Non-Japanese characters in Japanese cartoonscan be a tricky topic. Most characters in the medium are going to be Japanese, since the creators are aiming to appeal to their home audience first. However, they’ve also been willing to include characters from all sorts of backgrounds in their works.
Some characters are of ambiguous or mixed Japanese heritage, likeBleach’s Yoruichi and Chad. But there are also so many popular foreigners in anime that it’s hard to narrow them down. These characters are not necessarily the ultimate best non-Japanese shōnen stars of all time. Rather, this list offers examples of some of the best, from household names to hidden gems.
Despite its romcom nature and romantic subplots,Ranma ½is a shōnen anime based on a manga from Weekly Shōnen Sunday. But, like the lead character, it can enter shōnen or shōjo territory on a whim. The main cast are largely Japanese, yet it has plenty of Chinese themes, places, and faces. It even has a tribe of Chinese amazons, whose main champion is the formidableShampoo.
Shampoo is a kung fu master who will fight opponents to the death. As his female alter-ego Ranko, Ranma beat her in her home village, finding out the hard way about her tribe’s rules. Any female outsider who beats an Amazon will be pursued until they’re killed. However, Ranma also took her down as himself and learned that male outsiders who win over an Amazon are bound to become their partner. So with Shampoo, Ranma is a moment away from a wedding or a beheading.
Gon Freecs’ journey to become a licensed Hunter would never be smooth. Between passing the rigorous entrance exams and mastering Nen, he’s also got to compete with many rivals. Killua Zoldyck may be his friend, but his estranged family of assassins have other plans,including their butler,Canary. She’s a petite teen with enough power to expel any intruder on Zoldyck property back the way they came in. She took out a Hunter and his 100-man backup alone.
Still, Canary isn’t beyond reason. She has a soft spot for Killua, particularly when the head butler, Gotoh, puts her life on the line in a coin game. Once Gon proves his worth as Killua’s friend, she becomes one of his allies. She’s since become a popular supporting character, and one of the most popular black anime characters.
Hajime no Ippohas a creative way of illustrating the drama in boxing. Ippo’s Dempsey Roll appears almost as powerful in motion as a Kamehameha. So, viewers were surprised when both Ippo got beat out by just a series of left-hand jabs fromRicardo Martinez. A protégé of trainer Bill Stewart, he’s one of the strongest boxers in the series.
Known as the Living Legend and Hero of Mexico, he quickly rose through the ranks to become the WBA Featherweight Champion. Opponents Ippo had trouble beating, like Alfredo Gonzalez and Eiji Date, were soundly thrashed by Ricardo. As of this writing, in the manga and anime, he’s never lost a match.
FatherEnrico Pucciis one of the more interesting villains inJojo’s Bizarre Adventure. He started off well, aiming to become a priest. However, he was always intrigued by the notion of fate, and only got more interested when a mysterious man called Dio pressed the idea further. When he lost his sister, Perla, Enrico found solace in Dio’s thoughts on fate and became his follower.
Enrico thought Dio’s plan of letting everyone know their inescapable fate, good or bad, in advance would bring peace. He’d still be able to make his own decisions about his future, but everyone else just had to deal with their fate. But he found out the hard way that the future is more malleable than he thought, as Jolyne Cujoh and her friends ultimately proved.
6Dio Brando (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)
Anglo-Italian Vampire
Pucci might be more interesting from a moral perspective, but it feels wrong to mentionDio Brandowithout giving him his own entry. He’s themost iconic villain in the series, and one of the most fascinating scumbags in anime history. Viewers could feel for him as the abused child of a thieving father and dead mother, but he never overcame his pain, and instead inflicted misery on others.
Dio bullied his stepbrother, Jonathan, and then killed his dog once he fought back. Then he tried poisoning Jonathan’s dad, before Jonathan exposed his plot. He became a vampire, murdering and manipulating until he was reduced to a head by Jonathan’s Hamon. His comeback 100 years later was more successful thanks to his Stand, The World. However, all the steamrollers in the world couldn’t save him from Jotaro, Star Platinum, and his own hubris.
5Joseph Joestar (JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure)
If Bugs Bunny Was An English Muscleman
Dio and Pucci are some of the standout non-Japanese villains inJojo, but who’s the series' best non-Japanese hero? There are several to choose from, between William, Caesar and Gyro Zeppeli, Jean-Pierre Polnareff, and more. The first Jojo, Jonathan Joestar, even has the distinction of being Shōnen Jump’s first non-Asian lead. That said, his lookalike grandson,Joseph Joestar, is more popular.
The second Joseph Joestar is more of a schemer, predicting his opponent’s sentences as well as their moves. He’s also entertainingly goofy, getting offended over the failure of his female disguise, greeting Santana’s body horror antics with a song, and more. He was fun to watch in his prime, and even when he matured forStardust Crusaders, he still retained some of this goofy charm.
Falls from grace can be as intriguing as their rise. IfAttack on Titanwas more lighthearted, it would playEren Yeager’s quest to eliminate the Titans straight. Either he would kill them all, or find some way to undo their transformation into giant, man-eating cannibals. Instead, Eren’s dream of killing the Titans turned into a nightmare. Eren’s actions would lead to the end of the Titans, but they also took out 80% of the rest of the world’s population.
Many ofAoT’s characters have Germanic surnames, with first names from other cultures (e.g. the Japanese Mikasa Ackerman). ‘Yeager’ is another reading of ‘Jaeger,’ which is German. Meanwhile, ‘Eren’ is Turkish, meaning ‘holy’ or ‘saint.’ It’s an ironic name for how Eren turned out.
Fullmetal Alchemisttakes place in a fictional fantasy land called Amestris, meant to be a magic steampunk take on Germany. This might be why the 2003 series ended on a weird note, withEdward Elricheading to 1920s Germanyto fight off the Thule Society.Brotherhoodsticks closer to the manga, keeping Edward and his brother Alphonse in Amestris to deal with the Homunculi, King Bradley, and other threats.
The brothers had attempted to use alchemy to bring their mother back from the dead. Instead, Edward lost an arm and a leg, and Alphonse’s spirit got stuck in a suit of armor. Edward becomes a certified Alchemist to figure out how to restore Alphonse’s body. He’s impulsive and has a short temper, but he’s one of the toughest figures in his world.
Just because a series takes place in a fictional world doesn’t mean it can’t have a diverse cast.One Piecetakes place in a world that’s largely ocean, with a few islands and a giant, impassable stretch of land called the Red Line. But the Straw Hats are a mix of different backgrounds, cultures, and identities.
EvenMonkey D. Luffyisn’t meant to be a Japanese character. When asked what real nation Luffy would come from, creator Eiichiro Odasaw him as a Brazilian. Live-actionOne Pieceactor Iñaki Godoy is Mexican, but Oda liked his performance as the rubber boy enough to say “I’m grateful that you were born just to be like Luffy.” It’s safe to say Godoy has set the template for future potential live-action Luffys to follow.
Of course,Son Gokuisn’t Japanese; he’s a Saiyan from outer space! His Earth is also a bit of a fantasy land, featuring animal people and dinosaurs even before Namekians, bug men, pink blobs, and cat gods started hanging around. Even so, he is meant to look and act human. He has more Chinese roots than Japanese, given his connections toJourney to the West’s own cocky stone monkey, Sun Wukong.
His name is the Japanese reading of Sun Wukong’s name (like the Roman ‘Hercules’ to Greece’s ‘Heracles’), and his original countryside home is based on Lianyungang in Jiangsu. However, he wasalso based loosely on Jackie Chan, whose mix of comedy and kung fu was a key inspiration forDragon Ball, from the slapstick gags to his bickering with Chichi and Bulma. So, if the series gets another live-action series, they should aim for a shouty Chan-esque movie rather than whateverDragonball Evolutionbecame.
