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Black Anime Characters?!
6 Plays3 years ago
This week we discuss our favorite Black anime characters! Shout out Black History Month. We also answer some more questions in Shinobi Time at the 42:10 mark. Enjoy!
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Transcript
Introduction by Meloninjas
00:00:09
Speaker
Every story, every battle, every model, every child, every dream, every team, it don't matter if you proud, gotta bleed for it Yeah, nigga, gotta bleed for it
00:00:20
Speaker
See my ancestors from Manchester to now I've been to underground stories Since niggas was underground, we them black ninjas Who makin' our mamas proud, better tune in nigga We takin' it all around, it's the meloninjas So go and tell the fam we need better figures And we don't fuck with Uncle Sam, better get the picture These black hands make black bands And I be the greatest nigga like the last dance, meloninjas
00:00:59
Speaker
Hello, we are your Meloninjas and each week we will discuss anime topics that are near and dear to our hearts. We aren't experts, just very passionate anime fans. Hope you enjoy.
Exploring Black Anime Characters
00:01:10
Speaker
So this week we are talking about African American or Black anime characters.
00:01:18
Speaker
There are not many, there are not many. So expect to hear a lot of overlap in some of our favorites, but it does make a great, it does have a great discussion for us. So, Kawant, I'm putting it to you first there. Oh boy. Give us one of your favorite black anime characters. One of my favorite black anime characters is probably going to be Aline from Curricles basketball.
00:01:45
Speaker
Yeah, like he has like limitless potential. He's the best character. And of course, he's black, which is kind of stereotypical, but we'll let it slide this time, I guess. How about you, Alex? I think my favorite black anime character is controversial because they never, you know, he's technically he's green, but he's black. I think we can all get on board with the fact that Piccolo was black. OK.
00:02:15
Speaker
So I would definitely say Piccolo, like Piccolo from DBZ. You just gonna jump over Mr. Popo like that? We're not claiming Mr. Popo, but Piccolo can come to the picnic. What about Oop? Oop got a little more melanin in him than Piccolo does. He does, but let's, Piccolo is black.
Debating Black Identity in Anime Characters
00:02:40
Speaker
Like there's just no debate.
00:02:42
Speaker
I agree with that. I could get with that. Are Jamaicans melanated? Is that a thing? Do they have melanin? I think I picked it. They got a lot of it. Their melanin is just green. I'm going to go with
00:03:05
Speaker
My girl Canary from Hunter Hunter, right? I really banged with her mostly because she's super powerful. She like worked for the Zoldyck family in their kind of royalty in that show to the fact that they even accepted her and they power scale her really well.
00:03:24
Speaker
So I'm thinking of when going to China rescue Killua or he thinks he's going to rescue Killua because later on they just show that Killua could have left anytime if he wanted to. You find out about her backstory and you just see how strong she is but how much of a heart she has. I think one of the most badass things in it is that she took out
00:03:44
Speaker
a guy that had a hundred troops with him at the age of 10. Like if she was in Naruto, she would be like Ambu Black Ops, or you know, like Harold did as one of the strongest Shinobi. So I think she's a really good character. All right, come on, we're back to you, sir. This one's a little controversial. We might argue about this, but Brooks from One Piece, yeah, he's a black man.
00:04:13
Speaker
All that soul, that 4C curl pattern. Yeah, that 4C curl is something else. Don't know why people know what that is. So yeah, this is clearly not your part of the show. Yeah, he's a black man. He's 100% a black man. I'm here for it. Hey, man. Long live One Piece. I love anything that gives us some One Piece on this show. How about you, Alex? Who do you have next?
00:04:34
Speaker
Hmm. Okay. So I got to throw some bleach in there. I mean, of course, you know, I know we're going to have lots of overlap, but you can't forget about Yurichi from bleach. Like she, she was badass. So we're counting Yurichi as black. I mean, she, if she's pigmented, I mean, I'm giving it to her. I'm fine with that. But does that mean we also give it to Killer B? That's what I have. Or the Rekage. Yeah.
00:05:03
Speaker
Oh, that one's challenging. I was actually thinking about Killer Bee, like, is that do we count Killer Bee? I mean, I got bars for days. Oh, my God, that one. That one's tough to throw in there. Okay, so what makes you what makes you give it to your reaching so easily, but you can't give it to Killer Bee? Because Killer Bee seems like the
00:05:28
Speaker
the Asian version of a guy, they're trying to make black or something. Like he's like, not, it's like, he's, they're trying, it's like, he's tries to on the nose and it's like an attempt or a thought of making him black or something. I don't know. I don't, it's hard. That one's just hard. Like, I feel like that's just, I don't know. Whereas like, Yorichi has,
00:05:57
Speaker
It just feels like her character, it just feels like her essence feels like it has more of an identity with being black. But I don't know, that's a stretch. We're even going to sit here and lie. I think of her like rebelling against the system, like all of her historic feats. You know, like, I don't know, I think it's I think she's pretty on par with a black woman.
00:06:21
Speaker
I agree. But yeah, Killer Bean, and I hope anything I said there wasn't offensive. It just seems like somebody, it seems like if you don't know anything about black culture, what elements of black culture can we smash into a character to like, I don't know, personify blackness and inject it into the show?
00:06:46
Speaker
So not a big fan of Killer Bee's character, but you know, I guess he's a gag character anyway, in a lot of ways. So kind of take it from what it is.
00:06:57
Speaker
That's valid. That's valid. Um, hmm. It's back to me. I'm gonna take an obvious one. I just have to. Afro Samurai. That man is so badass.
Highlighting Afro Samurai & Others
00:07:11
Speaker
And it's voiced by Samuel Jackson. Like, how much blacker can you get? His story is really good. It's a quick watch. I think it's like five episodes. The story is pretty dope.
00:07:24
Speaker
I'm just an avid fan. I don't want to spoil anything in the show, but yeah, this dude is just raw. And because of him, I wear headbands that have the number one on it, which I shouldn't want to wear because, you know, people get their head cut off for wearing these. Oh my God. They do. You seen the show? Come on. Yes. Yes, I have. All right. I'm going to go back to you, sir. Oh, boy.
00:07:51
Speaker
I feel like we're running low now. No, no, no, we're not. I think we got hella time, actually. I got a couple on my list. So I'll throw out some of my honorable mentions. So Mugi? First of all, is Mugi a Black man from Shamrock Champloo? That's a question I've had for quite some time.
00:08:08
Speaker
I feel like he has the, to put it in Alex's eloquence, he has the essence of a black man, but that man does not have no melanin. He's a shade darker than gin, but he's not. That man has no melanin to be. I'll take it though. I'll give him the honorable mention. No, no, no, no. Listen, if we are not certain,
00:08:38
Speaker
It's okay. These cards are not to be give down sparingly, okay? These black cards are not to be give down sparingly. But hey, black, you know, it is a social construct anyway. So I mean, if there's anybody, like culture in and of itself, right? So it's hard. It's one of those things where I mean, that's why we talk about black card, like we can give it out. If we can give it out, I'm giving it to Thorfinn.
00:09:08
Speaker
He's not black though. I don't know. I don't know. That man knows struggle. He is overcame, overcome. Oh my gosh. If we giving it out, I'm giving it to my girl Katara from our last air. Oh man. I'm not mad at that. I'm not mad at that. You know, Katara and Sokka. I mean, come on. Are you going to give it to Cora too or not?
00:09:34
Speaker
No, we don't. I don't know. She said too far. Too much. Sheesh. They can keep Cora. I don't know, y'all. Y'all can keep Cora on your side of the table. She can be that quick. She could come to the picnic. I just don't want to sit with her. Damn. She just unilaterally ruined the entire AOT. That's something else. But she didn't ruin the AOT.
00:10:02
Speaker
Avatar show for me. I didn't like her a character that much but you know, that's neither here nor there. Of course you got Kawhi. Mr. I got a list. I have a couple actually. There's like Captain Tosen from Bleach. He was the blind dude with the, I think he had locks.
00:10:23
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was a he was a really good black. Um sit in nygas from So either sit as a zombie, but like I'm almost a hundred and like 50% certain He was a black man and nygas is like his uh, he's a weapon like the weapons have like and so either the weapons have like physical bodies, too And she is a hundred percent one of the sexiest black women I've ever seen in my life. Okay Yeah, yeah, it's like that
00:10:51
Speaker
Ooh, you got the, remember the, there was one black dude at the end of Jujutsu Kaisen. I'm only mentioning him because he got his ass beat. So I feel like he needs a little bit of showing. The Brothers, the Poison Brothers at the interviews, is it Esau or Esau or something? Is he black? He was pretty. He had a lot of melanin in him, but he got that ass beat. I don't wanna claim him. He gotta get some time though. I'm trying to shout him out because he got his ass beat. This is definitely a remedial shout out.
00:11:20
Speaker
you know when uh when Dave Chappelle did the whole race draft that's how i feel this episode should be but like we only drafted for black people i'm saying we don't want him okay okay touche um Elfman from fairy tale was another black character even though he had like a white sister which i'm not quite sure about but you know what else hey man adoption's real touche
00:11:48
Speaker
Uh, there was a character in, uh, another character in Soul Eater called Killik and he had like these two gauntlets and one was like fire and one was thunder. He's another black character. He's actually really cool. He has some straight back cornrows. I used to, I fuck with that because I used to have straight backs. Oh, wow. Straight backs, bro. We got to see a picture. Oh
Black Representation in Various Animes
00:12:08
Speaker
Lord. I'm hiding, motherfucker. That gotta be the thumbnail for this episode.
00:12:18
Speaker
I got one for you guys. I got one for you guys My guy. Oh actually before I do that what I was gonna jump the fire force But I just really want to see Alex's reaction to sister crone from promise No
00:12:36
Speaker
No, you don't like her. She shouldn't be one of the best anime characters. Oh my god. If we're talking about caricatures, that one, I mean, she's a mammy. She's literally a mammy character. Oh my god. But she was OP. It doesn't matter, anime or not, that character is just...
00:13:04
Speaker
I would have been offended that character was in the boondocks. Great. No, no to that character. But if we're just giving out, if we get to assign who black just based on essence, can we give it to Toto from Jiu Jitsu Kaisen?
00:13:23
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Yes, Toto definitely deserves it. Kawhi, stop that. I will say my only gripe with Toto is this man said he'd like... No, actually that was Yuji. Yeah, Yuji's the one who'd be like a Jennifer Lawrence. That's what I was about to say. I was about to say he said, I like girls with big butts like Jennifer. That was such an opportunity to say someone greater.
00:13:49
Speaker
No, Toto said he liked him thick. Toto likes a Japanese idol, though. Like, she's... I don't know. But that man said he likes big butts. But no... He cannot lie. I'm about to make a statement about certain people and their butts, but I won't. It's a safe face.
00:14:17
Speaker
I'm going to let this cut pass for me before I put my foot in my mouth. The little things I said are not a place of the nobody. Well, if we talk about bodies in anime, Alex, have you seen Black Clover? I have.
00:14:37
Speaker
I'm going to go with soul. I think she black. Blue roses, the vice captain. She is black. That is a black woman. She is swinging for the team. I want her to be swinging for, but damn it. Shorty is gorgeous. Yeah, she, yeah, she's great. She's, she fine. That's a great one. I would agree with that. Yeah, that's a great one. I didn't even, it even occurred to me.
00:15:05
Speaker
Come on, I love it why y'all agree with me. It doesn't have fit off, did I? You know what we also have to talk about? If we're talking about Black characters who... Remember the Black character from Attack on Titan? And I can't even pronounce this brother's name. It's like... Oh, yeah, he a bitch. Ohnjangkopon? Mm-hmm. Oh, my goodness, y'all. That one is another one that I'm like... I mean, he's as melonated... I mean, they couldn't have made him...
00:15:34
Speaker
more melanated, but that character, right? Yeah, I think they even talked about in one of the episodes, they asked him, why are you so tan? Like the whole narrative about it. Yeah, they emasculated that man bad in this season. They really did.
00:15:52
Speaker
I don't like to see that. But talking about a black character that wasn't emasculated, my man Ogun Montgomery from Fire Force. Now that brother from Nigeria, I think he said he's Yoruba.
00:16:06
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, he he's I loved him and they give him proper shine. I think they do episode nine or 10 of season two. They just let him go OP. I think it's super dope, especially even adding like the tribal aspects of his character and how it's directly linked to his his firepower. Oh, that's really dope.
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah, no, and they they don't they do him really well with his design, too. Like it's all altogether like a solid character, like a really solid character. They did. I think they did as well with him as like American animation did with like Static Shock's character. Like it was just really, really cool. That's a great cop. Yeah.
00:16:47
Speaker
What about, so, sticking with Fire Force. Are we saying Sharon is black? Because that man looks black. No, he's black. You're not about to argue with me about this. He's black. I don't want to argue. I'll just say, they say that Ogood is specifically black. They say that that man is Nigerian. We know nothing about Sharon. That's how I was asking. Bro, he has to be black. There's no other way he's anything but a black man. I'm sorry. He could be extremely tan from his fire power. Bullshit, nigga. He's black, OK?
00:17:16
Speaker
I'll take it. I'll take he's badass. The only thing I do that the only thing I wouldn't like about him being black is that his powers associated with how much physical damage he takes. Why I don't Yeah, there's a lot. There's a lot there. That's loaded.
00:17:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I see where this is going. He takes a whip and he's stronger. Yeah. It's it's giving me dingo vibes, bro. I'm not gonna lie. Okay. Okay. This one left. Touchรฉ though. I see what I see where you could. If we're not going there, I agree. I think I'll claim him. That man is OP. I mean, I wasn't. I didn't think that far into good Alex. I was like, what about Scar from
00:17:58
Speaker
from Full Metal Alchemist. Ooh, that's a really good, look, like I said, this is a draft and I'll draft him. I just remember seeing him for the first time as a character, just not understanding what his power was in terms of like alchemy and realizing that he just didn't have the last step of like restoring things or like shape. So he's just like killing people by grabbing their face. That's so badass.
00:18:27
Speaker
I do think though, this is kind of a tangent, but I do think his story is pretty tragic once you find out what Greed did to like start the whole war. I guess that was a lot. It made me feel for Scar in a different way, especially because he comes out at the end of the show, like everyone's happy, but that man's lost the most. That's true. That's true. In a lot of ways, he's kind of like,
00:18:55
Speaker
I was going to say like an immigrant, but he's been, I mean, he was displaced. He was destroyed. So it's crazy. Yeah. Now that one's pretty, that one's pretty good though. What about, what about rock lock? Do we want to claim rock lock from my hero? I mean, I guess he's a little underwhelming, but, uh, I mean, yeah, I mean, like I said, this is a draft. We don't got to claim him just cause he got locks on me. He black.
00:19:28
Speaker
I think he's black, though, if we're being honest. Well, the thing that's interesting about this one is, at least in My Hero Academia, they specifically talk about when people are from America or not. We don't know nothing about this man, where his origin is. We just see him in Japan. I'll take on my guess, though, but he is super underwhelming. Speaking of underwhelming, this might be controversial.
00:19:58
Speaker
Yasuke. From the anime Yasuke. Yasuke. Well, that tells you that I don't know who this is. So all right, he's based off of a real person. Like the character is actually like a real, like, real person that lives. He's supposed to be the first like African born samurai. LaShawn Thomas writes the anime. He's the like head writer for it. Shout out to LaShawn Thomas. That means like epic.
00:20:27
Speaker
in terms of like anime production and just like anything like animated in general. He did a lot of the writing for, or animation for boondocks as well. That's how come you see like a lot of anime influences in Huey Freeman's fights. But anyway, Yasuke based off of real life samurai, African samurai, and they tell a story, Lakeith Stanfield was like, he does the English dub of it. The story?
00:20:56
Speaker
I didn't gravitate towards it as much. I thought it was too predictable, but it was also short. I think it was like 10 episodes, maybe, maybe an eight. A lot of people got a lot of hype around it though. Netflix threw a ton of money behind it. I just couldn't get with the whole like, what era are we in? Because you kind of see like old school, Edo period, but then they have magic and robots.
00:21:26
Speaker
Which is it? Like, what are we doing? Then again, it's fictional, so allow some type of escapism, but I don't know.
00:21:38
Speaker
I think there was an old anime called Samurai 7 that gave a similar vibe to Yasuke in terms of the vagueness of the period. Because in that one, there was robots and honestly, what looked like fucking Gundams. There's just a lot of different elements that vaguely mixed up the period. I'll get you there. It's another similar one to that though.
00:22:07
Speaker
Yeah, not good. I mean, and it's again, it's like for me, it just goes with world building. Because sometimes I care about that. And it's really random and super sporadic. Sometimes I care about world building. Other times I just want to see people box. And they do they do box in the show pretty well. But yeah, I was just like, I really just couldn't invest myself in it. And it was I guess also because he's the main character, but he's kind of driven by another character. So
00:22:37
Speaker
He's really a co-main, as opposed to just being like the main following his story. I don't know. It wasn't for me, but I'll watch season two. Maybe it gets better. But sticking with Sean Thomas, I'm not sure if you guys seen Cannon Busters. I loved Cannon Busters. It only got one season. Have you guys seen it?
00:22:57
Speaker
Great, I love it. So Cannon Busters is based off of a comic or a manga that LaShawn wrote in 2005. And basically it follows this guy named Philly the Kid. Philly the Kid is an outlaw, my favorite type of character. You really don't know why he's doing everything he's doing throughout the show. The one thing you do know is he can't die. And what happens every time that he does
00:23:24
Speaker
supposedly die, he gets a tattoo on his body. Like when he comes back alive, when he comes back to life, a tattoo number shows the number or death that he's on. But he's a mortal. So the tattoo really doesn't mean anything. It just shows you like how many times he's died. And you following him on his journey, and he's kind of learning a little bit more about himself and some morals. And then by the end of the season, without ruining anything, you kind of find out why he's on his journey.
00:23:55
Speaker
in why he took a detour to help out some of the other main characters. I like it. That's also one of those, it's kind of weird because now it sounds a little hypocritical, but that also blurs.
00:24:07
Speaker
period because he's a cowboy, hence the outlaw moniker, but he has a car that turns into a robot. It turns into like a raging bull, almost like a Gundam, actually. That almost does look like a Gundam, not gonna lie. But he's like the only character that has that type of weaponry. So that's why I think it's a little different than in Yasuke, like there's just an army of freaking robots and you're just like, bro, what?
00:24:35
Speaker
Like, what is this thing where I saw her going to do to, or Katana is going to do to these robots? But yes, Philly the Kid, one of my favorite anime characters of all time. Kawan. Cowboy Bebop. Is Ed Black? I would say so. Yes. Yes. Very much so Black. About Jet. About Jet.
00:25:03
Speaker
I kind of want to claim him. I want to claim him because of his demeanor, his essence, as Alex put, his essence. His essence? Honestly, he's on the line. We'll give it to him.
Emotional Connection & Cultural Impact
00:25:15
Speaker
We'll give it to him. OK, I'll take that. He's earned that one. I'll give him that. But I do agree with you. His demeanor is very, very much becoming of a black man. I would give him that.
00:25:29
Speaker
All right, so this one is something that we've talked about for a while. And I'm just curious for your take, sir.
00:25:38
Speaker
Is Castlevania an anime? And if it is, does Isaac make your list for top black anime characters? Yes and yes, without question. Say more, say more. Isaac is, so I would say that Castlevania has a lot of American influences, definitely, or just like other influences, but I would definitely say that it still has a lot of that Asian influence that is
00:26:04
Speaker
uh particularly notable in anime like particularly what not that's very connected with anime with our general understanding of anime second he's he's definitely at the top of like the list in terms of black characters because he started off castlevania as a literal side character like this thing was nobody important
00:26:23
Speaker
And by season two, he's like legitimately one of the major players. It's very rare that you see that kind of progress and that kind of shine for a black character in anime at all to be like a major player. Like he was up there with like he was essentially like one of the warlords in the area.
00:26:39
Speaker
He had his own army running shit like and the fact that he like very rarely do you see black men in charge in anime like you very rarely see them in positions of power and this niggas a literal commander in chief of an army of monsters but still an army like and then he fought head up with the leader of the opposing side and beat her ass like she was it's her so it sounds bad but like she's a vampire so whatever
00:27:04
Speaker
He was seriously one of the most integral parts of the story. So he is without a doubt one of the top black anime characters in my book. Do you, do you, does it enhance his standing for you? That he's, although he does have mystical powers, he's not super powered. Cause for me, that made me like him that much more when he fought the vampire straight up and he's not super powered. I wouldn't say straight up. Cause he definitely like, he jumped the shit out of her. Absolutely. Absolutely. But still like,
00:27:33
Speaker
If you're finding a supernatural being, they should be like one, one, you know, she's super strong, right? Like one grab, she just has to grab him once and it's over for him in theory. But he's still like one in there and he did jump her. But he took that risk. It was a calculated risk.
00:27:51
Speaker
Yeah. OK. I wouldn't call it a risk. If you walk into a room with 1,000 niggas to fight one person, is it really a risk? Like, hey, hey, Madara walked into a field with 1,000 shinobi. And it wasn't a risk, nigga. He was fine. He wasn't worried about any of them. Like, he was like, oh, that's it? Like, y'all didn't bring enough pigs to fuck with me? That's what he said to them. Like, I'm pretty sure that was in the anime, like verbatim.
00:28:17
Speaker
Let's not remember that man ran out of chakra real fast doing all of that. I mean, yeah, but did he even need it to be like he could have he could have he could have been like Madara could have been every one of them with his hands and like not a drop of chocolate. Yeah, I mean, shout out to Oh, since we're like, oh, look, Madara always be one of my favorite characters simply because of the whole, what are you going to do with the next one when he dropped the
00:28:41
Speaker
And it took all their fathers out there first. But I do want to take this time to propose another black card giving to Alex's favorite character ever, Mike Guy. Oh no. Mike Guy guys? Really? Really? Mike Guy? He went hand to hand. That man got hands and black people have hands.
00:29:07
Speaker
I mean, we were talking about 4C hair texture earlier. This man's got the slickest bowl cut of all time. Unless he's got a perm. He might have a perm. He might have a cat, Williams. He might have a cat, Williams. No, no, no, no. My guy's like the stereotypical man. There's no way he has a fucking perm. There's no way. OK, OK. What about what about the Grace Aimee? Can we give him? He can go jump off a cliff and like not fly off.
00:29:34
Speaker
What we're talking about, like, characters is Brock from Pokemon Black. Yes. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I always saw him as Black. Pokemon also has, I'm not sure if y'all, I still play Pokemon. Shout out to RCs that just came out. Actually, I take that back because they're not sponsoring this video. But they have a character called Nessa. She's like the water gym. Yeah, yeah, she's dope. She's Black. She real Black. I fuck with it. Yeah, she's got a dope design too.
00:30:03
Speaker
But yes, Brock counts. Oh, Emerson, did you ever watch Gangster like I recommended? Oh, absolutely. It's one of my favorite. And I think that should be on a list of one of the, you know, one season. Yeah, no, no, it is without question. We'll talk about that later. Doug is a Black character. The dude that had the two Kukri machetes, he is by far one of, like, he's up there on my list, too, of like, just coldest Black characters. I bang with that. I bang with that.
00:30:29
Speaker
Because the thing is, all right, so this is like, before I before I round out with a couple other characters, I actually only have one left. That's honorable mention. Two more. Okay, before we get there, I have an interesting or potentially interesting. I had a conversation with one of my friends.
00:30:48
Speaker
And basically they were asking me, how do I feel or why do I like anime so much if there isn't that much representation for black people in it? And I was like, I don't really watch it for that, but I also think about
00:31:04
Speaker
the audience like I don't think they're targeting black people necessarily it's just they're writing a show this is how it's like based off you know some granted sometimes they do take creative liberties and people look different in the anime than they do in the manga whatnot whatever but I'm not really looking at it in terms of like I'm the target audience I just like the stories I like the fighting I like the boxing you know whatever her counter to that was
00:31:32
Speaker
Okay, cool, so if you don't care about representation, doesn't it not bother you that there are more characters that look like a white person? Blonde hair, blue eye, think Goku or any Saiyan when they go Super Saiyan, Naruto, and other characters, they look more like white people than they do black people. Does that affect how you see things? And I thought it was an interesting question. The answer to me was no, because for me, I actually think it's cool
00:32:02
Speaker
when I see a black character now because there's so few. It also makes me a little bit more emotional. I have a more of an emotional reaction too though, because if I see a black character like Sister Crowe and she's like a caricature, I'm like, what the fuck? And I'm kind of pissed. But then if I see a character that's badass like Canary or like Ogun, I'm like, oh shit, I'm super hyped. What do you guys think about stuff like that? Representation.
00:32:33
Speaker
I'm trying to digest that. That was a hell of a question. I'm digesting. Give me like two of them things. Two seconds. Yeah. I'm kind of feeling the same way. That's heavy. Could you almost like maybe give it to us in like maybe pieces. So like what part do you want us to respond to? Cause there's a lot there. I mean, just in general, do you, do you care to see representation in anime? Why or why not? Representation of black people in anime.
00:33:06
Speaker
I don't go to, I don't go to anime looking for that, I don't think. So I don't, I guess it's like going, like when you see a movie or a film made for black people and then you're saying, where are the white people? Or like, where are the Asian representation? Where's the Hispanic representation? I feel like I don't really go to a medium of a product that's based in Japan that's
00:33:36
Speaker
Literally the characters are in Japan or they're in Korea or they're in these other places and it's about their lives and their daily You know their their struggles or fantasy or not. It's still kind of housed and packaged in there. I don't really expect To see a whole lot of I guess ethnic diversity and when it's there, I think it's amazing But I don't look for it in those spaces. I don't hunt for it in those spaces. So I don't really I
00:34:05
Speaker
I'm not offended when I don't see it, but I am pleasantly and happily surprised when it's there. But I can't say that it's a requirement or it really alters my perception. I guess what I don't necessarily love, though, is that when they portray other cultures, you know, they tend to leave black culture out or when they try to draw a black character, sometimes like it looks tragic or they personify the character tragically.
00:34:35
Speaker
Um, but I don't know. I guess it's funny though, like thinking about it when they do try to bring in, like, cause that brings up another point for me when they do bring in a black character, I, I tend to be pretty critical of them unless they're dope. It's like, they're either my favorite character or like they're my least favorite character when it's attempted. So, um,
00:34:58
Speaker
So when it's not there at all, I'm not like, they should have put it in. I'm not critical if it's not there, but when it is there, I'm looking at it like, okay, how did they choose to represent black folk in this show? And it says a lot about, I guess to me, it then says a lot about what, how they see black people in whoever the creator was. So it's funny, like when it's not there, I don't really think about it, but when it is, I am kind of being more critical and looking at it from a certain lens. So yeah, that's an interesting question.
00:35:26
Speaker
Bless you, Kawan, Kiwi. As many Kung Fu movies and as big as Asian culture has been to Black people, we've never, I don't think we've ever really been the target audience. I think I'm going to, part of my answer is echo in which we've never, even in Japan, if they see a Black person, they're usually surprised to see them or things like that. I've heard stories from friends who've gone to Japan.
00:35:55
Speaker
The people that just fucking take pictures of this nigga, he's a basketball star. He was on my college debate team. This nigga never picked up a basketball. But you know what I'm saying? I don't know. Maybe it's because there's not a massive understanding of Black culture. And some of the times that they do it, they have been criticized, especially when they do shit jobs of it, like Lady Chrome.
00:36:20
Speaker
I've never I've never like I've grown accustomed to it when I've since I started watching anime to be honest with you like Dragon Ball doesn't have like an abundance of black characters like mr. Popo I didn't even understand that until I got older and then that started to piss me off So like I was already too deep into it to be honest. Yeah, exactly is boo black kid boo He should be the meaner that essence
00:36:45
Speaker
He got that my mama said I could do with the fuck I want energy and I'm like he yeah, he needed that speed. But yeah, I mean, I definitely appreciate that. I mean, because like everything Alex said was how I saw it was just like, I don't go to my anime for that. But I did think it was an interesting question because that I never thought about that as kind of a
00:37:07
Speaker
a hindrance or a gateway for people to not like or kind of like a gatekeeping thing for people to not dive into anime because I didn't think of it like some people kind of want to see themselves or see some type of representation because for me like I look nothing like Vegeta but I fuck with Vegeta heavy
00:37:23
Speaker
I want a bad wife like Boma. I want to turn up. I want to like, I think it's cool to not be the top person, but like be the person that's chasing the top person. So that's like, I don't mind being like, cause I think once you're at the top, you only could go down, right? So like being a character like Vegeta who like embodies like the constant pursuit of ambition and your goal and blah, blah, blah would be cool. Ain't nothing black about him though. So I don't like look at him and be like, Oh yeah, that's my nigga. I say that's my nigga, but that's, you know, the term of endearment.
00:37:51
Speaker
Yeah, my approach to anime is very leisurely. I try not to think that much into it because I'm doing it for the enjoyment. It's more so about the imagination and seeing how they visualize the shit that they've drawn and how mesmerized I'm going to be by it, not necessarily. If something's jarring, then that'll fuck me up a bit. But otherwise, it's not really something that I think about too, too much, just because I don't want to think too much into it.
00:38:21
Speaker
I survived. That's real. All right. All right, Kwon, who the last two you have on your list? I have like three or four, actually. Oh, go ahead. Rattle them off. So Kenichi, my favorite enemy, there's this dude named Apachai. They call him the Muay Thai Death God.
00:38:39
Speaker
Oh my gosh. This nigga is phenomenal. All of my people are fighters, actually. There's this dude named Katayama Gorebe from Samurai 7. He's like a street entertainer, but he's like an old samurai. So he'll kill you with a spoon. This nigga's phenomenal.
00:39:03
Speaker
I think my last one is going to be, actually I have two more. There's this dude named Butcher from Air Gear, which is a very, very old anime. Bro, I love Air Gear. Air Gear's my shit. I think it should be on that list of one season. But yeah. So Air Gear, for those of you who don't know what Air Gear is, Air Gear is like
00:39:23
Speaker
It's like Beyblade, but we're rollerblades. That's the quickest description I can give. Imagine if you were wearing rollerblades, but they had monsters and other shit popping out of them. Air Gear is essentially the same way. The Regalia all have different abilities and stuff like that.
00:39:41
Speaker
And my last character is going to be Ali Jr. from Baki. Oh, bro. Because he was that nigga. OK, I will say this. I thought about putting Ali Jr. on there. The problem I had was they did him dirty in that fight. He was supposed to lose, though. He was supposed to lose, but I didn't like the way he lost. Oh, speaking of losers. What a transition. Jiren, is he a black man?
00:40:09
Speaker
Ooh. We're hit, mind you. Let's talk about it. If we say Piccolo is, then I feel like we have to say hit in Jiren. But Jiren just like, oh, that's a man. Jiren that bro, like Jiren is the line back there. I think Jiren, yeah. Jiren indefinitely, y'all. Come on. Yeah. Jiren has some struggle. Like, you don't have the level of perseverance this nigga had out there. You don't get that from now on.
00:40:41
Speaker
I'm not mad at it. I'm not mad at it. I mean, yeah, I think even His demeanor about how he went about fighting him He's like I'll fight everybody like bring everybody and I want everybody to be at their best you go rest up You go get your ultra instinct back and then come back and see me
00:40:56
Speaker
Honestly, if we, if we claiming, if we claiming niggas for the draft, I'm gonna go ahead and say that Jiren is also, uh, a card carrying member of Omega South Five fraternity incorporated. Cause he is wrong, bruh. I gotta snatch him. He's a first round pick for me. I'm sorry. Oh, he out, he out for sure. He out for sure. Oh, all right. Alex, do you have any other ones? I did not. I did not.
00:41:21
Speaker
I have one honorable mention that's a stretch, but you know, whatever. Boondocks. Bushido Brown.
00:41:31
Speaker
Bushido Brown got a count. Everybody in the boondocks got a count. I'm down with that. I'm down with that for sure. Riley will be my favorite anime character of all time if we count everybody in the boondocks. I was going to say, if we are allowed to count boondocks off rip, come on. There's a lot of people we can push through. We can throw in proud, family. Penny proud. Let's get it out here if we're just going all anime. Hey. Hey, come on now. I'm not mad at that. And they're bringing it back on Disney Plus this month? Come on. True.
00:42:00
Speaker
Um, but yes, that was, that was fun. We had a lot of, we have more black people and then we gave it credit for it, but you know, I'm here for it.
Listener Questions & Reflections
00:42:08
Speaker
So now we're going to jump to our new segment. The Shinobi corner. We got three questions for you people. The first one goes to Alex. It's from our main guy, Trey. Most underrated anime recently. And then all time. Hmm. So this is a hard question for me. Um, cause a lot of the.
00:42:31
Speaker
anime that I think of as being underrated. The ones I think of really did get their flowers. So the first one I was thinking about was Your Lie in April. I love that anime so much. I think it's less common if you really only consume Shonen and you really only watch that.
00:42:49
Speaker
you probably haven't seen your lie in April because it's kind of a different, you know, category of anime, but it's beautiful. It's emotional. It's just powerful. It's a very, very strong anime. So I think of it as being underrated from the shonen community, but I will say it definitely, you know, it got its little kudos overall in anime, but I really love, love your lie in April. And then I guess another mention would be Vinland Saga. I think Vinland Saga is phenomenal, like phenomenal. And
00:43:18
Speaker
if you know it, you know it. But there's a lot of people that don't know about it. So the ones that have seen it, I think they do give it is just desserts, like for sure. But if you haven't heard of it, like I still think it's a sleeper overall, and it's worth a watch, like 100%. And then the of all time, the most, you know, the best anime of all time, that one is
00:43:38
Speaker
especially tough because I'm super biased. And so the first things that come to my head are classics that I think, once again, have gotten their flowers, like Full Metal Alchemist and even Yu Yu Hakusho. I think those are just amazing animes and everyone should watch them. I think they're timeless. I think they'll always be relevant and good.
00:44:01
Speaker
And I just think they're juggernauts, but I definitely don't consider them underrated. They're both really, really, really fantastic. Does anyone have anyone to throw in the hat or have anything they wanna throw in? I would throw in, I think Kogias. I'm not sure how many people have seen it, but I really like Kogias and I think it's super underrated, especially given how
00:44:30
Speaker
the reception towards Death Note. I think they they're like cut from the same elk. And that's what I was gonna say like I think Death Note and Code Geass like I always hear them talked about in the same breath. So I'm actually you know that one. I didn't realize I'm not as many people saw Code Geass. No, for sure. I think that one and Kawan put me on this one assassination classroom assassination classrooms pretty good.
00:44:57
Speaker
Assassination classroom is excellent and you will cry. Yeah, that's one of the first. That was your lie in April. So the thing is funny about this, your lie in April and assassination classroom, both of you have put me on to watching and both of them made me cry. So, yeah. And I'm not an emotional like I am an emotional person, but I'm not a crier when I show my emotion. But those ones little little thug passion came out my eye. Oh, no, fuck that passion. I'm talking about crocodile tears. I was hurt over here. OK.
00:45:26
Speaker
That's funny. Well, Trey, I hope those answered your question. I think the only anime that actually, well, I cry pretty easily. I will cry just from emotion. I'll cry from just beauty. I will cry from passion and really from the whole gamut of emotions. A lot of things can get that rise out of me. But I think the one that just boohooed, I was really sad. Inuyasha, I will always find a way to bring up Inuyasha if I can do it.
00:45:53
Speaker
That scene where Kiko was leaving, like, man, that was so sad. That was so tragic. That got me. Or like, I will still continue to talk about that Demon Slayer episode where, like, you know, their, their bond was on full display. I know we talked about that in a different episode, but I love that scene. It was just, it was poetry. It's beautiful. I definitely balled in the theater from Ugin Train at the end.
00:46:20
Speaker
We're in Goku. Yeah, I let it out. I was sounds and all. I was honorably crying.
00:46:28
Speaker
Oh, also, because Kawan got the claim, Jaren, I'm going to claim Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho. Ah, Yusuke. Oh, whoa, whoa. OK, sorry. Yeah, Alpha, anyway, we point niggas out, you know. Can I? Nitchy. We'll take them. But hold on, I have a question. You know, I want Ichigo. You can have Ichigo. Take Ichigo. But hold on, what's the girl that comes with Ichigo? They're a package deal. No, I don't want to wear hime. Y'all can support.
00:46:55
Speaker
Can you sit on the table with, she can sit on the same side of the table as the girl from, because Cora, she can sit with Cora on the other side. Oh, with Cora. But if we talk at Yu Yu Hakusho, I completely forgot about this. Is sense sweet black? That man got a lot of melanin in him. He does have a lot of melanin in him. I'm not opposed to taking him. Because that man is OP, I mean, he's dead, but.
00:47:27
Speaker
Make sure that I'm not mixing it up. This is the main, like, villain, right? Like, our main- Sensuit? No, that's Taguru. I think it's Taguru. I thought we- Sensuit is the next main villain in the next arc before they go into- Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ripperty Kings. Gotcha. I will take him. I'm gonna claim him. Yeah, he kind of fits. I'll give him. He kind of fits. All right, all right, cool, cool, cool. All right, Kwon. We have a question from Mr. Elijah Smith. Yes. Top three one-season animes.
00:48:00
Speaker
You can also give honorable mentions cause you know, I feel like top three is always so hard. I was going to actually. I don't know. Excuse me, sir. I was going to squeeze it in there. Um, so one season anime, I'm going to start with my favorite, which is, I guess it's kind of an honor. So I'm going to call this an honorable mention only because it's unfinished.
00:48:24
Speaker
And like massively unfinished like it stopped at a very good part. So I don't think this I don't even think it's a full season to be honest with gangster is Is by far one of the best it's unfinished though. So I'm not gonna give it an actual spot
00:48:37
Speaker
Um, but like you got got out of high school. That's definitely a one season. That's, that's, that's, that's on the list without question. A comic got killed. That one still has a soft spot in my heart and it always will. Samurai Champloo. Um, parasite, of course. I'm saving the one that I have to explain the most for less.
00:48:57
Speaker
But Samurai Seven was another one. I mentioned it earlier. It's just kind of stereotypical older anime. I think it came out in like the early 2000s maybe. But just Seven Samurai saving a woman who needs to protect her village from these giant niggas and necks. That's the gist of the story, to be honest. But my fifth and final choice is going to be this show called Death Parade.
00:49:23
Speaker
And I saved this one for last because I like the concept behind it. So essentially, when these people die, death rate is essentially when these people die, they get taken to this bar. And this bar is very reminiscent of like, I don't know if you guys are familiar with like ancient Egyptian culture, but how they used to weigh a person's life against a feather.
00:49:43
Speaker
It seems very like the vibe it gives is very similar. So in death parade, these people die and they like they play these different games with this bartender, who gives very much like a God of the underworld type, like just like not a God of the underworld, but like, like he directs them to where they need to go for the next life a little. And like they play these different like bar games, but it determines the rest of their faith. Like they determine their faith for the rest of eternity. It's like they might go to hell, they might go to heaven, purgatory, you never know.
00:50:10
Speaker
It all depends on how you perform. I like to take on that concept and how it's very reminiscent of ancient Egyptian culture and that whole weighing a person's life and just making that whole being guided into to and through the afterlife type of deal. That's the impression it gives me. It's a very interesting concept that I don't see. I like that. It's interesting. Do you have any one season anime that you like, Alex?
00:50:39
Speaker
Well, if we pretend, I think as a community, that the Promised Netherland season two didn't exist. Because season two, does that count? What? They didn't make that, guys. That was just a mistake. So they thought they were going to do it, but they didn't. So if I would have to put out Promised Netherland, like Promised Netherland is my honorable mention in that category. But you know, ironically, technically,
00:51:05
Speaker
Bleed, not bleach, technically Boruto is in its first season on episode like 200 and something. No. No. Oh, man, because they have a couple episodes in there that slap in Boruto. So hey, if you ever need a guide, you should hit up Alex because she has the best Boruto guide to get you caught up. Yeah, let me know.
00:51:33
Speaker
Yeah, I don't recommend watching for it. Yeah, you struggle, you would struggle to get through it. There's a way to get through it. But you got to skip like several just sections. But if you've seen the movie, I feel like you just skip like a large like to 180, right? It's like I can skip like 60 something episodes. And then you can watch like a little piece here and then skip again and watch a little piece here. It's too much work.
00:51:57
Speaker
Which work I don't know. I'm on this one-piece journey and again. I wish I could skip some more episodes Hey, man, wait till you get to battle marine board. That's actually I'm there actually what number am I at? What's you're like 450 then or 460 probably Yeah, 456. Oh my gosh. Let you guys hit me up when you uh, when you finish that art cuz yeah Oh, yeah, I ball that ball. Okay. I'm not okay
00:52:26
Speaker
I would, the only other one season anime I could think to add is this Cowboy Bebop. I love Cowboy Bebop a lot. And I like the kind of, there's a string that carries the whole season to get, or ties the whole season together, but each episode's kind of its own thing, which I appreciate. Like you could just jump into any episode and be fine, understand what's going on. And then for our last question comes from our man, Travis Smith, who was a former guest. Shout out to that man.
00:52:57
Speaker
So, demon slayer question. Tengen and his wives. Is he polyamorous? Is it a harem type situation? A what? A harem? I don't know how to say it. Is it harem? Is that harem? A what? A harem? A harem? A harem? A harem? As you can tell, I don't have one.
00:53:18
Speaker
Yeah, I would say I struggle with this because at first I thought it was like obvious. Yeah, this man's polyamorous. He got three wives. But then I thought about it and I was like, is it just wives in name and his way to protect them because I think only one of them
00:53:34
Speaker
was actually supposed to be assigned to him as a wife, but then he took the other two with him when he left his village as a shinobi. So, I mean, all three of them are shinobi, all four of them are shinobi, but yeah. So I, well the three wives and him, yeah. So I think,
00:53:52
Speaker
I think the answer is it depends, which is not a great answer. But I mean, obviously the all three wives are pretty romantically tied to him. And it's kind of implied that he has a sexual relationship with them. But we also don't know. But they're his wives. Like it carries at least the base like the assumption that he I think so. But the thing is to me that
00:54:17
Speaker
I think the title mattered, right? Like they're his wives. So because they're his wives, he has the ability to protect them. So I'm thinking about like in the season where he went to the head of the Demon Slayer Corp and he was like, yeah, these are my three wives. Like that got them protection from the Demon Slayer Corp because now he has ownership over like them or like there's a bond between them. So he's saying like, if you protected me, you have to protect all of them.
00:54:44
Speaker
Which is what I thought immediately, like after I sat down that like digested it a little bit. But I think you could say he's probably immersed. I think it's implied. I think the answer is yes. But I also think it depends because we don't really know. And then there's also like other aspects of it that's interesting because if you're caught up, you know, only one of them kind of shows up to help fight.
00:55:06
Speaker
I'll leave it at that. You know, I can't even say only one of them shows up to help fight. That is not true. They were they just the others fought differently and they fought with the side characters. Yeah, but what I was gonna say well, yes, but all weren't all three of them in the food pit and then only one of them came with only two of them were in the sugar again, and then the third one was captured and like earlier in and then got out and then went to him.
00:55:32
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. That's fine. No, but either way, I get what you're saying. I agree with you. I think it's hard to say because the only thing that makes it kind of questionable is that a lot of times you think of polyamorous and more love. There's like a love bond that you think of and like a romantic bond just from the word and it feel or like a sexual bond that's
00:55:55
Speaker
implied, but really the love I think is something that stands out. And it seems like for him, he bonded with them through protection or through obligation through service. And so their bond felt more arranged, arranged kind of marriage thing or just an arranged contract. They form more of a contract versus something that's purely rooted in love. And I think that's why it's debatable or why we're kind of even in this spot with it.
00:56:25
Speaker
But I do think that, I don't know, I still think that there's more than likely a romantic bond with them all, where they love each other maybe in a different way, because they seem to all, even the wives themselves, seem to love each other, like love in the open sense of love. So, I mean, I would probably say that they're polyamorous in the broad sense of love, but I do think the circumstances that they bonded are,
00:56:54
Speaker
are different. I mean, shout out to this man for having three bad wives. All of them are bad. It's not even debatable. All three of them are bad. But yeah, all right. Well, I appreciate that. And this wraps our episode. It's been a pleasure, guys. Yes. Absolutely. Always is. Amen. Talk to y'all next time. Bye.
00:57:25
Speaker
Colder than freeze, I'm protecting my own like cocoa and vegeta This is my story, pain and the glory Taking in black, all of my territory Blacker than berry, that's sweet and a gem Stocker than flesh, deep as the roots of my life Since the truth that I ride, quit felling and just get you by, forget Laughing in the face of danger, flexing my guns And I am defeat, I am the voice of the night Of all of my people, unleashing the power in me Deep in my genes, this is my destiny This is my legacy, won't get the best of me
00:57:58
Speaker
Like Okage, my brother, can you pass me the wasabi? Nigga, I'm black as fuck and proud of it, I won't be modest, no Ain't no blockin' me, I overcome every obstacle Like a rose out of the concrete, I accomplish the impossible Like Barack and Bakugo, yeah, I'm unstoppable Still I rise from the ashes, mama told me never settle And if I can handle all that I got down, I'm made for metal, melanin
00:58:14
Speaker
Don't disappear, I miss the compress
00:58:28
Speaker
Black is my skin, power within