Feelings on FFVII characters looking Asian?

clowd · Mar 17, 2013

I was messing around on youtube and ran across this

2:30 - 3:10 in this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPE3qd1IgKI

He makes a good point. Why in a fantasy setting are the characters starting to look Japanese? Its even odder that in the anime like Last Order or in official Dissidia art Tifa looks 0% Japanese but in Advent Children she looks 100% Japanese. I mean look at this pic, nobody looks Japanese, they look like Anime characters

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D0IHljyRyOQ/Tl-n2h62H8I/AAAAAAAAAHs/8eoq2Rdu46I/s1600/FF9.jpg

I can understand a Hojo or Tseng looking Japanese as their name implies that, but why did many other characters become Japanese overnight?

Are you OK with this or does it bother you?

JBedford · Mar 17, 2013

So he's basically saying that people from the US are the "default"? In a fantasy setting /why couldn't they look Japanese?/

That said, I can understand having a problem with existing characters who haven't previously looked Japanese looking Japanese. Not that I think Tifa looks 100% Japanese in Advent Children, or have any real problem with the way and character has visually appeared outside of FFVII. I did find it odd that characters in FFX looked Japanese in FMVs, and notsomuch everywhere else.

I always thought it was weird that Japanese developers almost never seemed to have Japanese-looking characters.

Octo · Mar 17, 2013

I still don't think the characters look that Japanese in AC, more like they look how a Japanese person with a shit load of cosmetic surgery and hair dye would look, ie: They look like the westernised 'ideal' that seems prevalent in a lot of Japanese media

Funny that Tseng only looks a little bit oriental in Crisis Core In AC he looks no different to anyone else :closedmonster:

Danseru-kun · Mar 17, 2013

What I can say is that I heard before that Ashe is supposed to look like a French, but then they decided to make her resemble a Japanese for the market. Of course Japan can use their own desired features for their fictional characters.

And... anime characters never look Japanese, just look at the EYES. We just associate the characters because of the drawing style and costume but the faces are almost always big eyes. The same can be said why official art differ from FMV's.

Ⓐaron · Mar 17, 2013

Square Enix is an Asian company. It would be more surprising if the majority of their characters didn't look Asian. And actually, large numbers of them don't. What Octo and Danseru said is pretty accurate.

Octo · Mar 18, 2013

Yeah, I mean judging by a lot of their actions they sometimes come across like they don't even give a shit about the western market :lol:

Unlucky · Mar 18, 2013

Basically what everyone else said.

I think some characters look Asian more because of their effeminate features than because it was specifically intended.

And I don't agree with the dude in the video saying Zack looks like an "Asian punk rocker". Uhh.. he doesn't. It might be the black, spiky hair but everything else, nu-uh.

Nor do I agree that Tifa looked Asian in AC.

JBedford128 said:
That said, I can understand having a problem with existing characters who haven't previously looked Japanese looking Japanese.

Also this. Apart from changing features that I may have already liked/been used to, it also messes with how I imagine the character as he/she is to an extent. I myself picture Tifa as Irish, and Cloud, undoubtedly, looks Scandinavian in my brain :monster:

If by some chance SE decides that Tifa looks like a standard J-pop idol and Cloud a blond Takahiro Sakurai, I wouldn't like it, but not because I have something against Asian looks.

jazzflower92 · Mar 18, 2013

In my headcannon Sephiroth is half Wutain because of the fact he is Dr.Hojo's son.I know that Square never confirmed Hojo is Wutain but I have a safe bet he is.

Ghost X · Mar 18, 2013

Of all things that bother me the least / not at all about FF games, it is the racial appearance of the characters. I don't even mind a bit of the kookiness that comes with japanese culture, as in the kind of stuff that is morally questionable in the west :awesome:

. I wish there was more of it. The mannerisms of characters do get a bit over-bearing for me however.

The fantasy genre isn't just medieval europe, steampunk, and dragons. I really like when SE has explored other themes. There are a lot of untouched stuff in the world that could be used as inspiration, and then of course comes totally alien stuff that can only come from imaginations.

LicoriceAllsorts · Mar 18, 2013

I read this article a while ago. For me it was a real eye-opener on the topic.

http://www.matt-thorn.com/mangagaku/faceoftheother.html

In brief, we think of Japanese features as "alien" or "other" and of our own faces as the default for humanity. When we see a face that isn't clearly marked for us as "Japanese" (ie, different from us), we assume that it looks like us and that it was intended to look like us. But for the Japanese, their own faces are the default for humanity, so any face that looks human looks Japanese. If it's going to look western to them, it has to be clearly marked as western.

I suppose as the computer graphics become more refined, it becomes easer to include the tiny details which are all that really differentiate us once you take skin colour and hair texture out of the equation. Thus, the characters in Japanese video games will inevitably come to look "more Japanese". I've been watching "Three Kingdoms (2010)" this week and been struck by the huge variety of facial features among the Chinese actors - some look western; some, with black skin and curly hair, could easily be African.

Obsidian Fire · Mar 18, 2013

FFVII in particular was really open to any characterization with the original field models... and yeah, anime/manga style is not a representation of what Asian people look like or any other people group for that matter. It's got more to do with "person has x features, so it's highly likely they have y personality traits".

I think anime looks are considered Asian because that's where the style originated. One thing I get a kick out of is reading manga that take place in western countries and have western people as the characters. The thing is, it's manga, so the characters still have the manga look to them. But I don't think that the characters look Asian, I think they look like manga characters.

Tennyo · Mar 18, 2013

Last time I checked this was a fantasy world. The characters can look like whatever the creators want them to.

Vivi · Mar 18, 2013

I stopped watching that video at about the 4 minute mark. The implication that there is something wrong with non-white characters in a fantasy setting is pretty gross imo. I mean, I didn't hear him complaining that Nibelheim might have a German background, and that's "adding culture".

JayM · Mar 19, 2013

I didn't even make it that far, ugh.

As for characters "looking Japanese," why wouldn't they? I'm just not even seeing why this would or should bother anyone, regardless of your original visual interpretation of the character. They're created by a Japanese company and originally released to a Japanese audience. Japanese features are the default. Deal with it.

Danseru-kun · Mar 19, 2013

I'm actually amused by how some people complain that FF characters are Japanese looking, while some complain why Japan westernize their characters too much for the American audience.

With the exception of Sazh, Snow, Basch, Jecht, Auron and Fang... ALL characters look Japanese to me <3

JayM · Mar 19, 2013

Also, because I am an internet masochist and procrastinating on workstuff, I went to this guy's channel, and he's got another video about how using the Japanese pronunciation of the character names is totally 100% wrong because "this is America" and yeah he can go get the hell out of my fandom right the fuck now.

Ghost X · Mar 19, 2013

Oh, he's one of those people. I should've guessed :awesome:

.

looneymoon · Mar 19, 2013

to be fair when i first played ff7 i kind of imagined the characters as different races based on where i geographically located their home towns in relation to the real world.

that said, the game is made in japan??? of course they are going to imagine japanese-looking characters????? sheesh.

Strangelove · Mar 19, 2013

CG animators will use their own faces for reference when working at times.

If all your animators are Asians, then your characters might end up looking like them too.

Danseru-kun · Mar 19, 2013

JayM said:
Also, because I am an internet masochist and procrastinating on workstuff, I went to this guy's channel, and he's got another video about how using the Japanese pronunciation of the character names is totally 100% wrong because "this is America" and yeah he can go get the hell out of my fandom right the fuck now.

Hahaha tell me about how Americans pronounce Japanese names

null · Mar 19, 2013

We use US English phonetic pronunciation and add "-san". :awesome:

Every Street Fighter playing kid I knew growing up pronounced Ryu as "R-EYE-ooo".

Unlucky · Mar 19, 2013

^Lawl I remember getting into a fight when I was a kid because of that :desu:

Ryushikaze · Mar 21, 2013

null said:
We use US English phonetic pronunciation and add "-san".

Every Street Fighter playing kid I knew growing up pronounced Ryu as "R-EYE-ooo".

It still happens from time to time.

Unlucky said:
^Lawl I remember getting into a fight when I was a kid because of that

Likewise, though fortunately, the game had sound samples to confirm it should Ree-oo.

Though IIRC, WiR got it wrong. One small stain on an otherwise good movie.

Also, the folks in JP media tend to look neither asian nor western to me, but a blend of both. Like if I HAD to peg Tifa's genetic ancestry, I'd say Norman French with Japanese ancestry.

Kermitu Kleric Katie · Mar 21, 2013

Yay, Ryu's poasting again!

Vivi · Mar 21, 2013

JayM said:
Also, because I am an internet masochist and procrastinating on workstuff, I went to this guy's channel, and he's got another video about how using the Japanese pronunciation of the character names is totally 100% wrong because "this is America" and yeah he can go get the hell out of my fandom right the fuck now.

I watched his "Fuck Crisis Core" video and I deeply regret that I will never get those minutes of my life back.

Feelings on FFVII characters looking Asian?

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