Why is there no blacks in Pokemon? Page 2

Started by Team Rocket's Raichu September 15th, 2009 2:41 PM
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Dunsparce

The Land Snake Pokemon

Seen January 1st, 2023
Posted July 8th, 2022
1,246 posts
17.6 Years
A majority of the Characters are ASIAN, NOT WHITE.

They just localize their names to sound more American

These are the only non-asian People in the game:

-Lt.Surge: Noted to be American even in the Japanese Version. In the Japanese HGSS, you can even trade with him to get a Pikachu with an English Nickname.

-Tucker: His Japanese name is Heath, hardly a Japanese name.

-Fantina: Noted to be a foreigner even in the Japanese Version. Not 100% sure on wheteher she's French in the Japanese Version, though.

-Dahlia: Her Japanese name is also Dahlia, meaning she is either from India or the Middle East.

-Argenta: Her Japanese Name is Kate, and from seeing her clothing, is probably British


Brock and Pheobe are part of a Japanese Racial Minority found mostly in kansai, where they look like normal Asians, just with Darker Skin.
Seen January 4th, 2013
Posted October 21st, 2011
1,804 posts
13.8 Years
There are no whites in the game, I'm not offended.
It is Japanese, and the Japanese tend to avoid adding racial diversity, as that would most likely ignite dr-baaaaawwww-ma. I am in complete agreement with Wings Don't Cry. I have a friend who visited Tokyo and he says it's a rare occasion to spot a black guy lingering about, and if you check Japanese demographics you'd see that Japan's ethnic variation does not come close to that of America's or Australia's. Since Japan is not diverse in skin color, it's harder for them to get used to portraying other races in manners that won't be perceived as offensive. So, to me, leaving Japanese characters Japanese is a perfectly understandable conclusion.


If Nintendo had a black character, it would along the lines of "Pokemon are being racist, black people aren't like that" or " Why isn't the black guy a main character, this is racism!"
This. If you have ever lived in America / have seen The View, you (you being BJ 088, and I'm not being condescending for the record, so I hope you don't misread this as if I am) might have a bit better concept as to how drama is sought. -on The View, they blame Cookie Monster for causing childhood obesity.- Also, we all saw the calamity that Jynx's character induced.
Seen October 22nd, 2016
Posted January 8th, 2011
786 posts
14.3 Years
The funny thing with Jynx, was that I never thought of it as being black. I just thought it was a black creature... Same with Mr. Popo from DBZ: I didn't think he was black, I thought he was just a black-skinned alien.

So it's funny that some people won't really know if it's a stereotype, because they just assume it's something else. Americans, for example, see blacks all the time so I would imagine since we already know what "they're like" and how "they look" that the anime depictions, since are so exaggerated, won't be connected.

Sydian

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Age 30
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Georgia
Seen May 22nd, 2022
Posted November 29th, 2021
33,354 posts
15.2 Years
I totally used to think Brock was black.

Anyway, I always wondered why there wasn't an option to play as a black guy/girl in Pokemon. I think I discussed it with someone the other day, actually.
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Seen April 9th, 2021
Posted February 5th, 2017
6,779 posts
15.5 Years
I totally used to think Brock was black.

Anyway, I always wondered why there wasn't an option to play as a black guy/girl in Pokemon. I think I discussed it with someone the other day, actually.
You can choose to make a coloured person in battle revolution >.>
I completely forgot about that.

There you go, thread is null and void now 8D

The Roshi

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Age 30
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Lavender Tower
Seen November 6th, 2011
Posted February 1st, 2010
227 posts
14.9 Years
Probably because Japan is homogenous. Nobody makes a fuss so they don't feel the need to add other races. Besides, each game has it's hero or heroine. Until they make a game without that, it will be impossible to make any other race besides white (Japanese white). Unless they made the main hero black... but again it's JAPAN we're talking about.
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Kirbychu

Still looking for Mirage Island
Seen August 20th, 2021
Posted July 28th, 2020
2,347 posts
13.9 Years
Just to remove some peoples concerns, there IS a black man in Pokemon, specifically Pokemon Ranger 2.
Barlow?

Anyways, the Japanese don't really see people by skin tones, they tend to see people as Japanese, American, etc. They somewhat distance themselves from other countries. As you've probably noticed, when a character is not Japanese they're foreigners and a complete stereotype, and it's pretty obvious.

They do it to Americans too. Look at Lt. Surge. He's the blonde hair, blue eyed, soldier known as "The Lightning American!" Whenever there is a non-Japanese person, it's pretty obvious.

I did not mean to offend anyone.
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The Golden State
Seen February 22nd, 2013
Posted January 24th, 2010
393 posts
17.5 Years
Oh, honestly, this debate has been done so many times and it's ridiculous every time.

As others have said, the characters in Pokemon are mostly Asian (no, they're not white/American, it would be more obvious if they're white/American like Surge, and in every localization the "generic trainers" are given names that correspond to that culture, and hair/eye colors mean nothing for anime characers for the most part) because Japan is mostly Asian. It would not make sense for the main characters to be anything but Asian, and if they did make a black main character, people would complain that there's no Hispanic main character, or British main character, or Indian main character or... and so on. There's no way for them to include every single race in a starring role, since there are just so many races of people on Earth.

And while there may be some black people in Japan, there are many other races that an equal/similar amount live in Japan, and are not represented either. Japan isn't nearly as focused on being "racially diverse" as other countries are, and there aren't a whole lot of non-Japanese people in Japan compared to those other countries either.

Finally, we all have to remember that although I'm sure all of us are older, Pokemon's marketting and such is primarily aimed at children, and children mostly do not care about race, in fact a lot of them don't even really understand the concept. One of my best friends since I was around... 5ish years old is a different race than I am, and I didn't even think about her race being different than mine until I was much older. Children aren't going to be offended that there's no black (or other race) people in the game unless someone close to them gets angry that their race isn't represented and tells them why they should be angry or something.

Can't we see past the fact that a game created by the Japanese has a mostly Japanese cast and enjoy the game for what it is?
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Sydian

fake your death.

Age 30
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Seen May 22nd, 2022
Posted November 29th, 2021
33,354 posts
15.2 Years
I think the Arcade Star is black. Just putting that out there. I think there's a few people that come close to being black.

Also, since this discussion can really expand in horizons, I'm moving it to Pokemon General. That way it'll cover all games, anime, and manga.
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Fenrir Reki

Guardian of Destruction

Age 28
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Seen August 31st, 2014
Posted August 31st, 2014
2,073 posts
14.4 Years
Im guessing its because that is how it has traditionally been? I dont know, but I dont think they are trying to be racist by doing that though. Besides it was made in Japan so wouldnt there mainly be asian people?

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Posted February 26th, 2014
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Making anything these days is runs the risk of racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia...well, any prejudice you can list, really. I doubt there is a single book, tv show, movie, game, painting, doughnut, unicorn on the planet which has never had a complaint lodged about it for being -ist. :|
This...To be perfectly honest I'm getting a bit tired of all the drama that this politically correct stuff is getting us these days. I mean, when we have to live in a world where Pokemon has to be politically correct, you know we have our priorities in really bad places. The reason that there aren't many people outside of the basic "Japanese White" people is because it is a JAPANESE game. We here in america brand everything that is the slightest bit offensive as "racist" or not "PC" we automatically assume that this is the norm for every other country in the world. This, however, is unequivically false. Japan is not consious about racism or racial diversity because, for the most part, there isn't very much racial diversity in Japan. Most people are Japanese or the member of some Asian race (not to say all Asians are the same, as they are not. My point is you rarely ever see like...a Chinese person being racist towards a Japanese person.) It's not an issue in Japan so they don't worry about it. Notice how the Jynx controversy was brought up by americans? Honestly, I don't think that Gamefreak has any reason to put other races in their games because they don't have a rock solid reason to. What...so they don't have any black people in pokemon? That means they're doing something wrong? Please, spare me. I suppose that Finding Nemo, Toy Story, Peter Pan, and Naruto are all racist and politically incorrect to right?

Another thing, has anyone noticed how the black community is the main race everyone is focusing on? Why is that? What makes black people so much more important than hispanics? What about indians? Native americans? Are black people more important than them? Exactly, no they aren't. Somewhere along the line one race will feel they are being treated unfairly, and it can just turn into a huge mess. If they put a black person in pokemon, there's innevitably going to be that ignorant person that says "So why are there no black people in Naruto/Bleach/Dragonball-Z/(instert anime here)?" or "Why no hispanics?". Japan won't mess with the race card because they have done just fine without it; to mess with it could spell serious loss of financial benefits from North America.
Age 29
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Seen June 1st, 2013
Posted April 27th, 2013
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14.4 Years
This has been done to death and farther...

Essentially everything has been said. The Japanese developers don't want to mess with it, at the risk of sparking something they don't want to get involved in.

Also, Japanese people have been drawn so many times, it's probably easier by now. =P
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Seen January 30th, 2014
Posted December 21st, 2010
609 posts
14.7 Years
Well they are really imitating their own culture, they aren't going to change it in the other cultural translations. And ever thought of this, Brock was black(ish) and he was like a slave in pokemon doing all the cleaning and cooking.
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Bankstown
Seen January 3rd, 2017
Posted January 3rd, 2017
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I never noticed it just like in uncharted drakes fortune my cousin thinks that is racist because u always killing Hispanic and black people but i think u nd him are just reading to much into it and just remember to enjoy playing the game
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Rengoku

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Sometimes they avoid other religions so they won't mistakenly offend the other religious they don't really know about.

Haza

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Yeah, most characters are Asian based, not white, I can only think of three characters who I know for certain are white. Lt, Surge, and Fatina. U think it would be cool to have more races, not just black incorporated altough we did get Dahlia who is of Arabian descent.

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Kirbychu

Still looking for Mirage Island
Seen August 20th, 2021
Posted July 28th, 2020
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13.9 Years
I'm pretty sure that Dahlia is Hispanic. Her name is Dahlia not Dalia (A popular Arabian and Hebrew name.). Dahlia is a type of flower in Central and South America. She also uses Ludicolo. :nervous:

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Seen August 1st, 2016
Posted August 22nd, 2011
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So that basically means if I made a show based in Australia that, in parts, touched on different nationalities but I missed out on Hispanic and Black people (because there aren't HUGE amounts of them here), that would be ok right?

Please, get real.
I'm worried tht you live in Australia and yet have never seen Neighbours.

I've watched it for about...er...two or three years now nd I've seen one Korean girl. Everyone else is a white Australian. And guess what? Nobody cares, because it makes sense.

If you had a show set in Roman Britain, for example, you are going to have a minimal amount of black people. It's not racist because, quite simply because there would not be many black people in Roman Britain.

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Seen December 2nd, 2013
Posted November 29th, 2013
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15.4 Years
Maybe they forgot that there are black people that exist? Japan has no blacks, so they'll hardly ever make thought of it. It's a shame for the jap's part too, they should put blacks, asians and other races too.

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ShinjisLover

Seen May 11th, 2016
Posted July 5th, 2010
3,043 posts
14.4 Years
Because the world would explode. =o

I mean. . Because there are rarely ever black, hispanics, or whites in Japan. They're all Japanese, with the exception of Machisu/Surge and whatever her name is. . I forget. Oh, right, Melissa/Fantina. *forgot* XD

And the whole 'they don't look Japanese' thing can be countered because of this: A Japanese anime creator once said that, by giving their characters bigger eyes, they can better convey emotions.

And, no, Takeshi/Brock, is not any other race besides Japanese. .

LethalTexture

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Seen October 4th, 2020
Posted October 3rd, 2020
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I believe this harks back to when Brock was replaced with tracey in the Anime for a while. they wanted to remove Brock and replace him and an Anglo-Saxon-looking character because they thought Brock would be percieved as a racial stereotype in Western civilizations as the series became popular overseas. Look it up for more.

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