Anime and manga hold an interesting place in art design in that they are drawn different enough from real humans that the viewer is able to superimpose their own ideas of "ideal human" onto them. If you've ever seen that picture that demonstrates how anime faces are basically drawn like cats, that touches on the point. Then you add in that wildly colored hair like blue and pink is commonplace in anime and manga because it's an easy way to differentiate different characters. Animators and artists often need to crank out lots of panels or animation sequences quickly, so character details tend to be glossed over, which makes some of the characters look the same (looking at you Hiro Mashima). One way to very easily and efficiently contrast characters is with hairstyle and color. So otherworldly and fantastical styles and colors are used. But this just helps break the character away from what you see as a typical real human. The effect of this is interesting in that Japanese people see anime characters as Japanese. Americans see them as Americans, Germans see them as Germans, and so on. Unless it's a really grounded anime or manga that is actually trying to portray the real world, like having all of the Japanese high school students have black hair and very similar eyes and faces, maybe only differentiating them by how they customize their school uniform if they're even allowed to.
But the point is that anime and manga illustrators do in fact draw characters to look like white people on purpose. Except to them they don't look like white people. The large round eyes, the light skin, frequently having blonde or red hair, etc are all actually a lot more common in white countries than they would be in Japan, and in fact would be genetically unnatural in Japan. But the fact that this makes them look like Western Europeans or Americans is true, but almost accidental. They're drawn that way because it's faster, and much easier for the viewer to differentiate between different characters when other details are lacking. To the Japanese viewer, they don't look American or Western European at all. As an American, it does boggle my mind how they can see a tall pale skinned large breasted woman with long blonde hair and large round blue eyes as a Japanese person, but apparently when asked, Japanese manga and anime fans do indeed see them as Japanese. And it is their art, they can draw it however they want.
It is interesting that they almost never draw actual black characters though.
Its what i think too. Beauty is OBJECTIVE. You mention kittens. All girls have a fox or cat as a spirit animal. Not a hippo or pig. Fox and cats are seen as pretty, feminine and cute. Only people who find hippos and pigs beautiful are mental and fringe.
I dunno, kids can think hippos are pretty rad until adults start reshaping their opinions.
I remember having to chill for the better part of an hour by the hippo's enclosure at the Detroit Zoo when my kids were little, because they just couldn't get enough of her.
And all the things humans brag up about themselves re: cleverness, resilience, and ability to eat anything, well, those qualities are very much shared by swine ...
Anime and manga hold an interesting place in art design in that they are drawn different enough from real humans that the viewer is able to superimpose their own ideas of "ideal human" onto them. If you've ever seen that picture that demonstrates how anime faces are basically drawn like cats, that touches on the point. Then you add in that wildly colored hair like blue and pink is commonplace in anime and manga because it's an easy way to differentiate different characters. Animators and artists often need to crank out lots of panels or animation sequences quickly, so character details tend to be glossed over, which makes some of the characters look the same (looking at you Hiro Mashima). One way to very easily and efficiently contrast characters is with hairstyle and color. So otherworldly and fantastical styles and colors are used. But this just helps break the character away from what you see as a typical real human. The effect of this is interesting in that Japanese people see anime characters as Japanese. Americans see them as Americans, Germans see them as Germans, and so on. Unless it's a really grounded anime or manga that is actually trying to portray the real world, like having all of the Japanese high school students have black hair and very similar eyes and faces, maybe only differentiating them by how they customize their school uniform if they're even allowed to.
But the point is that anime and manga illustrators do in fact draw characters to look like white people on purpose. Except to them they don't look like white people. The large round eyes, the light skin, frequently having blonde or red hair, etc are all actually a lot more common in white countries than they would be in Japan, and in fact would be genetically unnatural in Japan. But the fact that this makes them look like Western Europeans or Americans is true, but almost accidental. They're drawn that way because it's faster, and much easier for the viewer to differentiate between different characters when other details are lacking. To the Japanese viewer, they don't look American or Western European at all. As an American, it does boggle my mind how they can see a tall pale skinned large breasted woman with long blonde hair and large round blue eyes as a Japanese person, but apparently when asked, Japanese manga and anime fans do indeed see them as Japanese. And it is their art, they can draw it however they want.
It is interesting that they almost never draw actual black characters though.
Its what i think too. Beauty is OBJECTIVE. You mention kittens. All girls have a fox or cat as a spirit animal. Not a hippo or pig. Fox and cats are seen as pretty, feminine and cute. Only people who find hippos and pigs beautiful are mental and fringe.
I dunno, kids can think hippos are pretty rad until adults start reshaping their opinions.
I remember having to chill for the better part of an hour by the hippo's enclosure at the Detroit Zoo when my kids were little, because they just couldn't get enough of her.
And all the things humans brag up about themselves re: cleverness, resilience, and ability to eat anything, well, those qualities are very much shared by swine ...