spy x family is an interesting case study for racial politics in anime in part because it approaches race slightly differently than many other anime. frequently, animes will portray characters that are, for all intents and purposes, japanese, but deeply resemble white people -- a clear instance of global white supremacy and the equation of whiteness to beauty/ideal character design. there is also the presence of anti-black caricatures in anime and the extreme anti-black behavior of anime fans.
but spy x family is interesting -- and to be clear, not better -- because, unlike other animes that present whiteness as unquestioned default in a japanese setting, this show is set an alternate historical europe, specifically postwar germany. so on one level, for characters to appear european makes a level of "sense" because the setting is european-inspired. however: even in a european setting, it does not make sense for every character to be white, which is effectively what has happened in spy x family. and racism rears its ugly head because when you bring up this point, you can't win! people will argue either:
a) well, it's set in postwar germany, so it "makes sense" for there not to be nonwhite characters given germany's history. (guess what! nonwhite people still lived in germany in the 50s/60s!)
b) well, it's set in an alternate universe and therefore doesn't need to be "historically accurate," so the show doesn't have to portray nonwhite characters. (guess what! if your alternate historical universe only portrays white people, that's reinforcing the white supremacist hegemony that only white people are worthy of having stories told about them!)
as such, if you want to acknowledge that it is at best questionable for spy x family to lack characters of color, people will either argue for historicism or against historicism and won't hear a word otherwise. i don't have my hopes up by any means, but i do think spy x family should make a concerted investment in incorporating and developing characters of color, both as principal characters and simply as background characters!
and then there's the case of the shopkeeper: the only noticeably brown character among spy x family's main cast. (which, looking through reddit threads, what everyone loved to claim was that he was a white person with a tan he got from working in the garden...) i don't think i have to explain why it's not the best look to have your only major nonwhite character be the leader of a secret assassin organization -- and the emphasis here goes on "only," because characters of color don't have to be saints! they can and should be morally ambiguous, antagonists, etc.! but when your only (potential) nonwhite racial representation is the head of a militaristic murder group? what that does is uniformly associate characters of color with violence and rigid hierarchy. that's not good.
my final note is more of a personal observation, i.e. something spy x family fans don't necessarily need to majorly think about re the show's overarching issue of racial uniformity, but nonetheless it's an observation i do think is worth pointing out: franky's design somewhat resembles the history of anti-black caricatures in anime. specifically, his afro-like hair -- and that he's pretty much the only curly-haired character in the show -- that's given no real rendering/detail and that his eyes are simply circles with pupils, whereas the vast majority of other principal characters are given detailed eyes with colorful irises. franky noticeably does not have the exaggerated lips which are common in anti-black anime design (not to mention his skin tone appears to be pretty firmly white -- though slightly more tan than loid, interestingly enough), but the other points of resemblance are still there. i certainly don't mean to suggest the creator was intentionally inspired by anti-black caricatures when creating franky, but the partial similarities still feel worth acknowledging, if only because it illuminates how deep unconscious anti-blackness runs.
the short of it: spy x family's conspicuous lack of characters of color is the other side to the same coin of anime's overarching racism problem, which is presenting aesthetic whiteness as default. where it differs is its historical setting -- but that setting does not and should not excuse its exclusion of nonwhite characters!
and to be clear, i don't write this post with the expectation that everyone must now go make spy x family ocs that are nonwhite or that everyone needs to be writing exclusively historically informed fanfic which integrates postwar germany's racial relations (though more power to you if you want to do that and/or more!). i literally just want there to be acknowledgement of this topic, because to ignore it is to tacitly reinforce white supremacy. that's it. i really enjoy spy x family, and im not going to stop reading/watching it -- but i do intend to continue engaging with spy x family and its portrayal of race with a critical eye, a practice i think everyone should be in the habit of. simple as!
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