Black Representation in Anime

How important is black representation in not only Anime, but in other media as well? It goes without saying that cross-cultural representation in media is good, but has not always been done correctly, or at all for a very long time. Of course, American media consisted of white actors and characters for most of its history, even using white actors to play another ethnicity. This is consistent with other cultures and their medias history. Now that media is more culturally diverse and we push for representation and equality for all, we see more representation of Blacks, Hispanics, Asians, LGBTQ+ people, Indians, etc in media. However, are they portrayed correctly? Is the black representation in Anime good or making things worse?

Some Anime has great black representation. Some have some, or maybe controversial representation. Others have none. Typically, there are some black characters with cultural uniqueness is the shows that I have seen. For example, Naruto, Bleach, Kuroko no Basket. Others, however, do not have any black characters. A reason for this could be the setting the story takes place. For example, Death note has virtually no black representation, for it is set in Japan. Is this a good excuse? Japan being not a very diverse country, there would likely be nobody of other cultures there to begin with. This is understandable. This is the case for many shows, especially those prior to the 2010's. However, incorporating black characters with some black culture would be nice to see.

Even with this, there are examples of older anime's with great black representation. Bleach is the first that comes to mind. You have characters like Kaname Tosen, Yoruichi Shihounin, Franceska Mila Rose, etc. These are characters that are well written, are powerful, relevant to the story, and have interesting character design and back stories.

Some representation of blacks in anime is controversial. The first example being Killer B from Naruto. Killer B is a black shinobi from the Cloud village, a village that is predominately black. What makes him controversial is that he communicates only with raps. Some people interpret this as culturally inappropriate and stereotyping, whereas others find it amusing and a nice touch to make his character unique and fresh. People say they tried too hard, and box all black people into a box of "if they are black, then they rap and use specific slang". Other controversial representation is discussed among the anime community.

This brings up how the culture is presented in anime. African and black culture is not as prominent in the shows as the characters are. For example, foods, traditions, clothing, etc. It's almost as if they are brown Japanese characters, with maybe a slight change in their language or demeanor, and a black hairstyle. Japan not being diverse, they are probably not exposed too much to other cultures to get that cultural representation in the shows correctly. Some shows do a good job with making the characters feel black, and there are even shows that are "black".

There also anime shows that are "black" such as Yasuke, and the boondocks. Certain shows also do a good job with incorporating black people from other nations that are black in the show's world. The cloud ninja in Naruto for example, Attack on titan, etc.

The next question is, are the characters a good representation, or are they stereotyped? Black character designs tend to be solid, from hair styles, to style. Some amines do better than others, but I have yet to see a black character that was done poorly to the point where it is down-right racist. There may be characters out there that may be don't poorly and in a racist way, however. Since Asian countries are not as diverse as other countries, they do not have many references and experience when writing black characters, of incorporating black culture. Therefore, stereotyping is used.