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Ken Akamatsu Comments on Casting POC Voice Actors in American Cartoons, Japanese Anime

On Saturday, CNN reported that the long-running American cartoon The Simpsons will stop using white voice actors to play POC (People of Color) characters. The recent move from the show's producers come from an effort to address historical discrimination against non-white voice actors in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests in the United States and abroad.

ABEMA Times reported on the news in Japan on Tuesday and interviewed manga artist Ken Akamatsu (Love Hina, Negima! Magister Negi Magi, UQ Holder!) for comment on his thoughts on the issue, as well as how it may affect the Japanese animation industry.

"It may look like an excessive reaction when looking at things from Japan, but foreign countries have their own particular issues, so I will refrain from simplistic criticism and instead observe the situation for a while," he said. "However, I will say that the move to select actors on their race rather than their individual talents appears to go against the path that humanity has walked throughout history."

When asked how he would feel as a creator about casting decisions regarding foreign-language dubs of his works, he responded that, based on his prior experiences, "In Japan, a voice actor of an animated work wouldn't change because of race, but for a foreign-language dub, I leave those matters to the discretion of the dubbing company."

Regarding any concerns he has about freedom of expression, he said, "I am very curious about the current movement overseas to erase or remove past works. Osamu Tezuka's manga had quite a few discriminatory expressions, but it's standard in Japan to leave an explanatory note about that while preserving the work as it was in the past. As works that feature discriminatory expressions undergo more and more regulation, it may become impossible to see those old works. However, when it comes to the works that will be created in the present and future, I see absolutely no problem in creators such as myself individually applying our own discretion and consideration while having our freedom of expression protected. I hope that both sides can maintain a good balance."

Finally, he commented as follows on the claim that anime characters are modeled on white people: "[Japanese] creators such as myself are not thinking of our characters as white people when we draw them. Take the Sailor Moon protagonist Usagi Tskuno, for instance. She may have blonde hair but that's simply a manga-like expression. In her previous life, she was a person from the moon world, after all. It may be possible that fantasy worlds such as this may become the subject of criticism. Dark elves and other fantasy races may also come under fire. I foresee various issues coming into debate in the future."

Film journalist Hiroaki Saitō also commented on the issue of foreign-language dubs of Japanese anime, remarking that on a practical level it would be impossible to cast ethnically Japanese people living overseas for every single role. "It's possible that this issue may become prevalent in the future, given the measures that have been taken up to this point," he said.

Source: Abema Times via Otakomu