49574


Anime characters are _almost_ always drawn with... "anime" facial features.
Eyes are [big and round](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/4748/why-
do-anime-manga-characters-have-big-eyes), every
[color](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/2872/why-do-many-characters-
tend-to-have-crazy-hair-colors-and-styles) is allowed for eyes and hair (not
to mention [hairstyle](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/39131/whats-
with-the-fantasy-hair)), etc.

**Since there are anime series starring both Japanese and non-Japanese
characters, how can one distinguish them?** I'm asking both in-universe and
out-of-universe.

[Comments and answers to this
question](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/7539/why-are-most-people-
in-anime-white-or-european-looking-instead-of-japanese) claim that Western
characters tend to be drawn with big noses, square jaws, [blond
hair](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/19315/michiru-is-a-fake-
blonde-ok-but-what-about-sachi-and-amanes-hair-colors), wide mouth, etc. But
to me it seems not always the case! For example, in _Yu-Gi-Oh_ , Bandit Keith
has some of these features, but Pegasus Crawford has not, and they are both
supposed to be American. Naruto, Jonouchi etc are blond and Japanese. Most
characters in _Escaflowne_ have a long nose regardless of their origin.

For even more blatant examples, let's compare Lelouch Lamperouge and Suzaku
Kururugi from _Code Geass_ :

[![Lelouch Lamperouge VS Suzaku
Kururugi](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qm0gP.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Qm0gP.jpg)

or Teletha "Tessa" Testarossa and Kaname Chidori from _Full Metal Panic_ :

[![Tessa VS
Kaname](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xXRJl.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/xXRJl.jpg)

Same big round eyes. Same pointy chin. Very similar noses. And, for the two
girls, crazy hair color. (Similar comparsions can be done for Light Yagami an
L from _Death Note_ , and for many others).

I'd say that, at least **out-of-universe** , the viewer is expected to tell
them apart only from their **names** (or, in case of biracial characters, from
the double surname, e.g. Asuka Langley-Sohryu, Kallen Stadtfeld-Kozuki) and
from **dialogue** (e.g. a character declare his/her origin). But I wonder: am
I missing something? Are there subtle _physical_ traits that the viewer is
supposed to use to get their origin before they declare it?

Theoretically, there shouln't be the need to tell them apart: a character
(like a real person) is defined by his/her actions, not from his/her
ethnicity. But **in-universe** , characters seem to always recognize _at a
glance_ if another character is Japanese or not. For example, in an episode of
_Full Metal Panic_ , Sosuke asks to free first the Japanese girl (Kaname),
then the Western one (Tessa), as it is obvious to everyone who is who. In
_Code Geass_ , the distinction beween Britannians and Japanese is an important
plot point, and people doesn't seem to need to know the name of a character to
tell if he/she is Britannian or Japanese.

So is there some kind of artistic convention? A physical equivalent to a
[translation convention](https://anime.stackexchange.com/questions/26678/do-
the-wammys-house-members-speak-to-each-other-in-english)? E.g. when we
audience _know_ that Suzaku is Japanese and Lelouch isn't, should we assume
that _in-universe_ they HAVE different facial traits? (or, in the case of
Kallen: after she says that she is half-Britannian half-Japanese, are we
supposed to imagine her with some "mix" of features so that other characters
can identify her as both Britannian and Japanese?)


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-10-28T15:45:46.607
49398
2019-08-06T23:03:25.413
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question
tropes culture anime-history
How to tell apart Japanese and non-Japanese characters in-universe and out-of-universe?


You can't really. It's up to the character designer / artist if they want to
give the characters visually distinct race traits, but they're not obligated
to and many times they don't, as you noted with Code Geass. The most reliable
way to tell if a character is Japanese (without being explicitly told they
are) is their name.

It's best to take things on a case by case basis and use common sense to parse
the information the show gives you. If a show is set in Japan, you can safely
infer most of the cast will be Japanese regardless of what they look like. If
you notice most of the cast look how Japanese people in real life typically
look, you can infer that when a blond haired blue eyed character appears, they
aren't Japanese. Again, these are assumptions you make based on the context of
the show, not universal rules.

The only universal assumption to make is that visuals in anime are arbitrary
and are not obligated to obey any general rules set up for interpreting them.


CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-09T18:16:43.153
49574
2018-11-09T18:16:43.153
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49398
answer