah’s (black education started after slavery, niggas)
– Blade – scary bloodlust nigga
ps. nice white girl wifey, Luke Cage!
– on top of that, Luke Cage and his masta blonde/blue eyed Iron Fist, were called Heroes for Hire. brought to my attention by http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqfigC04YbM , he would only be a hero if you paid him because he was a nigga. Nobody needed to pay Superman, nobody needed to pay Hulk, but yeah, teach the children niggas will only save the day if you pay them.
– depicts Adam, representative of the first man with blonde hair when Leviticus 13:3 states the Israelites out of Egypt had black hair
– depicts Warren Worrthington III aka Angel with a halo and feather wings, with blonde hair and blue eyes when Leviticus 13:3 states the Israelites out of Egypt had black hair
– Sunspot/Robbie DaCosta – melanin angry man says “yes maam!” to blonde blue eyed leader Illyanna Rasputen
– Marvel’s Ancient Egypt – the sphinx is a time travelling space ship with a white man as Pharoah (Lord knows we can’t teach the children the black man had mathmatics, astrology, art, written language, in 3000 BC instead of only recieving education and civillized society from master after slavery ended)… shiet, if Africa grew un-interupted, they’d probably be one of the most crime free, polite, paper walled, technologically advanced coutries like Asia (the only continent that never been colonized by the white man)
can’t forget about our brown (as in indian/pakistani) friends
– in like 2005 or something, the FIRST EVER brown character in a western comic i ever seen. a female evil scientist… REPRESENT FOR THE BROWN FEMALES!… um… oh, she makes a joke about being ugly. yeah, great job teaching the children only blonde is beautiful. Marvel, DC.
Previously stated before…
of the 12 Supermen (Superman, boy, girl, dog, bizarro, etc.), ONLY ONE has a fully body costume including eyes covered up. Who? The black Superman.
just realized a new one. There’s like 5 Supergirls. The main blonde/blue eyes Supergirl, and 4 more who are like Superman’s daughters from the future or something.
Of all 5 Supergirls, ONLY ONE of them have a full body costume (including eyes covered up). Which one has a full body costume? Who? The black Supergirl.’
fuck this sh*t.
Search Youtube for “JA Cosplayaz”. Support manga instead.
look up an artist named “Mshindo Kuumba”, trust f’real.
if you like, do a serach for ONYX con, ECBAAC, Black Age Comic Convention and support
[quote]
– Marvel’s Ancient Egypt – all white pharoah’s (black education started after slavery, Brothas)
– Marvel’s sphinx is a time travelling space ship with a white man as Pharoah (Lord knows we can’t teach the children the black man had mathmatics, astrology, art, written language, in 3000 BC instead of only recieving education and civillized society from master after slavery ended) and the white man time traveller taught Egypt math, astrology, art and written language[/quote]
– Marvel’s Ancient Egypt – all white pharoah’s (black education started after slavery, niggas)
—— let’s not forget what else Marvel teaches “your little girls”… of all of ancient Egypt, the middle east, all of Africa, and anywhere else the white Pharoah of ancient Egypt can find a woman, he chooses to love the literally blonde, literal blue eyed Mrs. Fantasic of the Fantastic 4
—— time to go buy your daughters some conk and hair bleach?
here’s a couple more
– DP7 – this black character’s power is moving super speed, but he’s alway vibrating so he’s just drawn as a blur so the quota filler isn’t too black
– Alpha Flight, there’s this little black child girl, her power is she turn into a demon to teach the children that black girls are demons, and also she’s not too black too when just drawn as a demon
—– “they use the press to make it appear that the area they are about to invade is filled with savage, or filled with people that are going berserk…” – Malcolm X – Oxford Debate (Dec. 3, 1964) ————-