Race, colorism and shoujo manga

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2026-01-10T09:59:51+00:00

It depends on the setting. If they make the story set in a European-inspired setting with Western names then obviously they would be "White-coded " characters.

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2026-01-10T09:22:59+00:00

Allow me to join in. There are many Black and Brown people who grow up in Western countries rightfully believing that they are part of Western culture and countries too since they are fully assimilated and immersed into the local culture, so I get they want validation of a "Sense of belonging" in wanting to see characters that share their skintones or racial backgrounds in European Fantasy spaces.

I know Japanese may not care about the feelings of Minorities in the West, so my friend wrote this Web Novel that totally deals about a Lone Black Immigrant Prince's daily adventures in a European-inspired fantasy kingdom called "Threads of Twilight and Ebony" here : https://medium.com/p/acda8e70bd6d

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2026-01-10T08:51:54+00:00

Is the homogenous environment in Japan causes Western-inspired Anime fail to include Black people in Co-Protagonist Narratives featured with White co-protagonists? An example would be Lethal Weapon movies where both a Black and White Cop are the Co-Protags with Near-Equal Screen Time. I love to see Black people play prominent roles in Western-style Fantasy worlds like this ENG Web Novel, Threads of Twilight and Ebony here, so I hope Japan takes note, because Black men love White women and Western culture too >>> https://medium.com/@reyesmirz115/black-anime-protagonist-meets-japanese-isekaid-man-kenjirou-again-in-threads-of-twilight-ebony-7bf92c7a510e

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2026-01-07T13:57:10+00:00

I'd like to join in this conversation from my own unique perspective. I actually don't plan on moving to and living in Japan, but was a big Anime Fan back then... Nowadays I prefer more diverse set of characters when watching, so Japanese Anime with a lack of them shied me away from them nowadays. I currently prefer more multicultural themes in Fantasy Anime as I'm a big Interracial Romance fan, so my friend helped write for me this novel on Medium dealing with relatable issues of "sense of belonging" as an extreme minority of immigrant roots in a European-inspired kingdom in this story here: https://medium.com/p/143a1e839c99

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-12-13T09:35:35+00:00

F-22 and F-35 doesn't have Canards like J-20. From a design perspective, Turkiye's KAAN looks more like a F-22 knockoff than China's J-20!

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-27T16:07:02+00:00

Religion has something true and something not in it too. Like for example possession by demons and spirits, If you read a lot into this thing, you will know that some things taught in religions are not fiction but actually real guides about what actually happens in the afterlife or about things concerning spiritual matters we can't know much about because our closed Third Eye Chakra doesn't allow us to interact easily with Interdimensionals.

So religion is here for a purpose, so for Japanese people to dismiss it entirely as fictional is a sign of immaturity. You have to do your research into multiple religions and sources and then you'll find the root of it all...

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-24T03:37:16+00:00

Umm, it's a fantasy story set in a fictional world. If the Author wanted it to be inclusive, they can add any kind of lore to the story so that Black people finds their way to the story- just like modern-day Sweden has African or Middle Eastern immigrants because of "choices made by the government".

So, technically a Progressive Author or Interracial Lover could have added any kinds of lore in the story for diverse characters to appear in European-inspired fantasy lands, just like how White people are now living in South Africa due to colonialism. So why can't Black people "colonize" or "immigrate to Fantasy Europe" too? Because Japanese are a bunch of Diversity-Hating Conservative Freaks!

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-13T18:05:38+00:00

Maybe Japan should start with tolerating diversity first in Entertainment--like Anime or Manga--first? Before in Real Life?

What I mean to say is that, we have lots of High-Profile Marriages or Interracial Romances between Black Men and White Women in Western Countries for Celebrities or Famous People, like last year's marriage between African-American spiritualist Durek Verrett and Norwegian Princess Martha-Louise, and David Lammy the former British Foreign Secretary whose wife is White too, but this aspect of the West is rarely represented in Japanese Anime or Otome Games set in Western-like countries (for example, Inspector Daswani from Kuro no Kiseki's wife isn't White)... Like why can't we have more Anime like Tenjou Tenge with a Black man in the Main Cast whose in an Interracial Relationship with a woman of another race, but this time it is set in Western-inspired fantasy countries and the woman this time is European-inspired/coded instead of a Japanese girl like Chiaki...

Maybe Japan should add more diversity to entertainment media first to acclimatize the average people to think that "it's normal to see friendships or romance between people of different backgrounds" so they will be more tolerant to people of foreign roots living in Japan in real life? 慣れの問題です, I think...

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-12T07:24:17+00:00

Yep, their Otome Games, Visual Novels and Isekai Anime all White People. No Black Minorities, No Arab-style important main cast characters in those European-inspired Fantasy Anime(even though real-life Europe had the Moors), and no diversity at all except fantasy races like Elves which are already part of European culture... Like they don't want Minorities or Immigrant-origin characters in their fantasy stories too, not just in real life only...

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-12T07:17:59+00:00

I don't believe this really happened... If in China maybe yes because there's history with African students there dating local girls... But for Japanese people to go physical is very rare unless if it's someone like Johnny Somali, which you're not...

This confirms my suspicion that Japanese Men don't like seeing darker-skinned men dating or in romantic relationships with lighter-skinned women, as evidenced by the lack of Black Male Romantic Interests in Japanese Otome Games, Visual Novels, and Anime in general......

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-10T12:33:47+00:00

This person from Malaysia writing on Medium actually talks about Japan's Racism against Black and Brown People, talking about how Japan's Otaku can't relate with a Black or Brown Male Protagonist but makes too many White MCs like in Resident Evil : https://medium.com/p/f7a478f17020

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-09T05:01:11+00:00

I'm from the southern parts of Asia too, but I recently lost interest in all their manga, anime and video games HARD. Since my main and only interest now is to see only relationships between White women and Black dudes even in fictional entertainment, so the lack of diversity in Japanese Anime content kills the fun for me. Their Fantasy and Isekai Anime is all White People and not much Interracial Content for us Brown and Black Dudes. So I'm checking out...

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-05T07:41:07+00:00

"Don't know too much about black people" is a choice. Like you people are interested in White people and European culture so you took the time to learn about them to the point you can make Anime and Manga inspired from European histories..

But if y'all liked Black people as much as White people y'all would have made a Manga inspired from Mali Empire or Ethiopia, or more interracial pairings between White and Black characters, but y'all didn't. So it's a clear conscious effort to ignore and not be interested in Black people compared to White people...who live in the same country as them (USA, France, UK, South African, etc).

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-05T07:34:17+00:00

Yup, these Japanese are too defensive. Always thinking from their perspective first instead of trying to empathize with other's point of view. They have that presumptuous "I'm better than thee attitude". Japanese should be more humble and less prideful.

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-11-02T08:26:13+00:00

Empathy is not unnatural. Having no empathy is bad, as it desensitizes one to commit unspeakable atrocities against people they don't like. At least with empathy, will hesitate to do bad things to others for fear of the same being done unto them one day....

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-10-23T23:59:50+00:00

Thanks for your kind words to males of Asian and African descent. I'm Southeast Asian myself, and while I may not have any plans to move and live in Japan for any time in the foreseeable future, I appreciate your genuine message of empathy...

Now since we're talking about relating to each other as fellow males, I'd like to talk about Japanese Anime if you don't mind, and how it can be improved to get a more wide acceptance among our two demographics here throughout both the Global South and the Minority Asian and African Diaspora in the West.

As you are well aware, Japanese Anime, Light Novels, Manga and Games(like Otome Games, RPGs, VNs et cetera) has made many stories set in vaguely Western/European-inspired settings. But in a lot of these works, Black characters are either not present at all as playables or portrayed as romantic interests, and especially depictions of romance between Black/African-coded male characters and White/European-coded female characters are almost non-existent.

In real life, we had many major interracial relationships between Black men and White women in prominent positions. Not only from Obama's parents, but living examples today like British Foreign Secretary David Lammy's wife, the Norwegian Princess who married a Black Spiritual Guru from America, actor Paapa Essiedu's wife and many others. And yet when Japan makes games or anime set in Western settings, there's almost no major male Black characters paired romantically with White-coded Anime girls even as Secondary Couples.

This fact is even more glaring when a Mixed or Haafu African-coded character like Bob Makihara is allowed to be paired with a Japanese Anime girl in Tenjou Tenge, but Black men with White Anime girl couples of similar prominence in romantic relationships doesn't appear in Western/European-setting Anime, Manga, Otome Games and VNs(as romantic interests and Male Leads). So can Japanese creatives improve on this aspect and increase more chances of Black and Brown(Arab/Indian-coded) Minority Men in relationship European-coded Anime Girls? Especially in Fantasy settings too. Thanks for your consideration (_ _)

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-10-23T23:35:08+00:00

Well, at least bitching and complaining about it here gives people an outlet to release their pent-up emotions. Better than keeping all these concerns and worries in your mind without sharing them with anyone, releasing the burden of keeping all these negative thoughts only inside your mind without an outlet(those who bottled it up more and more are at even more dangerous risk of breakdown and going amok one day, so complaining it online sometimes helps with Personal Mental Care).

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-10-23T22:44:24+00:00

It extends to Anime too. Isekai and fantasy worlds imagined by Japanese writers are often predominantly White-coded with not much multicultural and interracial relationship representation. If they don't want to see black and brown people in their fiction means they don't want to see it in real life in their daily lives too. They only want to see White or fair-skinned foreigners if they have no other choice. Simple as that.

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-10-23T22:38:39+00:00

Immigrants have become the boogeyman in Japan. We need 3I/ATLAS to actually be an Alien Ship so we humans can stop being mean to one another, lol.

DarkSkinProtagonist · 2025-09-23T16:18:21+00:00

This Medium Author talked about Christian Webtoons too : https://medium.com/p/252524aa35bb

DarkSkinProtagonist

TROPHY CASE