In terms of racism as an insult i can't think of anything, as for stereotypes:

-Usopp from One Piece is what i assume to be black and has overly huge lips as do many black anime characters.
-Killer Bee in naruto is black and talks in Rap

I'll try and add more as i think of them but stereotypes are definitely out there. Not so much racism, but you have to remember that most japanese people have not been to america so the mangakas may use them to help represent where there from.

On another note, whay does it seem as if all main heros are western looking, but their master, and or trainers, and the old strong people, are all asian looking. Master roshi - DBZ, 3rd Hokage - Naruto, Captain Commander - Bleach, etc.

________________
...

As other people have pointed out (and you seem to have trouble grasping), my project and what I'm trying to do here is talk about VISUAL depictions of people. Not their names and their locations, because yes, obviously someone could grasp a person's race from those things. That's irrelevant though. This is also NOT just about white or non-white. This is about racial representation, as in all races. This is also about how Americans jump to conclusions about what they are seeing, even if it's not what the Japanese author intended. In the case of a manga taking place in a fictional or fantasy world, the characters could look like anything and have no race that corresponds to our world, or they could not incorporate the concept of race, or they could have races that do correspond to the ones in our world. It's totally possible to be void of race. I'd appreciate people who don't have productive ideas (you), to just keep their opinions to themselves because when you speak out of ignorance you make yourself look like a fool. And seriously now? There's no need to project your jealousy about not being in a top university onto me with your mean (and stupid) words. Normally I would ignore, but I'm a little offended so I'll just say this. There ARE two qualifications to get into a top school and they aren't what you said. They are 1) being smart, and 2) working hard.

I want to extend my deep, sincere gratitude to everyone else who aren't being ignorant bigots and have provided many helpful ideas and links. Thank you so much~

Oh, I thought of one. That side character rich kid from Austria in Gokusen. He's booksmart but not very bright, very odd appearance and he says and does inappropriate things all the time because he believes everything the kids in his class teach him.

If you are taking a course on this, then your professor should have some suggestions on mangas to look at and some tips for you on how to research information on this topic without you needing to ask us. As a university student, you ought to know how to do research. Nevertheless, I will give you the benefit of the doubt here and assume that you are telling the truth about being a college student and aren't just a high school kid trying to get us to do your homework for you.

Depictions of race in [fill in the blank media type] is always an incredibly complex topic which changes over time and can't be spoken of in broad universalities. People write whole 200 page dissertations on topics like "depictions of race in 1960s Hollywood westerns" which limit the subject to a very specific time period and a very specific genre of movie. And they still manage to get 200 pages of material out of that subject. For a 6-10 page undergrad paper you're going to have to narrow your focus down way, way more than that.

For a start, check all the mangas here labeled with the "foreigners" tag and start looking at the associated tags those mangas have (racism, interracial romances, etc.). You might find something of interest that way. And as an aside:



I agree with both mogicks and imp4ever. It's only natural, without context, for the viewer to think the race of the animated characters they are watching matches their own. Even with context, viewers often like to identify with the characters they are reading about and will project their own identities/values onto the characters.

For that reason, it's not clear, despite your assertion, that the typical manga character appears white. If the characters appear white to you, then it's a matter of you projecting your own racial identity onto them, and not necessarily what every reader across continents would think. A Japanese person reading the same manga certainly wouldn't think s/he was looking at white characters, and neither would a person from Korea (for example). By the same token, a person reading the same manga from somewhere far out of Japan (like Argentina or Norway) might very well think the characters resemble their own countrymen/women. It is all relative.

Ai Kora had some stereotypical American representations (white ones) - they had a chapter where there was an American transfer student and her supposed boyfriend. Cowboy boots and everything.

Gangsta is the only one I can think of right now that had a black character and one manga that has not been mentioned yet. Air Gear also featured Obama in some of its Chapters... but from what I remember it wasn't really racist or stereotypical....

________________
The world would be a bleak place without manga.

So, you think that hitting up a forum is the only research I'm doing? Since this is an incredibly large research project (worth 80% of my grade), I'm doing everything I can to try to get a broad scope. I'd hate to be one of those people who writes a paper having only experienced a small sample of the material they are referencing. So even though I'm a manga fan, and have read probably over a thousand titles myself, manga is a multi-billion dollar industry and I can't even begin to fathom the number of titles out there. Especially because the kinds of titles I read are mostly a limited genre of shoujo and some seinen, I thought it would be useful to ask other manga readers for examples they are familiar with that I am not. This is not to say I haven't gotten suggestions from my professor or read numerous articles and scholarly papers. This is part of the research process. Don't knock it until you try it. I guess I appreciate your attempts at advice on my topic but that's not what I'm asking for here. My focus is constantly shifting and evolving. I know how to write a paper but...I'm not writing a paper! I'm making a digital essay meant to be equivalent of 20 pages. That's why I'm asking for images or series that I could go get images from (oh my, doing work on my own). But...thanks?



Yea, I agree. But I'm American, I'm coming at this from an American standpoint, writing it for an American audience, and looking at the American response first and foremost. So, yes, it is relative, but not so much in my project.

Ah, I thought of a possible example. In Eureka 7 (I watched the anime, can't really pledge for the manga), there's a character named Matthieu with dark skin, visible lips, an afro, and he wears some kind of sports jersey. It takes place in a fantasy setting with no named ethnicities, and overall has a pretty diverse looking cast, but however I look at it I can guarantee your average American would assume he's Black.

Or perhaps the three orphan children in the show would be a better example. Maeter, Linck, and Maurice. Each one matches stereotypical physical traits from White (pale, blonde hair, blue-green eyes), Black (though he could be any number of things, really) and Asian (pale, black hair, dark narrow eyes) races respectively.

Not particularly racist, but since the topic is about making assumptions based on physical appearance...

Try Excel Saga for multiple races, although it deliberately satirizes stereotypes.

The current issues of Until Death Do Us Part involve a group of assassins from Africa, as well as killers from many countries.

Beck has a lot of characters of several races since it's about the rock music scene and bands go on tour. It's also interesting in its expression of what the mangaka at least believes are American (or foreigner in general) stereotypes about Japanese people. It also has some returnee main characters. People of 100% Japanese descent, born and raised in America, now living in Japan. They are assertive, rude, fearless, can't read kanji or speak proper Japanese, and every fifth English word out of their mouths is obscene . It could be an interesting nature vs nurture aspect to stereotypes for your paper.

I also agree with One Outs and Eyeshield 21, although, again, Eyeshield is satirical.

Black Lagoon. Mercenaries from all over the world.

Don't forget Fake. It's actually set in New York, and almost all of the characters are Americans, either white or African Americans, often from the lower classes. It's also yaoi, which gives some variety to my mostly shonen suggestions.

Good Luck!
btw, I once wrote a seminar paper on the evolution of the romance novel heroine over the previous 30 years. It got me into graduate school!

Most of the time there is a context. Even thought the manga art styles doesn't give the ethnicity of the characters most of the time there isn't most to arguing almost of them are, for sure, asian. They have asian names, the streets have asian names and they have asian culture (mainly japanese). Exemple:. The yōkai on Inuyasha, when characters walk barefoot inside the house, the temples, etc, etc, etc.
If you ask any mangaka they will tell you for sure their characters are Japanese there is little exceptions.

Exceptions exemples:. Monters and Ristorante Paradiso in Roma.



________________
Why protect them? Why miss them? Why love them?

Wooww
you learn abput Manga ?
So cool~

Hajime no Ippo has a boxing match against an American soldier where they actually do diagrams explaining how Black people are naturally superior at boxing. I found it kind of offensive, but I probably was overeacting. There is also a graphic prison yaoi manga called Under the Grand Hotel with a Black main character with dreadlocks. Kayono has a manga called Royal Seventeen where the main character's best friend is a Black girl (and it is a surprisingly realistic physical portrayal).

________________
http://shoujomaniac.free.fr/forum/?u=75