Board Thread:Theories/@comment-124.106.131.67-20160402184737/@comment-27702860-20160501083017

I really do think part of it is to generate variety in what would be a very monochromatic set of characters.

THIS IS A TANGENT:

For example the infamous soul-crushing Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni--"When the Cicadas/Higurashi Cry"--series we have:



where all of the characters are utterly Japanese. Yes, they have "anime eyes" of different to not-seen-in-humanity colors. . . like this お神様:

with. . . purple eyes? Or are they and her hair a degree of black which simply cannot be rendered as such in color animation?

Returning to the previous picture, the different hair color is used to distinguish between characters. The little girl with "blue" hair has black hime or "princess" style hair. In the manga it is black.

But green hair? Blond hair? On Japanese  kids? The girl with green hair has a twin with the same color and a Mum who is so traditional she wears a kimono at all times yet also has green hair.

Again, these are all Japanese character, but the author found a convenient way to create family based differences rather than depict them all with black hair and brown eyes.

With Attack on Titan there is I think a conscious effort on the author's part to make characters of different ethnicities with a sort of Germanic flavor: "Erwin Jaeger?" The manga makes clear that Mikasa--a perfectly cromulent German name!--is a child of a Mum who is one of the last of the "Asian" race. She and the Not-Yet-Fully-Understood-Family-Connection Levi "Mazeltov!" Ackerman have a more "Asian" look. I think the author made a conscious effort to have non-Japanese characters perhaps for variety. Notice the lack of "chibi" renderings in even comic moments--such as Sasha losing it when Mikasa claims the noise made by Erwin having yet another fight with Jean was from Sasha farting. Normally, Sahsha would go "all chibi." It seems the author has eschewed such breaks in the theme.

Of course, being Japanese, he has created characters who express Japanese idioms and some mannerisms.

I see I am blathering, so I will stop. Anyways, I think the author tries very hard to create visually distinct characters by using other ethnic groups even if the characters behave Japanese.

--J.D.

[Edited to redact to the Textus Receptus.--Ed.]