So, let's forget about Black Protagonists in anime for a moment, and think about the possibility of something more novel than that.
Do you guys think there will be an anime made with an Extraterrestrial Protagonist in Japan anytime in the near future ?
It would be the prime of diversity in anime if an ET main character with either red, blue, orange or purple skin stars in an anime. ( It would also be cool if such an MC had antennae on top of his head like the Andorians from Star Trek ).
Now that I think of it, Star Trek is really the best live-action TV series when it comes to exploring diversity in a fictional story, since there are so many non-human humanoid races, and the story emphasizes the virtue that no matter how different we look, as long as we share something in common, we can still be good friends and even love and marry one another.
Who knows ? Maybe in real life, Earthlings who are used to interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds would be the most valued skill if alien contact happened in the future.
Therefore, we need more diversity in anime with new settings for the main characters. Anime just can't have Japanese, Asian or Caucasian-looking protagonists with the standard cliched and boring white skin setting all the time.
We need more diverse everything. Not only does it allow viewers to enter a new point of view, but also gives us a peek of a new culture. Fiction builds empathy.
When we read or watch characters that do not look like us nor live like us – we begin to understand them.
In the words of Gene Luen Yang, “You understand what makes you similar and how vast the differences are, and it helps people who are different from you. Right now it seems like – not just in America, but around the world – we need a little more empathy.”
Besides, diversity in the Universe is the norm, and not an exception. Nothing stays the same forever.
If anime has more diversity, it would open up a larger new market.
Now with Netflix gaining more influence in anime production in Japan and an American anime studio opening up shop in Japan, one day there will be a Romcom anime with a Black or ET protagonist romancing a Japanese main heroine. It is possible.
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