The most insidious kind of racism in media is the kind that exists just under the radar. The kind that’s loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be seen. Maybe the writing of a show happens to portray all Asian men as effeminate and ineffectual weaklings, perhaps all black characters in a movie just happen to be layabout brutes with no thoughts or original ideas of their own. Yes, racism in media is most potent when it’s hard to spot, yet is simultaneously clear as day. The racism in the manga and anime series Terra Formars by Yū Sasuga isn’t like that at all. There is no subtlety to it, it serves no discernible agenda, and is the purest form of stupid; however with that said, it’s also kind of hilarious.
The plot for this series is the age old “humanity screwed up the Earth” story. Centuries ago (which is the 21st century as this is a sci-fi series that takes place in the distant future), humans decided to try terraforming Mars in an effort to make it inhabitable in the event that the Earth stops being so. Part of the process involved sending roaches up there (since they apparently spread algae), and because this is a manga, those roaches have evolved into giant monsters. These super evolved roaches (known as terraformars, the manga’s namesake) are what I assume to be the most terrifying thing imaginable to your average manga reader…
Blatant black caricatures! Approximately 2 meters tall, these dark skinned, nappy haired “roaches” are characterized by their ability to run incredibly fast, hit things incredibly hard, and be incredibly aggressive to humans. The main goal of our heroes in this series is to slaughter all the savage native roaches in order for their race to colonize Mars. To them, this mission is of grave significance, one can almost characterize it as a burden of sorts. To truly grasp what our righteous heroes are dealing with here, why don’t you have a look at some screenshots from the manga/anime:
These savage brutes seem to favour firing their guns with a side grip, no doubt some sort of strange ritual these thugs have concocted that is beyond our comprehension. It’s best not to think about it, although that gun gripping method seems sort of familiar…
Savages walking across an empty field in a land that does not belong to them! Well, sure they lived their first, but they’re clearly less advanced than the humans coming in right? Obviously, this means their existence is worthless, so the only sensible thing to do is exterminate them all!
This savage apparently likes to accessorize! And check out that massive phallic cannon conspicuously situated between its legs… Nope, nothing of note in this picture! Moving on…
That fiend! Look at him, brandishing that poor humans head and running as if he was some sort of athlete. The particular athletic activity he is emulating escapes me, but the NERVE of him.
… The less said about this image, the better.
Okay, okay, so I’m sure most of you get the picture by now. This manga has some of the most clearly racist imagery that’s considered acceptable today, but what if it’s all a coincidence? Maybe the writer and artist are subconsciously doing things this way without realizing any of the deeper implications? I mean, you could reasonably see it that way, until you find out who the author dubbed the “Apex of Mankind”.
Pictured: The culmination of 600 years of eugenics.
Meet Joseph Gustav Newton, a character described by the author as “Second only to God” and “#1”. He’s humanity’s deadliest roach killer and the product of centuries of selective breeding. He rides into battle shirtless, slaying every roach in his wake, and any woman who lays eyes on him apparently. He’s a genius, his body is perfectly sculpted, he’s capable of effortlessly killing his “black foe” (a phrase used to describe the mutant roaches) in combat, and he’s highly charismatic. This man truly is a perfect human being (he’d move Heinrich Himmler to tears). Usually in fiction, eugenics is depicted in a negative light. With the aspirations of certain individuals in history, one should think that eugenics is ultimately an abominable endeavour, yet here it is portrayed in a disturbingly positive light. Joseph is charming, laid back at times, serious when appropriate, and above all, he’s powerful beyond measure. One would think that a person whose existence was the work of several teams of men seeking to achieve a single goal would have a lot of baggage, but no, the man is pretty much flawless. I don’t know what else to say but that it sheds a lot of light on the mindset of this writer.
This man slaughtering countless “black foes” plays out pretty much exactly like a warped Aryan power fantasy would.
Even with all of that said, there are still a lot of people out there who would readily defend whatever passes for this manga’s integrity. They will cite the existence of the human black characters of this manga such as Wolf Redfield and Victoria Wood.
Victoria (right) here is characterized as a thieving opportunistic slime ball, while Wolf (left) is, well pretty much a non-entity actually. He can’t fight (he’s certainly no Joseph Gustav Newton!), and he isn’t particularly relevant, but most importantly, he doesn’t diminish any of the obvious racist content on display here. His very existence is a mere smokescreen, the writing equivalent of “having a black friend”. He is pretty much meaningless in the discussion of this manga and anime series. I mean, this is a series that prominently features two German characters named “Adolf” and “Eva” who share a close relationship, and are portrayed in an overwhelmingly positive positive light. That on its own shouldn’t mean anything, but in the face of all that other stuff… I mean come on.
Besides all the racist imagery, this manga/anime series is also monstrously sexist and weirdly offensive in its portrayal of Chinese characters (they’re mostly unscrupulous schemers in this). I would tell you to stay away if it wasn’t so funny in its overt offensiveness. Seriously, this manga/anime is an abomination, but it’s the kind of abomination that you can laugh at with your friends, similar to a B-movie. I will say though that it’s still a little unsettling how hugely successful this is in Japan. I guess Joseph Gustav Newton really struck a chord with folks over there huh?
Although I suppose it could just be because they really love those “roaches”.
The Kenpire 
That was an interesting interpretation (never thought of looking at it like that).
The show is openly racist to the definition: prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.
The entire show is based around the humans seeing themselves as superior to the roaches (humans:”they don’t need this plant so lets kill them all.”).
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Google “homo erectus”.
Look at the first image that Google immediately gives you.
Look familiar?
This story is all about evolution driven by an alien designer. Why should it be surprising that the roaches have evolved to look similar to an alternate, extinct evolutionary path of mankind?
Of course roaches are brown. What other color would they be?
Sorry, but the only racist here seems to be the ill-informed, stereotype-minded writer of this article, and that’s if this laughably written article isn’t completely trolling in the first place.
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You are being willfully ignorant if you’re going to ignore the way in which these aliens fire their guns, the author’s positive outlook on eugenics, and a lot of the suggestive imagery being employed.
Oh and the, “I’m racist for noticing the racism” is the most laughable defense for these issues in existence. Congratulations, you just exposed yourself as an ignorant person who has no place contributing to this discussion.
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Really? The way they fire guns? That’s hardly an argument. All your examples of racism are just reaching.
Did you actually google homo erectus?
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Did you just ignore the other arguments I made? The imagery in general? The outright reverence that seems to be had for eugenics? You can’t look at all of this stuff on top of Joseph Gustav Newton and not seriously think something is up. I mean, all of this individually, sure, but all at once? Come on. I’m sure the fact that all this eugenics stuff being shown in the same manga that has a pair of German characters named “Adolf and Eva” who are portrayed really positively is just a coincidence too.
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No they contributed just fine by informing you why the cockroaches really look the way they do.
Now i’ll contribute: You made this post back in march when Joseph Newtons past wasn’t discussed yet so their is understandable, but if you had looked on the admittedly uncomfortable subject of Joseph Newtons lineage they do mention that Blond haired fair skinned individuals “could” actually be quite rare.
Upon first reading I was actually wondering how the author would subvert and show us how selective breeding is actually rather barbaric. I was rewarded with chapter 154 I suggest you read it.
I not going to say anymore about chapter 154 as it speaks for itself and I don’t want to ruin the experience.
Now if you had said the Manga was sexist I could get on board with that argument because like a few too many manga’s it is a sexist manga. Too many male power fantasies and that boxer refusing to hit a woman who is trying to kill him.
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So the way the aliens wire their guns is racist. So you think all black people tilt their head and angle a fire arm oddly. That’s pretty racist. Selective breeding isn’t eugenics in the sense you’re trying to make it. Selective breeding should actually be encouraged in humans so that we can avoid people that are racist and try to make a medium racist. When I first saw the show you know what they reminded me of? Apes with googly eyes. I know you are trying to “do the right thing” but all you’re doing is flailing your own racism around.
Stop race baiting.
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yeah this is just willful ignorance. The main character is flawless (a huge mistake in any writing piece) and is the product of selective breeding etc etc, everything the mindset of the white supremacist believes in, the roaches dress and behave like the stereotypes of black people. Its like the show doesnt even try to hide that its racist. Then again its fucking japan, they are almost as bad as russia
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…. and the most advanced and evoluted version of a human is a blond blue eyed caucasic with german friends called Adolf an Eva. Yeah, i see …. it´s all about evolution. Thank god i´m a blonde german …..
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Just don’t be in the sun too long because those evolved blue eyes of yours will get cancer
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you forgot to mention that the more advanced, intelligent leader roaches are “light skinned”.
so the pattern continues. the darker the roach the dumber it is. good work btw i noticed the subliminal racism in anime as well a long time ago and i think it´s time to raise awareness.
especially racism towards black people is very strong in anime and we can´t have black people
consuming this stuff without making them aware of what the creators actually think of them.
good work i salute you.
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It’s not our responsibility to “protect black people”, just to notice this stuff ourselves. The show is funny, and I think plenty of black people would agree, DESPITE it being racist. If the show offends someone, OKAY! It’s pretty offensive! But it’s silly and insulting to get offended on other people’s behalf.
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I’m black I find the show quite entertaining. Now if the writer truly believe that we blacks are savage, mindless, brutes with no original thought I would gladly educate him or her on the history of African culture if not then there are “other means”
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See I’m black but I find this show utterly repugnant
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Now see, I’m black and I find this manga completely repugnant in every way. I don’t need to hear the excuses made on behalf of some eugenicist propaganda from some self hating Japanese racist
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I just started watching the anime and I noticed it was hilariously racist! I searched for an article which would collect all the imagery into one place so I could show my friends without subjecting them to the show (“lol, can you believe this shit?”) Thanks for putting it all in one place. Too funny.
The amount of people defending it as not racist is hilarious! It was clearly racist from the get go and I hadn’t even seen all the other evidence you provided.
Guys! You can enjoy the show even if it’s racist! It doesn’t make you racist! But seriously, the “It is racist for white people to call something out for being racist” defense has been used as an excuse for ages. It’s not like the show is peddling a message, its pretty mindless action, with some hilariously misguided themes, that’s all.
Yes they look like homo erectus, but so do many awful racist caricatures of black people… and these ones accessorize like tribal africans and shoot guns sideways like thugs.
Anyway, here’s an actual racist charicature which actually compares blacks to roaches… warning, SUPER friggin’ racist:
Like damn. Anyway thanks for collecting all this hilarious imagery in one place.
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At the bottom who’s the guy across from the black stereotype supposed to be? I didn’t get that, and for the record I only learned about all this Cuz I Googled mantis shrimp today to show my mom and there happened to be an image there from a guy wearing mantis shrimp armor that’s apparently from this manga, one thing led to another and here I am, and yeah it didn’t take long for me to think this manga was racist, as for the home erectus argument, I know what it is and what it looks like, frankly I think the fact they’re modeled after home erect us makes it MORE racist, my reason for thinking so, I once heard a klan member (yes the kkk, it was a news segment about the modern kkk bitching about obama) quoted saying “I think they “meaning blacks” evolved from animals” his point was that god made whites and the theory of evolution only applies to other races and the fact they’re home sapien like us is pure coincidence, I literally laughed so hard I fell out of my chair and hurt myself when heard him say that with a straight face, another reason the home erectus model for the roaches makes it more racist is cuz that’s perpetuating the idea that blacks are dumb primitive savages, hate to break it to you all but there are savage tribes thriving in plenty of other places then Africa, and some of the places more developed then said tribes are even more backward thinking then them, while I’m here I’d also like to say this, at the end of the day black people never wanted to be in America or anywhere else that isn’t Africa for that matter they were perfectly happy to mind there own business, the white man dragged them from their homes and families and whipped and beat them til they did what they wanted, if you have a problem with black people being in your presence then you have only your own slave driving ancestors to blame, so if you don’t wanna see them then either move or go blind and shut the hell up cuz there doesn’t exist a single argument for what I just said, and anyone who has a problem with them is just trying to pin the blame for their own short comings on someone who happens to be different, and the only reason theirs so many racists in America (I realize there are people speaking on this page who aren’t American so sorry) is because of generations of butt hurt for the loss of all the free slave labor that forced them to pick their own damn cotton, there ancestors started teaching their kids (whether they knew it or not) to hate them because they were sore losers, sorry for ranting but I’ve waited so long to have an audience for these words, well an audience that cares anyway, I realize hardly anyone will actually read this cuz this page is from last year but I hope my opinion means something to at one person who sees this, and for those who say all the racist innuendo (if you can even call it that) is bogus I have this to say, ‘ the church covered up kids getting molested, America made internment camps for the Japanese, and Germans thought nazism was a good idea at the time, the founding fathers of America had slaves clean their houses as they wrote “all men are created equal” on the constitution, no one is beyond reproach when it comes to being a prejudice dick, so get over it, the writer was a racist even if he himself didn’t know it (there happens to be alot of people who don’t know they’re racist, I’ve met plenty of them)’
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Hey Bro, I’m a brown man from West Phill ( no one says Philly anymore, well no one cool) and I just wanted to say thanks. I might be that one person who read your words and was comforted. No one who weren’t descendants of African slaves in America will ever understand what it’s like to be a minority with dark skinned in this country. My parents did they best they could for my siblings and myself as well. Putting us all in private schools from the 1st grade for me to the 7th. The others stayed private all the way through college. Growing up stigmatized for having dark skin in this country (now world) is like people saying and acting like you smell like poop, or you have it somewhere on your person. You know you don’t smell, (for sure you washed this morning) you can see your reflection, (you have mirrors) but still a large part of the population says you smell like poop, you look like, you have poop all over your face. It’s said on the TV, at the movies, in advertisements. To you basically everywhere, and those that don’t say it still, they treat you differently then others that look like them or close to them. It’s a weight, a heavy, stifling weight that can never be removed and now with the world becoming smaller and smaller many nationalities are joining in on the racsisim. I think often to myself , I have no where to go, no place to call home. Shoot even most Africans don’t accept us, unless where someone of some stature! So now the racsisim is strategically pinpointed at the dark skinned American. It’s a stress please believe, but for me I’m getting better. I accepted Jesus as my Savoir, The Holy Spirit as my Friend, God The Father, as my ABBA! So my homeland is wherever Jesus is. Some may say you’re using God for a crutch… Not exactly I’m using GOD as my foundation and one day I will see and live in the land and home he has built on that foundation all for me!
One day soon it won’t be long,
You’ll look for me and I’ll be home!
Hallelujah Jesus Thank You
And thank you Erebus for your words!
Maccabbee
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its a jew across from the balck guy
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For what it’s worth, I liked your message.
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kind of like watching an animated version of how ferguson should have turned out
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What an impressive bit of racism. Kudos.
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When trump loses you’ll see a lot of brutish red hats doing the same
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Is going to be back frequently to check up on new posts.
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I actually didn’t get that from them at all! I’m familiar with homo erectus and immediately recognised them as that though so their wasn’t room to notice otherwise.
Funnily enough first thing I imagine when you mention the sideways gun is Eric Cartman and Eminem haha.
I got the impression the creators were showing primitive social evolution.
That said, I can see how you might have seen racism in all these things BAR the athleticism one. I’m just not sure where to see racism in that, or even how that pertains to black people and black people alone…
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I agree and from what I’ve seen the human characters individually are far stronger than the roaches individually. The roaches are only strong when it’s 100 of them vs 1 human character. So the human characters are actually quite more athletic than what someone was saying in here. Also someone said the roaches dress like black ppl. But the roaches are naked. I don’t see any jeans, white tees or caps lol. I did see a muay thai (Thailand boxing) wrap around a roaches arm though.
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Reblogged this on kilroygrin and commented:
Spot on analysis.
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bullshit anime. That’s what you get when you watch anime made by people who think dying your hair blond is cool and having blue or green eyes is great. do I hear identity crisis or just old fashion inferior complex. I sense to match self hated in japan and in this anime to be bother by it.
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I don’t know were you get all this, but for living in japan for almost a year i know that to dye your hair blonde and using light colored contacts is actually frowned upon in japan, sure young people does it to highlight, but they are really treated almost like criminals, it is standed just because they are young and “stupid”, but the perfect japanese man or woman must have dark hair and eyes
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Adolf and Eva? Evil Chinese? Cockroaches based on countless Japanese depictions of black men? Come on people! How many examples do you need? Tell you what… Show a newbie some images from this manga and ask them what they think? Caveman? Really? Adolf and Eva is enough to make you question what is (admittedly a sometimes) enjoyable manga. The artist takes great care to showcase insects in all their glory but only selects certain races and nations to shine a light on? The black characters are forgetable at best and shouldn’t be used to excuse what is clear to see. I not some black guy with a chip on his shoulder either. I am part Asian so do what you want with that.
You can chat all the nonsense you want about the cockroaches but try running Adolf by anyone with half a brain? One questionable depiction is bad… This manga has several and it doesnt need them at all.
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Am i the only black man that doesn’t consider it “racist”? i don’t know, i know a lot of japanese people and i don’t consider them racist per se, xenophobic on the other hand, yes, and A LOT, they don’t like foreigners in general of any “color”, they don’t glorify white people, cuz they are just filthy gaijis, they are ultranationalists… but anyway, back to the roaches i just see them like cavemans with tribal things and all that… as for the evil chinese, you won’t find a japanese fictional world were the chinese are not evil!! and lets not be hypocrite, chinese and russsians are the favorite evils all over the world
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Look at all these sensitive people.
Harden the fuck up.
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Why is Eugenics a bad thing?
You do realize everything you buy at the grocery store is a Eugenics product
We have selectively bred animals and plants to create animals that taste better, grow faster etc…
A wild Hen lays around 10 eggs a year!
A modern egg laying chicken lays around 250 eggs a year
How is this possible?
We took a bunch of chickens and the hens that laid the most eggs were the only ones allowed to reproduce, we kept repeating this process over hundreds maybe thousands of years
And now in Modern Day America our chicken lays 250 eggs a year.
Eugenics works PERIOD, its not a pseudoscience it is a fact.
Scientists estimate that if done on humans we could create humans with average IQ’s of 200, humans that are multiple times stronger than gorillas, superhuman reaction times
In the end skin color doesn’t matter to a Eugenicist, a Eugenicist views humans as nothing more than machines made of meat. These meat machines that make up a human are poorly designed by nature so that we are all weaker and dumber than we should be.
The comparison is right now we are basically Ford Model T’s but if we use eugenics we can create Tesla’s which are more energy efficient, more powerful, safer, more environmentally friendly etc…
—
Signed
A Proud Eugenics Supporter
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I know this comment is a few years old but I have to say this-
You should do a little research into how the “proud eugenics supporters” of the early 1900’s treated people they deemed “inferior.”
Eugenics may seem a nice idea on paper, but it’s main supporters are more often than not racist, homophobic and sexist (and often wealthy) white men who would rather see it in terms of racial purity than genetic advancement. Foreigners, Black Americans and the mentally handicapped had to be culled from the population and the more these people pushed for equality, the more urgent that beckoning call seemed. One woman was actually sterilized thanks to this movement. An actual human being was stripped of their ability to procreate, like a f**cking dog at the pound, but oh boy look at how big those strawberries are! And so few seeds!
Take a good long look at the history of eugenics and ask yourself: “is this really best course that humanity can take to better itself?”
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BULLSHIT. You are either completely ignorant of the history behind eugenics, or are being willfully deceptive. Things may have been sold to you in a friendlier message, but it wasn’t too long ago that eugenicists were calling for the sterilization of minorities in disproportionately larger numbers than their European counterparts.
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BULLSHIT. You’re either ignorant of the history of eugenics, or it was sold to you with glaring omissions. It wasn’t that long ago that eugenicists were calling for the sterilization of minorities in disproportionately larger numbers than those they required from people they considered white. Eugenics remains and has always being about the the systematic elimination of entire groups of people who are selected as undesirable
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Wow I wondered whether someone would freak over this and surprise 😀 The internet never fails to entertain and amuse. Thank you ladies and gentlemen, your discussion was a real treat.
I’d say both sides were right and both sides are equally wrong. Who gives a flying pretzel what the author’s views are? I look at Terra Formars as a story of stubborn survival and human folly and honestly couldn’t give a damn about racist undertones. We’re not living in the Fourth Reich or some such bull. African Americans and other cultural varieties of black lives can protect themselves. They are outspoken, ready to fight for their rights and liberties and very capable of acts of great heroism and great stupidity, just like the rest of us. We’re only human.
It’s a story in a made up version of Earth. It features giant supersonic humanoid cockroaches from Mars fighting GMO GI Joes from major countries in the world. Jesus people 😀
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I’m going to agree with you the people in here that are making too much of a scene over a few scenes in an anime instead of sucking it up they want to make a commotion about it
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There is an old adage; “Judge me not by the color of my skin but the content of my character.” More and more people are becoming somewhat sensitive to the concept while others are becoming better at ignoring it or pretending to understand. But its very clear what the author &/or artist was probably thinking behind the concept of Terra Formats (anime/manta). Even if they didn’t imply any racism or white superiority complex its still inherent. And trying to throw homo erectus in the conversation as an excuse is still a pretty racist or ignorant way to defend it. As well as excusing human eugenics past a certain point. Let me say it plainly; HUMANS ARE AN ACCIDENT. And I in no way imply that anyone is less important than anybody else. But we are all here; men, women, black, white, Asian, bald, straight haired, afro/natural, varying genitalia size by pure unintentional coincidence even by religious standards. And black people already had it rough just dealing with ourselves but then the rest of the world started playing a fun game (for them) and made it worse called – Kick the Dark skin/Black Person so that the rest of the world could get along by having something in common. Japanese people are seldomly involved (and I’m not calling all of them racist) as they see the world from what I’ve seen as more divided by nationality than actual physical ethnicity like how a German person is different from a French person per their language and culture. But that’s because Africans (of all nations & tribes) historically didn’t have trade with the far east so Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, (etc). In their natural lack of information took the white superiority complex European-Westerners at their word on Black people. But see that’s what’s funny there are two kinds of ignorance and two kinds of fact: ignorance where you don’t know something & ignorance when you don’t care to know/force yourself to ignore by shutting off your mind, fact which is taught and fact that is learned. Example: if you told everyone the world was round when the general belief is that it was flat whom would listen outside of a curious adult or an inquisitive child? Centuries before space flight and manmade satellites it was a lot harder to prove of the earth’s spherical nature versus a circular belief based of lack of information. It took years but eventually people opened up to the concept that the Earth is a sphere and that it flys around the sun instead of the other way around. Or that philosophically our planet is the center of the universe but literally in reality we’re a speck of dust on the wind no more important than any other planet except on a personal level. The world is still struggling to accept that black people are still people and not animals in clothing or even talking monkeys big enough to reach a basketball hoop with a leap. Black people as well (yes we have our faults too) are still in some cases fighting against tribal urges, instincts that are inbred (from millions of years) & old rivalries or outright hatreds. Hell non-black people can’t even admit that Egypt or Kemet was an empire of Africans. And on that note the arabs were the first and last to invade so Egypt changed so many hands that by the time the arabs reinvaded millenia later pretty much nothing of old ancient kemet remained and it was easy for the greeks to rename everything in their language and for everyone to ignore active black power. Sadly ignorance, greed and fear wins more battles than unbiased education and most of the bias is filled by religious, national, or even racial animosity. And no one else in the world was looked at by others over many different centuries whenever a larger power thought one word – “slave” just fit their whole genetic nationality. So Japanese people mostly think of black people mostly as what they’ve been spoon-fed = rappers, jazz musicians (which isn’t always bad), thugs/criminals, aggressive lovers/borderline or altogether rapists, urban style clothing & culture, that the only redeemable is our bodies and not what our minds comprehend aka stupid, that we’re all savagely aggressive, completely unhealthy eaters (which is ironic because black slaves to white overlords could only get their fatty scraps), athletic bodies, fat bodies, not to mention the giant penises stereotype and curvier figures – girls with big butts/boobs. Honestly even if they don’t notice it themselves regardless if they live in Japan or anywhere in the East or just a traveler – a black person will probably be marveled at by some like seeing an exotic animal in the wild or zoo meanwhile others will look on in disdain, as well as the nebulous few who don’t care. Back to the discussion of TF (TerraFormars)with the offensive Chinese caricatures are simply from old animosity towards Japan’s mainland cousins for centuries and the old Japanese imperial intent of ruling the whole east Asian/the Orient. In several anime the storyline makes respectful mentions to the Chinese, this isn’t one of them. And the whole Adolf, Eva & Joseph Newton situation? That’s Japanese fandom for their old German buddies from back in the World Wars with the Axis powers. And many anime prove this devotion like Full metal Alchemist, various Gundam series, freaking Hetalia. That was because Germany always made itself very prominent compared to other European nations that Japan did business with and I’ll admit Japan like Aryians too because of how the Nazi political party built a sort of cult around what they believed were the literal descendants of Mars the god of war &/or genetical perfect per God’s design – blonde hair, blue eyes, tall, athletic, etc. And the only African related/black characters are a rude/negatively portrayed girl & a easily forgettable quiet token black guy. It sensibly doesn’t leave a lot of arguing room where it makes the west European characters look like romantics and messiahs while all the brown & dark brown non-east indian people in the anime are either monsters, rude or enigmas. But hey; at least they aren’t all a walking stereotype like some rapping ninja we all know in a popular series which (ironically I’m sure) has a blonde haired and blue eyed title character. And this is not just isolated to TF many anime many anime/manga produce black people as villains or a physical stereotype or someone almost nonexistent compared to their white/westerner (European or North American), (somewhat current racial favorite) justified/misunderstood Middle Easterner (Hebrew or Arab) or East Asian cohort. Take it like this; how many black or even latino anime characters can you actually point on looks alone with no name present and they’re all some natural non-tanned shade of brown with full lips or (oftenly offenssive) round lips? (pink or brown, doesn’t matter). Honestly its almost as offenssive to me that many dark skin and thick lipped anime characters are disappearing and being replaced with Japanese characters with the same features. And that’s what’s so interesting abouf all of this. Offensively racist or not.
This anime and manga thing we all love and admire isn’t for us. Regardless of all of the foreign references and language dubs. This is still for the entertainment of Japanese people regardless of however offensive it might be to others; purposefully or unintentionally. And let’s be honest most of us are viewers and readers not necessarily creators. So while all of us whom are offended can be offended. The creators of TF and the fans are justified in their bliss (ignorant as it may be) to enjoy the series. I still hold out hope that wiser Japanese eyes will open to the idea of black protags or important side characters that can be just as fun and interesting as anyone else in a popular anime/manga. I also hold out hope for fans to continuously be inspired to make their own (non-intensionally offensive) anime/mange or animated videos, comic books or webcomics. I also hold out hope that the world will stop treating people hatefully based on skin color, nationality, religious beliefs, whomever’s ancestor raped whom or ate someone in a 1000 year old ritual sacrifice. What matters is how we treat each other today and how next generations will treat each other tomorrow. That being said; trying to sweep everything bad under the rug and ignore actual truths is horrible and shameful and should sparsely be forgiven. And I don’t know whom might be descended from powerful ancient kings and queens. But the more the world tries to tell you that you’re nothing almost invariably proves that you have greatness in you and that you should share it in public, on paper or in a book, on TV or in a movie, on the internet – and it doesn’t matter if you’re an athlete, singer/musician, animation arist/cartoonist, inventor, doctor, or even a porn star. You mean something especially if you’re black and the whole world is against you. Now I don’t mean on a cosmic scale, I’m not an atheist but in almost every religion the deity someone prays too always picks a random so-and-so to be a prophet, or a hero, or a king. And I don’t support any of that God’s chosen people junk either, ex. The Hebrews say god chose them, the Christians say they chose Jesus, the Muslims say something that sounds similar to both, Buddhist stay out of it and meditate lol. (Although honestly the only thing that would widely change most Japanese people’s perception of black people is if several thousand of us from our western countries or African refugees from some war moved to Japan about 200 or 300 or 500 years back cut off all tribal hatreds and integrated or traded progressively before white people could badmouth us. Or if several large African nations – I’m talking millions of people, were still around or ever existed did worldly trade and didn’t collapse due to foreign invasion or internal strife like civil war or governmental infighting. And I mean this for everybody that was genocided or mass enslaved and tribal – Native Americans/American Indians, Polynesians, Australian Aboriginies, the various & probably extinct West Indie natives. To world becomes smaller because of 4 things: less interesting people in it, more spreading of death than celebrating of life, greedy people whom don’t know when to stop & chosing ignorance over truth. But we live in the real world where people give into their base emotions and prejudices on assumption rather than personal interaction, education and experience). Sorry to rant and I know somebody might respond to this or never will. But if you do please have a sensible argument and keep your head out of your ass.
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Tl;dr
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You seem to ignore the “Starship troopers“ or “Avatar“ feel of the work and believe that the portrayal of humans is meant to be positive.
I like this manga …. because it has this focus, and if some individual characters can be considered heroic, or positive (like your average manga hero) the ends of the human faction (genocide of a sentient life form) and their means (eugenics, invasive surgeries on “low lifes“, etc…) are far to be displayed in any positive way.
At the end of the day the roaches are invaded by humans and still treated like a pest even if they have evolved to be their equals. Those guys are only defending themselves and can very well be compared to African or Latin American civilizations invaded by Europeans.
I think that the author does a lot to prevent me as a reader to hate the roaches, and make the humans pretty hard to love as a species (still having your average manga hero to relate to). I actually kind of root for the roaches and feel a lot closer to them than the humans.
So I do not think at all that this manga is meant to encourage racism but on the contrary to denounce it in a very intelligent way. Don’t be fooled by their cute look, humans here are a bunch of militaristic conquerors who try to genocide the roaches after having destroyed their own ecosystem. On an individual level they may be gentle, or nice, or caring, but as a species humans are the pest here.
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If you think this is racist so you must think all anime is racist.
Dragonball Z: Goku transform into a super sayian with blond hair and blue eyes.
Pokemon: “Oh they must be encouraging animals to fight each other ”
Terra Former: “that cockroach is holding a gun sideways so the author must be saying blacks are cockroaches”
Shit if he’s saying that then that must be a good thing. In less then 500 years they evolved better then the the human race. Gotten stronger, faster, intelligent.
While most of you dumb people find racism in every little thing.
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To add, goku was only blond haired because filling in his air was a waste of ink
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Second point
Your claim that Chinese people are portrayed negatively is not accurate.
Every nation is leaded by a bunch of disgusting politicians with no honor and no one can be trusted.
The staff on the Chinese team is a diverse bunch who are true to their country but not specially more vicious than the other players around.
Even more some characters have a hard time going along with the betraying plan and display a lot of humanity.
Like the USSR in American movies, the republic of China is a usual boogeyman for other Asian countries, but disliking the regime is not hating the people on a racist base.
Also your claim that Joseph is portrayed has the ultimate positive white man ….. not true, not true at all:
– He is an aristocratic douche that nobody could relate to
– He come from forced cross breeding and abominable politics
– He is shady as fuck … and gives a shitty excuse to answer to his squad being killed
– It is clearly said that his clan has being going around from nation to nation and that the white skin, blond hair and blue eyes is a ramdom thing, not traits specifically pursued (so not a racial/racist thing)
– He actually look like most of your usual shirtless cute boy shojo manga character ( looks more like a male escort than a Nazi Ubermench to me)
– In other words he is your classic pompous powerhouse foreigner with a shitload of negative traits but who ends up on the good side
As for the sexist part ……… where please ????
I understand that most of the protagonists are dudes and that the ladies end up being more or less part of the scenery, but they get a lot more screen time than in a lot of other mangas. Most of those who die, die a hero’s death and you feel that the team is weakened by their demise.
I would have liked more ladies among the main protagonists, but unfortunately there are still few male oriented mangas doing a fair representation of both genders. So there is nothing here specially sexist, it is actually better than most of what you use to see.
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They are cockroaches, they are supposed to be black.. And they only have that body to be more intimidating.. The thing that offended me was (SPOILER ALERT) the chinese being the traitors, and we know what is the story of Japan and China 🙂
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The only sensed consideration I’ve read so far.
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The disease from Mars with a 100% mortality rate is an Ankh an Egyptian symbol, When they first land on Mars the Russian team heads towards a pyramid they just KNEW would be there.
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It really is something how people defend this stuff. I mean, I can hardly blame them. We live in a world where it’s become increasingly more sensitive to everything being racist or sexist, and as a counter culture to that, people are denying almost anything called such…Even if it is. Blatantly.
Choosing to selectively ignore certain parts of the manga’s themes and overall just being silly.
It’s a terrible thing. Because since we’ve gotten so numb to hearing how X is sexist or Y is racist, we don’t realize when something is ACTUALLY sexist or racist, and the people that are sexist and/or racist are being empowered this way. It’s like a weird idiotic Crying Wolf tale.
Anyway, thanks for the funny article. And to anyone defending this, stop being a dumbass.
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@Locus. So true. People being branded racist for pointing out when something is…and it ACTUALLY is…Crying Wolf tale indeed.
Taking the Japanese out of this, to consider just the creators’ and publishers of the manga (they don’t represent all Japan).
Eugenics may not be such a bad thing per say, but why should the perfect end result be a caucasian blonde with blue eyes? Other races have better genes in terms of resistance to diseases, better physiology attributes etc than caucasian…..a combination of those different aspects to get the perfect eugenic result would make sense….so why is the end result straight up white, blonde and blue eyed??
Some make an argument that it depicts homo erectus…but here is the nod off…homo erectus didn’t carry guns. And the terraformars shooting them like that, side-ways…..that is a straight up black stereotype right there.
So cockroaches are black, true….but how do you arrive at that kind of hair. Even dark skinned indians still have long hair…soooo…??
And the more clever terraformars are light skinned!!
Joseph Newton’s back story attributes his resulting eugenic appearance to coincidence, but really that doesn’t change what the anime depicts….going by that i could explain away a picture of a nazi german soldier killing jews by saying….he’s not nazi, he robbed a store for clothes and those are the ones he got, it was dark..now he is defending himself!!
Picking out one thing is defend-able….for instance, if it was the Joseph Newton point alone….but all the points together at once in one place… occurring constantly…come on!!
Don’t defend it just cause you enjoy it or anime in general or you think you are defending the Japanese! It doesn’t cater for all anime nor do the writers represent all Japan and you watching it for the fun of it doesn’t make you racist.
However, this anime undeniably is racist.
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This manga is seriously disgraceful! Has no place in existence. The ignorance of this cartoon (and some of the supporters) just boggles my mind. I have quite a bit of experience of Japanese culture but this is too much. I don’t think it’s reflective of Japanese attitudes, however the willingness to accept it may be.
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I bet u watch American/fake alternative toons which have tons of racism towards eastern people.
Pls read more mangas and stfu before judging what should exist and what not. Ur talking like a nazi
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I’ll point out that Joseph is a villain. He’s actually the ultimate villain of the series.
Like, he’s evil as fuck.
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i thought holding a gun to the side was a kill shot?
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Brilliant analysis. Racism is insipid and integral to nearly every aspect of modern culture. Anime and Manga are strong proponents of a white supremacist ideology, proving just how expansive the Roman empire reaches….Black people specifically are targeted to be demeaned, trivialized, and hated on. Par for the course from colonialized weak thinkers.
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I agree with the writer on this one. This manga isn’t even subtle in its racism, it’s openly racist! The character design itself makes it obvious. Why do the enemy roaches have the same kind of hair as black people? They don’t even look like roaches! They look like black caricatures with wings slapped on to try to kind of hide he racism, but not really. I stumbled on this manga when looking through my brother-in-law’s collection in Japan and was shocked when I looked through it. The sad thing is most people who read it won’t even realize the racism and it could greatly effect them subconsciously in how they view black people.
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You’re right, People who can’t the racism in this show are PC idiots and can’t see the big picture.
1. Perfect eugenic human is an blue eyed blonde haired caucasian that looks like Nazi posterboy. Which is exactly what the nazi’s were trying to achieve with eugenics, Come on now.
2. Clearly the alien insects are a parody of blacks. Ok, They’re roaches I get it but how is it that all their minor traits and qualities coincidentally resemble a typical black stereotype (WHICH IT DOES!)?
3. Look at Asian culture, They’ve idolized Europeans since day 1. They have a big inferiority complex. Half the woman in korea get plastic surgery to change their eyes and face to look more “western”, Chinese business men literally pay white guys to sit with them during meetings so that their companies appear more professional. Asian-American woman line up to get split by the spears of the west.
This has nothing to do with being “oversensitive” to racism. Being oversensitive and would be calling the show racist because the black guy died first or because there were no blacks in the show. OP is just calling out of blatant obvious shit for what it is.
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