FF characters don't look Japanese

[i90east]

I always thought this was odd. These games come from Japan and yet most characters are caucasian (I'm assuming that Japanese folk arn't labeled as caucasian). FFVI has the most characters out of any FF game (I think), and every single one of them are caucasian. None of them look Japanese by any stretch of the imagination. It's just an interesting observation.

I think FFX characters look more Japanese though.

[Cz]

It would be very strange to have every FF universe populated by Japanese or Oriental looking people. Square just went for a 'Universal' style.

[TheAbominatrix]

Actually a few of rthem have Japanese 'features', but its true that none of them look Asian, unless you're looking at the Amano art, and even then most of them have blonde hair.

That's just how Japanese art is, anyway. Ever notice how no one in anime 'looks' Japanese? It's just the art style, and as Black Mage said, the style is sort of 'Universal' in a way. Of course, it is weird that as different as the FF universe is, there's rarely any Asians, and I've never seen black or Hispanic people. Eh *shrug*.

[i90east]

Barret is African looking, along with General Leo's menu picture (his sprite looks white).

I would think that there would at least be some Asian looking characters in FF games (and other games in general). FF characters have taken on a more anime look starting with FF7, but in the SNES days the characters are hardly universal. Not that I'm complaining (I'm caucasian), it just seems odd. I wonder if there's a reason why the characters look so American/European :)

[SpikingZero]

Garnet and Rinoa looked rather Asian to me.

[ChibiInuYasha]

I remember reading an interview (forgot who it was with) but they said in X, they were going for an all out asian feel, enviroment, characters, everything, and they do indeed look asian. But I also think VIII's characters looked asian, but no one agrees except my dad which is very VERY sad.

[Breine]

The ladies in FFX and many of the characters in FF8 looks japanese to me...

[black orb]

>>> The world of Final Fantasy is universal, also fantasy games are usually inspired in norse mythology..

[PhoenixAsh]

Honestly I think it could be because with crappy graphics it's easier to draw people white because you can vary the hair colour. Espescially given the medievil feel of the earlier games which is very European.

I do wonder why there are so few non whites though, the odd black person shows up but with no real evidence of where they came from, as there's nowhere near enough in the world for them to have continued the line.

It's a bit odd in FFVII how they showed the "white section" being a super technologically advanced city with a black person from a town destroyed by whites leading the fight to overthrow it, and the only Asians living in a very underdeveloped town that you don't even have to visit. I don't know what this means, if anything and I only just thought of it so umm... m'eh.

[Cz]

Well, Wutai only really existed to satisfy the 'There must be Ninjas' rule. I guess they just wanted a Japanese-ish town somewhere, but couldn't fit it in with the story.

[Nait]

I have no idea how you can discern from FFVI sprites (or status portraits) whether a certain character is of a certain ethnic origin. :p Bar colour of skin, which is cheating.

Of course, it's all rather useless theorising - how did people get into another world anyhow? Did they co-evolve? Are they our descendants or ancestors? etc etc.

[ivory]

I thought i was the only one to think this......i'm glad that i'm not. well from ff7-ff10, there has been asian people and black people in it but they weren't the main characters so nobody paid much attention to them.

in ff7 though, there was barret who was kinda a main character but in a way.....not. is yuffie japanese?

in ff8, rinoa was japanese and of course her father. there was kiros but he wasn't a main character. and there was Dr. Odine who was asian (i'm not sure what he is).

in ff9, i think garnet was supposed to be japanese but they made her eyes too big (american-like). Marcus had a tan somewhat so I assume he's mixed with something. perhaps some asian.

and in ffx, a lot of characters were of different minorities so i congratulate squaresoft for that. wasn't jecht and auron asian?

I hope that at least for one final fantasy, they make the main star of the game uncaucasian. ya know?

[PhoenixAsh]

I don't think they make the star caucasion for a prejudice reason.

FF1 - FF6 : Graphics not good enough to show characters faces, so hair tells them apart, this is easier with caucasions.

FF7 : This was Manga style, so that's just how it was. Plus there were actually only four (maybe five) out of nine main characters who were definately caucasion.

FF8 : Squall and Rinoa were both Asian I think.

FF9 : The plot just worked easier by having Zidane be Caucasion, given Kuja had to be the same race, and Zidane needed to look like a monkey. Plus Dagger was Asian.

FF10 : Tidus, Auron, Yuna, Rikku, the setting and many other characters were all Asian I think.

[ivory]

Squall isn't asian. his father is laguna and his mother is raine. they're both white.

yuna and rikku are not asian. yuna has an al bhed mother and her father is braska. they're both white. rikku's parents are cid and somebody. but since both rikku and brother have blonde hair, they're mom also has to be white. it's a hard gene to get natural blonde hair. however, tidus has to have some asian in him since jecht has a natural tan and naturally black hair. tidus' eyes make him look asian too.

just so you know, i never suggested that they made most characters caucasian for prejudice reasons. i'm not racist or anything, so yeah...........:mad: don't jump to conclusions here

[PhoenixAsh]

Why isn't Laguna Asian? Raine fair enough, explains why Squall doesn't look entirely Asian.

Yuna and Rikku might not be Asian, but they aren't caucasian. Just look at Rikku in FMVs, and Yuna well everywhere.


just so you know, i never suggested that they made most characters caucasian for prejudice reasons. i'm not racist or anything, so yeah........... don't jump to conclusions here

I wasn't saying YOU made the characters, you being racist never came into it.

[i90east]

Menu portraits in 2D FFs are pretty detailed. FFIV is a good example of how everyone's skin color is different. They were all caucasian, but some had redder skin then others... some had darker tans.

There could have been at least a couple asian characters among other races. If anything it would be easier to show differences between characters with varying skin tones and other traits.