Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-112.207.82.60-20140309021854/@comment-25577599-20150416015048

Tortoiseshel wrote: What is an anime person anime isn't a race

Leon is depicted as a white man because Japanese fans thought "Hey he's Western and Western people are usually white and blond right?" and it just stuck with the fandom. Characters like Len and Rin and Lily are blond and blue eyed for different reasons. A lot of anime characters use colorful eye and hair colors to differentiate the characters because they often aren't differentiated by their facial or body structures. And I guess it would be a little boring if everyone had realistic colors, since it's a drawing why not make it a little fantastical? When I say "anime person", I'm referring to the stereotypical/usual/normal anime character you see around. Always pale (because pale skin is huge in Japan), and bright colors to make it more "fantastical", just like you said. So, with LEON and LOLA, because Rin and Len were the first mirrors, or thought of as the more popular pair and seen as siblings, LEON and LOLA were blonde-ified to fit their standard, and make them more popular. Which obviously worked, considering it's the most popular depiction of the pair.