I always get confused when people say they need to have people who look like them in prominent roles in order to feel welcome in a hobby/career/whatever. I'm a fan of boxing, and my favorite boxer is a black Muslim. I do some hobby-level game dev on the side, and most of my favorite devs that I look up to are Japanese. Young black men seem to disproportionately love Dragon Ball Z, with an Asian-appearing main character based on the Chinese epic Journey to the West whose hair turns blond when he gets angry and powers up.
Dragon Ball Z was introduced into lower income neighborhoods via Cartoon Network among many other anime, so it was hard to miss. It was pretty hard to miss Pokemon, Dragon Ball Z and etc. in elementary school especially with the merch kids brought to school. Marketing, re-runs and perceived coolness/epicness, I'd say drove the continued popularity of it. Once you hit high school and college though, Dragon Ball Z/Pokemon are niche and less visible (it stopped being cool and a relic of age) at least that was my experience in low income neighborhood. DBZ is still awesome because of its familarity, but not something I will watch intentionally.
Goku being Japanese and loved by people of lower income is like how Final Fantasy 7 is beloved in predominately white (western) countries. There's still discussions of people thinking Cloud Strife is white even though he is Japanese.
Race, in general, isn't a big deal when you are younger since it is not taught in schools (shockingly to some people :O). It becomes an issue when people actively start generalizing and using tropes for the purposes to make you feel like shit (in)directly.
Cloud isn't Japanese. He is a fictional character from a fictional planet.
And Goku isn't Japanese either; he is Saiyan, an Alien race.
> Race, in general, isn't a big deal when you are younger
It isn't a big deal, if you're not impacted by it (colloquially known today as 'privilege').
However, what you might not believe is a big deal, is arguably a big deal to other people.
A few examples:
You may not be aware that black women in the US are 3-times more likely to pregnancy related issues than white women. There is a downstream impact on the children of those women. [1]
Separately, there still exists a serious gap in achievement for Alaska Native / American Indian children.
Let's be honest here, a creator can make Apples be purple and slightly deformed and call it Banora Apples, but it's still an apple. Plenty of people who like DBZ or FF to debate with on how to classify said characters based on traits such as skeletal structure, influences from the creator, etc. These classifications, I don't think about much when playing games in general, not that much of a fanboy in trying to identify with any character. Gonna have to find someone else here to debate with on any particular character's race or racial influences.
You clearly misread. Elementary and even some high school school kids don't think about "race" until it is pointed out in some way whether by a national event or cited as bullying reason etc. How you could extrapolate that to "race doesn't matter", I have no clue other than a misread whether intentional or not.
Japanese isn't a race it's a nationality and/or ethnicity, and neither Goku nor Cloud are from Japan nor do they share any real cultural traits with Japanese people.
You've changed crux of your argument (or perhaps clarified what you inteded to argue) to now be what school age children do or do not think; though that isn't very compelling as neither you nor I are capable of reading minds. However the comment I did respond to was clearly written--"Race, in general, isn't a big deal when you are younger..." and it clearly can be a big deal to young people; just perhaps not a big deal to you.
Don't know how you can say that with a straight face. You got me laughing right now. [1] shows clear influence by Japanese culture. With Japanese language symbols in each creation, again, I can't see how your claim stands that there is no influence. I could never say that creations are not influenced in any way by the world we live in. Race/Nationality/Ethnicity tend to be used in an intertwined manner these days so I have to believe you are not being of good faith here. It's 2023, so you can read it as Pokemon and DBZ are of Japanese origin and leave out the fluff. If we really used the race term literally, it wouldn't be used at all to describe differences between people in the human race.
I've changed nothing. You misread it and I clarified it for you to come to an understanding. Race/Skin Color/Nationality, whatever it is you want to read it as with the negative connotations assigned, isn't something any young-in thinks about on a daily basis without it being pointed out in some way.
Anyway, I'm not interested in going on circles on this. I would know about said experience given my own culture and interactions. No one needs to reads minds to give anecdotes about their life experience and talk to other people in the same situation about their life experience and thoughts about things that happen(ed) to this day.
There's no country called 'Japan' in Final Fantasy VII, so I don't know why you're so confidently stating that. The closest analogue is Wutai, and Cloud's not from there.
Assuming you’re white and male: there are loads of white boxers and game devs! And you probably know some of them!
Think about how men feel about traditionally femme activities which may be stigmatized for hetero men. If you see even one other straight man get their nails done at a salon it sort of implicitly opens that door to you.
Not sure about getting a manicure, but speaking as a hetero man, getting a pedicure is amazing and I recommend every person with the means to, try it once.
If you are someone who has experienced personally harmful racism (e.g. a black boy getting in trouble at school for things that white boys routinely get away with), then it is helpful to see a counterexample of what is possible in society for someone who has the same potential to be targeted by discrimination.
Are you truly confused or is it that you choosen not to listen to the reasons “people” have for finding value in representation?
Does your comment mean that because your human experience is different than other people that you find it difficult to understand how others may think and feel differently than you?
