The anime industry has shown us an endless number of series that have captivated us with their stories, regardless of genre, and with this the characters that are included have also earned a place becoming our favorites. But now an internet user has questioned the inclusion of characters of color in anime, proposing that they should be featured more often, which has generated debate in Japanese forums about whether this decision should be taken more into account by the industry.
Waifus of color and their roles in the anime
Talking about diversity in different media is a complicated topic, as some people may become uncomfortable, but this is so extensive that it has even reached Japanese animation, which as we know, has recently had an immense growth in the world, which has put it in the spotlight of the different audiences that consume it.
With this in mind, the issue of the inclusion of characters of color among anime fans is not something recent or unknown to the Japanese, who in a way have explained why this has not been as visible as in other productions. Well, the debate has flared up again, due to a youtuber who has questioned the appearance of these characters, especially women, and their roles within the stories, specifically in anime.
Youtuber Phoenix has uploaded content through the social networks of her channel The Anime Tea in which she shares ideas with her followers and this time the topic she addressed was the inclusion of characters of color in Japanese animation, especially waifus, something that has certainly disturbed the Japanese. And the fact is that they have a different vision and opinion, as peculiar, to that of many, which could easily be labeled as unpopular, incorrect or even old-fashioned.
Within the content he mentions that colored characters have been included in the anime, but he specifically questions about the protagonism they almost never have, that is, he would prefer these waifus to be the main face of the stories, being the heroines and not only secondary characters. For this he has listed a couple of examples in which they are: Carole from Carole & Tuesday, Michiko and Atsuko from Michiko to Hatchin, Annette and Drolta from Castellvania: Nocturne.
Although they are good examples and these are just some color waifus that have different roles within the anime, no less important, but the concern arises as to why even being good characters have not had more prominence, to which there are several points to clarify to understand the reasons. First we must know that anime is a production in which the Japanese care little about external opinion, then there is the fact that the Japanese do not normally live with people of color in their daily environment.
Obviously, the anime characters are based on them, so the Japanese are not colored, therefore, they have a standard of beauty in which it is normal that they tend to prefer light skin and the paler the better. Besides, some artists have already mentioned that these characters are difficult to draw, so this makes it more complicated but not impossible. Simply, fans believe that this is not necessary in the anime and that if they were to start including them abruptly it would be something forced, as has already been seen in American productions mainly.
