Diversity and Representation in Media

Naruto Uzumaki is a japanese name. There's a specific Phenotype Stereotype that you see with white characters (longer noses, blond hair, blue or green eyes) that Naruto kinda falls into, but even then it isn't always the case that people with those characteristics aren't japanese, because it's normal to have outlandish hair and eye colors in anime.

The real hot take is don’t do setting updates for anime at all

Also, Naruto is about ninjas. Shinobi. I haven't read the series in a while but I'd think it would be really hard to argue that Naruto is not Japanese.

Also on hair colors in Naruto, Sakura has pink hair and Gaara is a redhead with a brunette brother and blonde sister.

Edited by fredhot16 on Feb 25th 2020 at 11:09:31 AM

Kishimoto revealed in an interview (would require some digging) that he designed Naruto more based on western ideas and as a foreigner. It's also why he has blonde hair (unlike Goku, where blond Saiyan hair just required less inking). It helps sell the idea that he's a total outsider to his own world.

Also, while Naruto is about Ninja somewhat, it's hard to watch something like their final battle and consider it a "ninja" fight. They're called ninja for sure, but they hardly all dress in black and do espionage.

Yeah, I know the joke, but when everybody calls themselves "ninjas" or "Shinobi", how much ground is left to say that the series isn't "really" Japanese? Also, everybody's got Japanese names and the aesthetic is Japanese, I think? They're constantly using weapons such as kunai, shuriken, and exploding tags with Japanese on them.

Espionage isn't Japanese but the name, concept, and weapons of "ninjas" are. It's a Shonen manga so the concept gets lost in the genre but there you are.

Not to mention pretty much everything is either named a Japanese pun or a reference to Japanese folklore.

You might be misinterpreting what I said. I said Naruto the character is plausibly (but not necessarily) white or half-white given his hair color and the like. However, the setting is clearly pseudo-Japan and the vast majority of characters would be Asian (or black with the cloud village).

Edited by Protagonist506 on Feb 25th 2020 at 11:42:23 AM

Kanto is in Fantasy Counterpart Culture Japan, so I'd prefer it to be Japanese in a live action adaptation. Other gens are a bit more vague. I know a lot of people interpret the Sword and Shield protagonists as white, but their canon names in Japan are Japanese, so... Most protagonists are either barely-ambiguous-Japanese (like Red or Dawn) or mukokuseki,

On Naruto, I always interpreted him as Asian. Every official art I've seen that draws him non-mukokuseki makes him "look Japanese". He has a Japanese name and lives in a fantasy Japanese culture. So, he's probably just a blonde Japanese boy, like how Sakura is a pink haired Japanese girl. However, Naruto being half-white wouldn't be outlandish. Race in the Naruto-verse is vague. I know Karui is seen as black, but she has a Japanese name and lives in a Japanese country. English exists in the Naruto-verse, but everyone we've seen speaks English... I wouldn't mind a Naruto adaptation that portrays Naruto as a token biracial kid in a Japanese village. It would accentuate his "otherness".

If you want to get specific with Pokemon, Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh are all based on regions from Japan. Unova is based on New York, Kalos is based on France, Alola is based on Hawaii, and Galar is based on the UK.

So, it's not really a problem if a Pokemon film is set in an Americanized setting, but it is if it's based on a region that's not supposed to be.

A TV series adaptation of Love, Simon was pulled from Disney+ for not being family friendly. In a potential sign of future plans from Disney, the show will air, on Hulu.

Maybe that's why Runaways didn't come to Disney+. :|

In other news, Tokyo Godfathers is getting an English dub, and one thing I find really cool is that Hana is being voiced by a trans actress.

Hana's portrayal in the movie is kinda mixed; while ultimately she's heroic, sometimes she's referred to fairly frequently by slurs (at least in the subtitled version I watched). So I find Shakina's casting to be a good step in the right direction for acceptance of trans people and actors in society.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Feb 25th 2020 at 4:10:31 AM

The word okama?

In the English subtitles I watched they wrote the f-word (the other one with six letters), so it might've been replacing that, I'm not sure.

Edited by Tuckerscreator on Feb 25th 2020 at 4:15:04 AM

First google search: "Okama is Japanese slang for homosexual or transvestite. Literally meaning "a pot, a kettle", this word, always with the honorific prefix "O-", refers to a gay man, especially one who is viewed as effeminate or a drag queen".

Edited by fredhot16 on Feb 25th 2020 at 4:14:21 AM

The thing about "Okama" is that it refers to a homophobic, transphobic stereotype that mixes Depraved Homosexual with Trans Equals Gay, of men not necessarily being effeminate in the same sense as in the West, but trying to emulate women while still looking very masculine in a very "gross-out"/Gonk-ish, undesirable sort of way, often being flirty for comic relief. It's often used towards both gay men and trans women, and it's present in lots of Japanese works, from variety shows to Naruto and One Piece.

From this Tumblr post, which explains further (and provides examples):

Edited by DNAe on Feb 25th 2020 at 9:44:35 AM

Yeah, I remember seeing the term translated as "homo" in the French subtitles (which means… well, exactly that, but refers more specifically to gay men). Of course, they were subtitles from 20 years ago, back when trans issues hadn't quite reached the general public yet.

I'm still not sure whether Kon aimed to write Hana as trans or if the character was just an indistinct amalgamation of everything "okama" refers to…

The less said about One Piece on that front, the better, but… was there a character like that in Naruto…?

Edited by Lyendith on Feb 25th 2020 at 2:16:50 PM

That's kinda the thing, yeah. I honestly couldn't tell if the audience was supposed to take Hana as a legit transwoman or if that's just her self-perception the other members of the cast aren't obligated to share. The cast seems to treat her as basically just an effeminate gay man.

Edited by Draghinazzo on Feb 25th 2020 at 9:24:23 AM

Disney+ has rating constraints? Don't they stream adult media like The Simpsons? Then again, I heard a A Tale of... adaptation was scrapped for being too mature (amongst other issues).

Edited by Pichu-kun on Feb 25th 2020 at 5:40:47 AM

Not sure if this was already mentioned...

So a few days ago Mark Ruffalo had an interview in which, among other things, he revealed that Kevin Feige was prepared to leave Marvel if female lead movies weren't greenlit.

Cinema Blend: Mark Ruffalo Says Kevin Feige Almost Left Marvel Over Clash With Disney On Female Superhero Movies

Edited by M84 on Feb 25th 2020 at 9:46:30 PM

I'd actually say "Okama in One Piece" is a fascinating discussion. One Piece does play the term for grotesque value but it also has some surprisingly nuanced and heroic "Okama" characters, down to having a idyllic LGBTQ community acting as La Résistance in Impel Down. There's a lot of iffy-to-bad (namely the conflating of gay, transexual and non-binary identities) but there's some pretty interesting stuff to discuss when it comes to characters like Bon Clay and Empress Ivankov.

Edited by Gaon on Feb 25th 2020 at 5:48:51 AM

Japan has this weird thing where they will play up offensive stereotypes for laughs, but have the stereotype be almost independent of the actual character being portrayed. Take Hard Gay; a pro wrestler who is basically every Bara stereotype possible, but was also a beloved children's TV host and media personality.

According to Bob Iger's book, apparently Feige's plan was to have a Black Widow movie after Iron Man 2 and Black Panther was being worked before The Avengers, but Permutter's Creative Committee shut all of it down.

I wonder how LGBT+ reform groups in Japan feel about that. That seems to be a gray area when you put it like that.

Tuckerscreator: Runaways IS on Disney +, I'm looking at the page for it right now.