Oozaru_86

While Im a huge fan of Dragonball and other
manga/anime it has always made me wonder why Sambo or racial
charicatures are used in Japanese media such as Dragonball. An example
is a dark skinned character with big lips. Popular examples in
Dragonball are Commander Black and Killa from the Buu saga. Some people
say Mr. Popo is an example of this stereotype but he's a djinn or genie
and not human. There are other examples of this in background
characters who are supposed to be black. Some dark skinned characters
are not drawn Sambo style but my belief in that there ethnicity is
supposed to be Arabic or Indian (ie. Uub ). Also the mannerisms of the
characters have been considered racist as well such as Killa in the
anime.



What are your thoughts on this subject? Do you believe it's
intentionally racist? Is it still a popular stereotype in Japan? Or is
it simply a parody of an old stereotype?

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Gogeta the Super Fusion

IDK it has nothing to do with race, its how Akira drew the characters. It's probabably jut an old stereotype.

Big Smoke

I assure you that no racial discrimination had ben intended in any of Akira Toriyama's works. If you look at Dr. Slump or early Dragonball, all / most lesser characters (such as crowds in the background) have some strange twist to their look. One panel even shows chracters form the Wizard of OZ in the background during the 21st World Martial Arts Tournament (during the Goku vs. Giran fight, to be exact).

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SylentEcho

yupp I have to agree......its not racist, this is also seen on many other anime like Street Fighter.....its just an old sterotype.

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The Chibi Kiriyama

If they are they are miniscule in numbers. To be frank on all of this, editing out what the creator made is nonsense. So what Viz is telling us is that it has no problem showing Freeza with a portion of his intestines hanging out of his Ki-enzaned self, but that black genies with big lips is a controversial thing? News flash- a manga where a boy is trained by perverted old men and surpasses God in strength is controversial as it is. If you want, you can find copies of Astro Boy and Metropolis that are still in print. They were made in the 20's, and you can still see to this day the big lipped stereotype. I don't think a mangaka who doesn't go out looking for trouble would intentionally start a racism scandal.

RisanF

I have suspected that the appearence of Assistant Black is a negative, offensive racial caricature. (the name "Assistant Black" is definenely suspect) To Toriyama's credit, though, the actual personality of Assistant Black is respectable, as far as Dragon Ball villains go. He values competence, and in the end assasinated his silly, white commander and took over the Red Ribbon organization. In Dragon Ball: The Path to Power, Assistant Black loses the big lips, so perhaps the makers of the anime got the idea that the former character design wasn't the way to go.
If you want to see strong, black characters, watch Robotech. Characters like Claudia are deep and foucsed, and there are even interacial relationships in the show.

warcrack

I dont believe that AT is being a racist. You have to remember that in manga it is hard for people of different races (blacks, europeans, etc.) to be drawn differently from their peers, as manga usually follows one formula for people's bodies and faces. Therefore, in my opinion, if a black man is drawn with big lips and dark skin, it is simply the author trying to make a distinction from the norm of manga drawings (by norm, i mean light skinned people with thin lips and "manga eyes.)*

Also, chibi kiriyama is right: sometimes supposed racism is the least of our worries when it comes to controversial subject material.

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Deep Thought

Racism is an extremly senstive issue for me, but even I have to say that this whole "sterotyped racism" thing is a little ridiculous.

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Vivi

Japan
strives to be racialy pure. Though they don't say this, they don't
allow many people who aren't Japanese to have children in Japan.
AT wasn't being racist, it's a stereotype that was even in the DC/Marvel comics.

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Ghost Outlaw

Yes, Akira was by no means racist. It is just how he saw things around him. And as it has been said it's not just manga, very few of today's comics show black heroes or even supporting characters. Like everyone has said it is just a very old, very widely accepted stereotype.

Now say if all of the vilans in DBZ were black....that would be very racist.

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FierceGamer

Nah i don't think DBZ's racist. In fact I remember an episode where freiza just went off on Goku with racial slurs against Saiyans and Goku said something like , "wow you really are just a sad little man arent you." And then there's the scene where Trunks annihilates Frieza, the embodiment of racist sentiment and ethnic cleansing, leaving litterally nothing left.

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Majuub

Well it wasn't racist by any means, Since japanese people weren't familiar with black people they took their inspirations directly from really racist comic books, we all know that in the U.S. racisme is a big issue. It wasn't racist, it was a stereotype at that time an AT took it, I also think the thing about differences in a manga is a good theory, well I'm black, I always thought to see these characters was funny because they are the sterotype of minestrel shows. Fact is, I know not that black people aren't like that. The stereotype of a tall muscular boastful boosted with steroids man.

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TheAsterisk!

The only way a Japanese person would be likely to encouter a black person would be either through travle or by spoting someone on one of the US military bases there.

Actually, if you read the manga, Killa has no trouble speaking; the only time I've seen him speak unintelligibly was when I watched the Funimation dub of the anime. I actually thought it was funny, but...it would appears that many of you don't.

Honestly, you need to lighten up and look for other rascist and gentic superiority themes in anime and manga. I'll give a few examples.

- Destiny plays a large role; characters are often doomed to their respective fates.

- Aliens and humans can produce fertile offspring (definition of a species), but are still somehow different. This argument was used in Victorian England to support the slave trade.

- Many characters have unique genetic traits that make them "better" than others, even if admittedly of the same species.

- In many of the more modern (as far as setting) mangas/animes have characters who are singled out as foreigners; one may safely trust that this is very much diluted in English translations.

And those are just the ones off the top of my head!

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