User blog comment:Ajkpinky/Let's talk like civil people about Ruby's design/@comment-108.169.6.172-20150709055738/@comment-53539-20150709180327

Usually whena mangaka shows europeon characters they will try and make some distinction between them and Japanese characters by given them flesher noses, blond hair, blue eyes, clothes, mannerism, etc, basically they slightly stand out.

Bare in mind that many asian countries view paler skin tones as a sign of wealth, because you don't go outside much to get you're skin darkened. Darker skin tones are often regarded as a result of labour based jobs, which traditionally mean "low income". This isn't true to the tee anymore, but its why the character "Kai" from Beyblade was pale, being from a wealthy family, and "Takao" being more of a outdoors character has slightly darker skin colour. Within our own realms of example, you find this in the Mance Twins, Nana's elder sisters. Coco "white" has pale skin to represent her more mature stance, while Coco "black" is darker to represent her opposite personality to her twin's and is more outworldy. You can often find a sort of Yin-Yang underlining reflect when this happens wherein one character is almost the opposite as exampled by these two I've just given.

Either way, Miku and other Japanese Vocaloid, Korean and Chinese don't represent Europeon pale skin, but rather their a stereotype to note that they spend a lot of time out of the sun. Paler skin is often considered "beautiful" and many celebs are pale in tone Japan.

In the west, if your of europeon descent and you have tanned skin, it means you are so wealthy you can afford to be away from the desk and take vocations and other things. As well as this, bare in mind also that singers and film stars often tan up for photography shoots and filming because pale skin sends light back at the camera. The result is a really pale person may cause glaring, this was more true even so in the past when technology was more primitive and you had even less control over things then you do today. This is also yet another suggestion also of extreme wealth...

However... Some countries still associate true black or "african descendant" with slavery and its still present under the surface in America despite the leaps and bounds its made in equal rights. So you have this sad scanrio for being too dark. Its sucky...

Either way the "Whitewashing" on Ruby wasn't intentional and therefore isn't a sign of true intended "racism". Its a accident and isn't therefore "Whitewashing". You can't tell Ruby's race by voice alone. Leon and Lola faced the same problem in this department. In this case, using White Leon over any other more accurate representation, knowing full well his provider was black, is more racist then Ruby's accidental misrepresentation. This is why Leon has been exampled throughout this.

But bottom line is, that its really only Vocaloids from Zero-G, PowerFX, the Spanish Vocaloids and Cyber Diva who have produced any "white" or "Caucasian" Vocaloids, excluding Leon and Lola who are voiced by black singers. The rest are "Asian" and should not be counted in this, even odd darker toned characters like Merli are somewhat on this.

Beyond this... I myself don't believe in "Vocaloid race" and regard Vocaloids as... Well... Vocaloids. If I was to put race to them, thats their race to me. Its easier to disgust then all this. >_<