LogFAQs > #906908223

A_Good_Boy posted...

Wutobliteration posted...

because otherwise, black characters will look like this

https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/bleach/images/4/43/Bleach-yoruichi.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20081009214217&path-prefix=en

and people hardly think of these characters as african at all

I remember years ago, when people still liked Bleach, the nerds would always debate over whether Yoruichi was really black or not. I guess because an attractive black waifu was taboo back then, so everyone was obligated to pretend as if she was deeply tanned or just a ganguro girl.

That anime avatar racism is real insidious when you're viewing it from the inside.

tanned asians are a thing FYI. I live in Asia so I know exactly wtf I'm talking about. But tanned asians is unlikely, given their skin will turn more orangey instead. Apart from that possibility, there's also mixed races such as Chinese and Malay, Indian or some other East-South Asian mix descent. Many races in South East Asia especially have the skin color of between black and pale eg. Indonesian, Thai, Filipino. If anything, Yoruichi could be of those races instead.

Even as @Kickflip pointed out for The Boondocks, it's hard to actually portray a black person in cartoon/anime style correctly. Even for that show, the characters hardly look black. Change the MCs' hairstyle and you could easily confuse them for some asian or something.
The main defining trait for Africans are their lips and the problem is, anime characters don't usually have their full lips drawn.