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Josephek

Josephek

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Last week I was wathing the newest episode of pokemon on cartoon network and I noticed some things I don't normaly question when my mother asks "If that's a Japanese show why do they look like us in america and those over in europe?"

One thing I never understood about Japanese anime is why rather than resembling themselves with the more slited eyes and asian skin color they decide to give them white skin most of the time like a european or american style eyes.
I guess the window looking eyes don't look exactly like us but deftinatly more so than them in Japan.

19-Jun-2011 22:50:31

Jesse B77

Jesse B77

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As i understand it, alot of the reason that anime characters are generally more Caucasian-seeming is owed to the history behind the early anime art style how it was influenced by US animations in the 1960's.
Another reason, which may have been the original idea behind using such designs in the first place, is that i imagine it would be a lot harder to animate emotion and expression into a face with narrower features, so having the larger features may simply have been a practicality for technical reasons.
They aren't really 'based' on anyone in particular. When it comes to anime, its better to just say that the characters are 'Japanese unless other wise stated'.

19-Jun-2011 23:31:45 - Last edited on 19-Jun-2011 23:35:10 by Jesse B77

Dynamic Hawk

Dynamic Hawk

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myth of bows

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19-Jun-2011 22:50:31
Last week I was wathing the newest episode of pokemon on cartoon network and I noticed some things I don't normaly question when my mother asks "If that's a Japanese show why do they look like us in america and those over in europe?"

One thing I never understood about Japanese anime is why rather than resembling themselves with the more slited eyes and asian skin color they decide to give them white skin most of the time like a european or american style eyes.
I guess the window looking eyes don't look exactly like us but deftinatly more so than them in Japan.
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Not really.
Japan has different skin colours pending where you go in the country. You have people who are "brown" to people who have very "pale" skin based on the geographic factors involved because some parts of Japan are very cold.
The same goes for the eyes. Some parts of Japan have led to people have "slit" eyes because of the weather i.e. snow has meant that the Japanese people have had their eyes becoming smaller because of the brightness of the landscape. (At least that is what I was told)
Also, I remember watching a video on YouTube (can't vow on its accuracy) but, it did state that Japanese typically don't have a defined jaw as you see with most other nationalities have, how many people in anime do you see with a defined jaw?
Also, I think the hair is just to make it easier to distinguish between different characters. Typically in some anime though, the hair is kept realistic, i.e. black, brown or blond.
Search for this vid on YouTube: Are anime characters caucasian or japanese

20-Jun-2011 06:38:57 - Last edited on 20-Jun-2011 06:43:29 by Dynamic Hawk

TechEngineer
Apr
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2013

TechEngineer

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When a European comic artist draws a Japanese guy they mostly draw two lines for the eyes, because that's how most people here think people in Japan look like. (I'm not familiar with US comics.)
However, Japanese people don't see themselves like that. They don't think their eyes are as narrow as we think they are. So it's not true that they prefer to draw Western people, most characters are Japanese.
Hair colors like blond hair often originate from the manga, which is in black and white so it's easy to distinguish between characters like Dynamic Hawk said.
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I finished Dance in the Vampire Bund yesterday. I thought it was a good anime, more than I expected it to be considering the reviews I read about it.

20-Jun-2011 07:48:23

Regen

Regen

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*Lurk the forums for a couple minutes, find a short conversation on Negima*
Any Negima fan will tell you right away to avoid the anime like a plague and to just read the manga. The animation was pretty bad and had an anime original ending. I'm not too sure about the second anime because I've never actually seen it, granted I didn't watch much of the first anime either but it was enough to turn me off from it. An exception to the anime were the OVAs and the movie coming out. Personally, I can't wait for the movie, even though we'll have to wait for the DVD/Bluray before it's subbed. Can only hope for an anime adaption for the Mahora Festival arc.

20-Jun-2011 08:29:26

Jesse B77

Jesse B77

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Personally, i think the whole 'asian people have slanty eyes' thing is significantly played up in the west. Sure, they arent quite as wide as Caucasian eyes but they're far from as slanty as people reckon.
And now for a story of Japanese Randomness. Anyone who's seen more than few general slice of life series would probably be familiar with the image of people handing out (or trying to hand out) packs of tissues on the streets of Japan, right?
Did you know that they also put packets of tissues in the mail?
I received a package that i ordered a few weeks ago from Japan in the mail today (or to be more correct, i found it sitting in a plastic bag behind my gate and very nearly ran it over, bloody Australia Post's "no entering rural properties" rule).
Anyway,in addition to the assorted magazines i ordered for their various extra's (and can i just say 'Damn, magazines in Japan are freaking enormous. They're like, the size of an A4 sheet of paper and an inch thick) I received 2 packs of tissues with an ad for the company i ordered from on one side of the pack.
Dunno why, but this struck me as one of the most hilarious marketing strategies ever. Its like, a flier with a practical use. Great timing actually, ive got the flu at the mo and im almost out of tissues.

EDIT: Im gonna second what Regen said above. As for what the second season is about, think 'a full double seasons worth of the harem comedy antics (during which time negi manages to pactio with all the girls) with less plot and with a bigger animation budget'.

And you dont necessarily HAVE to wait for the DVD/BD release. Theres always at least one subbed camrip (a person recording the movie in the cinema with their camcorder/phone) floating around the internet somewhere, though those are always of UTTERLY TERRIBLE quality, even when the person holds the dang thing still.
Tried to watch one of the Nanoha movie when that came out, couldn't do it. Got the BD (english subbed :) ) now though, so nevermind.

20-Jun-2011 08:37:15 - Last edited on 20-Jun-2011 08:55:08 by Jesse B77

InvalidData

InvalidData

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I wish I looked into this forum years ago and saw this >_< I didn't know that there was an anime thread on the Runescape forums.

Continuing with Negima:
The anime of Negima has always been bad in comparison to the manga. The anime didn't exactly follow the manga and has created multiple different versions now - I think there are three or four in total - which just don't match up to the standard of the manga.
The manga, if you read it, is very good! The fighting has vamped up recently with a good combination of magic and hand-to-hand combat which has me wanting more of the manga :D

20-Jun-2011 16:34:58

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