Balck people in anime.....

[Dog Pokemon Master]

Has anyone seen a black person as a main character in an anime. Btw I'm not being racist or anything because I'M black and I would just like to know.

[Razola]

Potentially interesting topic here...

I can't think of one off the top of my head though. I do feel that the design for black people is awful in some animes (like in anything Dragonball, what's with the lips?).

[Dog Pokemon Master]

yeah I'm glad there is'nt one in dragan bll z That would be totally awful

[classy_cat18]

There's a few in Cowboy Bebop, especially in the Mushroom Samba episode. There's also Mimiru in .hack//SIGN (she's black in the World, at least).

Sorry, you said main characters, didn't you? Not that I know of.

[Roarkiller]

Ive never heard of any. Sure, there's lots of characters who r at least decently dark-skinned, but none r main characters. Unless u wanna count Shishio since he IS tha main villian in the kyoto arc, but then he was fried black, does that count?

There's Shumira and Jashugan in Battle Angel Alita. And Suu in Love Hina, of course. There isnt really many blacks thats i know of in anime, actually.

[RedStarWarrior]

There are plenty of Asians representing in animé though! Eh, I always wondered where the black people are at...

[Mewtwo-D2]

Suu-chan is Indian though... actually, most dark-skinned people in anime are Indian. There are a few anime guides that attempt to explain why blacks are so under represented, and if it weren't so late, I'd attempt to quote them.

There's a black man in Allen's command in Escaflowne... Teo. He has a very minor role though, in the movie and the series. And in the Escaflowne manga, Dilandau, the main villian appears to be black. They may have been going for Indian, but who can tell without a color picture?

[Roarkiller]

Originally posted by Mewtwo-D2
Suu-chan is Indian though... actually, most dark-skinned people in anime are Indian. There are a few anime guides that attempt to explain why blacks are so under represented, and if it weren't so late, I'd attempt to quote them.

I dont think the explanation's THAT hard. American comics seldom include asians cuz asians r a minority in their society. Likewise, u'll be hard-pressed to find a dark-skinned person in japan.

I juz remembered that Blood: last vampire has a negro as one of the agents. And from my example of BAA, Alita/Gally's motorball trainer Ed's a black too. Tho its probable that his face is a machine made of black material, meh. Its hard to be racist when almost everyone's a cyborg.

[classy_cat18]

I just remembered! Two of the cyborgs in Cyborg 009 are black. In fact, one of them comes from South Africa.

[Laz-E-Boy]

Not many blacks I can think of, and I'm not surprised either. You won't find many blacks in Japan, so some artists wouldn't know what to do with a black character, or how to draw them (which would explain the ridiculous art in Dragonball)..

[Fai D. Flowright]

Originally posted by classy_cat18
There's also Mimiru in .hack//SIGN (she's black in the World, at least).

Excuse me, but Mimiru is NOT black. She doesn't even LOOK black. She has a medium tan, but I wouldn't go so far as to call her black.

On topic, when I think about it, I don't recall many black character in most of the animes I've seen. (exception: DB/DBZ) I will admit, it is kinda strange, seeing as how the US is so political about everything, that we don't actually add any in when we import and dub them, but I quess Laz-E-Boy's got a point. You don't really see to many black people in Japan. The few you may see there are most likely on business trips or vacations.

[internal dragon]

*Looks at the title* For someone who claimes to be black you sure don't know how to spell the word . Anyway Laz-E-Boy is right not many black people live in japan so the artists whouldn't know how to draw one, I mean my dad went to japan while he was in the marines and he got mad at all the funny looking black people on things like tea boxes and anime.

[The Muffin Man]

Actually, Brocks black I believe.

and Mimiru is not black. If this sounds racist, I apologize, but she doesn't really have any "black" physical qualities(ones seen in anime) such as dark skin and equally dark colored hair*Mimiru's is a deep reddish brown*.

Brock on the other hand has had a few stereotypically black qualities(the basketball jersey in the Indigo league) but at least he acts normal and doesn't act too stereotypical, so I guess he's also a positive portrayal beyond Mr.Popo :p


And Piccollo is SO black XD

[Laz-E-Boy]

Nah, Brock ain't black. He's more tanned if anything. There was actually a thread on whether Brock was black or not (I think it was on Serebii though) and I remember someone saying he was Taiwan or something. Sorry if I got it wrong, I just can't seem to remember what he was specifically.

[Roarkiller]

I find it interesting that almost all blacks in anime happen to have ridiculously thick lips and an 'O' mouth.

Btw, if Mimiru's black, what does that make Bear? A blue-black? 8)

[EngiMatikul]

Four Words: Stellvia of the Universe.

In Stellvia, one of the most major characters is a female black pilot, and she certainly plays an effective role in Stellvia. There is also the appearance of another black character later on but he is not as important. Stellvia, however, places a unique emphasis on humanity and unlike all the other anime you've watched which either portrays people with unhuman-type powers or degrades the human species as incompetent beings, Stellvia has an incredible way of bringing pride to yourself as a human, even if you see your world through a pessimistic eye. The black female character herself is a symbol of one in the unity of the whole human species.

As you can see, I just watched another episode of Stellvia. VERY good, and definately portrays a positive view of humanity.

[DEATHEYE]

Yes, I'm concerned about there being few blacks in anime too. To make it worse, the few blacks that are in anime have those big lips, and they're also being stereotyped as being all brawn and no brain. (EX: They're almost always boxer-type fighters)

There is, however, at least ONE anime with a black main character in it. It's called Nadia, and the main character's a black girl named, well, Nadia. I haven't seen much of this anime, but from what I've seen, it's about Nadia trying to find her home (she can't remember much about her past.) She meets this boy genius (the co-star) and ends up living with him for awhile (I think). The series also has a trio in it that, due to their incompetence, will very much remind you of Team Rocket. Nadia is generally a sweet girl that loves animals. In fact, I'm fairly certain that she's a vegetarian. I want to see more of this anime, especially since my brother has seen later episodes and he says that its good.

[NoPants McGee]

You're not talking about Nadia: Secret of the Blue Water, right? If so, go see Disney's Atlantis to get your stones off.

[Heald]

There are two black people in Dragonball: one in Z and one in GT (although his official appearance is at the end of Z)

In Z: Mr. Popo (who is too stereotypically black for anyone's liking...yuk)

In GT: Uub. He ain't stereotypical at all and he is by far the coolest character in Dragonball ever. It is a pity he only fights about once or twice 'cause he is dead cool. He is well nice and heroic outside of the battles but he isn't all ***** like Goku in a battle, Goku is like 'Oh no, I can't kill him because I'm too nice' whereas Uub is like 'OMG you're evil, you die! BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!'

...

Carry on.

[Mewtwo-D2]

Just remembered this, but in Macross and the mish-mash Robotech there's a young black lady serving as a navigator on the main ship. She's not a main character, but she's shown as being very intelligent, collected, and capable. Also, there's Pedro in Excel Saga... I'm not sure what he's supposed to be, but he, his son, and his Sexy Wife all appear to be black.