Comments on: Japan’s “Male Colors” on Full Display

By: Michael vdB

Michael vdB — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 21:30:09 +0000

I love how the Japanese make everything so expressive and full of life. I recently went to a presentation on Katsushika Hokusai’s The Great Wave. Although he is not gay (or thought to be), his print was superb in giving life to the ocean. Great stuff.

By: j

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 15:25:52 +0000

Huge props to Ted C.
I couldn’t think of the right way to explain that. I think there are only two caucasians in all of the art on this page. (By which I mean: two characters intended to be caucasian.)

By: Ted C.

Ted C. — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:29:56 +0000

I don’t think the characters in anime are supposed to be “Caucasian”. I think it’s just that when you simplify the outline of a person to make a cartoon, facial features all turn out pretty much the same.

I think American artists have a tradition of exaggerating Asian facial features when drawing Asian characters. (And I think it’s a silly tradition. Growing up, I never understood why they did that.) Obviously, Japanese artists feel no need to do that. That might be why you don’t think the characters in anime look Japanese to your eyes.

By: Lucas

Lucas — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 05:50:08 +0000

Kevin57, somewhat true…. if you’ve ever seen any Japanese Cartoons or anime — a lot of characters are more Caucasian than they are east Asian, even though they all speak perfect Japanese. All of the higher up people (Presidents, royalties, leaders) are almost always Caucasian. So… perhaps not so much attraction to “alien”, but more along the lines of classicism and a bit of ingrained racism.

By: kevin57

kevin57 — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 02:20:55 +0000

Interesting.

Note that in many (most?) of the depictions, the guys are Caucasian. Is this the perennial attraction to the “alien”?

By: Darth Paul

Darth Paul — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 21:08:13 +0000

@REBELComx: Higa’s *is* a little trite. Very Ranma 1/2.

By: Charles J. Mueller

Charles J. Mueller — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:58:51 +0000

@REBELComx:

Umm….spamalot, do you REBELComx?

By: GG Allin

GG Allin — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:20:40 +0000

I like the movie Heavy Metal.

By: j

Thu, 05 Feb 2009 15:27:36 +0000

So much for the thought provoking question ending the article I guess…

I do think that it is still difficult to work in the mainstream of the world with gay subject matter, because only art communities see the work as equal (not always, but often) and after it is accepted there is still the question of whether or not they are going to say you paint it just to paint men in their underwear… and whether or not your peers think it is art (as REBELComx critique shows).

By: REBELComx

REBELComx — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:21:55 +0000

This is really awesome. I wish we could do something like this here. All the artists up there are great…but I can’t honestly say I’m that impressed with Higa’s work. It looks like low quality Flash Animation. And I’m not thrilled with his anatomy at all. Personally, I think I do a much better job – http://rebelcomx.deviantart.co.....etng-Cards

By: Darth Paul

Darth Paul — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 13:30:34 +0000

That’s awesome!