The above characters were all fairly obvious, but the rest of this list is more speculative. So this is another case of non-Japanese Asian groups being marked. Just like Lin Lee, Lao reads as East Asian. I guess they got us Americans down! Lao Huang Although the Vandham’s expressions don’t seem strange to me at all. So part of his personality is the use of strange Americanisms. Elma comments that she doesn’t understand many of his expressions, but thinks it wise not to ask about that one. In the cutscene where Vandham is introduced, he uses the expression “stick in the rear”. He is an embodiment of a Japanese stereotype of Americans. I would describe his personality as hammy. Jack Vandham is big, blonde, and mustachioed. According to TVTropes, “white hair tends to indicate dignity and skill (or simply obvious age)”. It’s very common for Japanese characters to be portrayed with many different hair colors, often corresponding to the character’s personality. If you gave so many unique characteristics to a character of minority ethnicity, no one would be able to recognize them as such. She is allowed to have many unique physical characteristics precisely because she is part of the “default” ethnicity. This may surprise you, but I think she is Japanese.
Her skin is in the midtones, and her hair is white and straight despite her being only 29. She represents the Japanese view of what Chinese/Koreans look like. Lin Lee Koo is not a Japanese name, it is a Chinese or Korean name! The reason Lin Lee is marked as Asian is because she is not Japanese. Lin Lee appears not to fit this pattern.Īn examination of the name reveals the reason. It’s common for Japanese characters to be read as Japanese in Japan and read as white in the US. Typically, in Japanese portrayals, Japanese characters lack obvious ethnic markings (just as Americans wouldn’t bother giving ethnic markings to white characters). She looks East Asian, doesn’t she? Now isn’t that odd? The first character whose ethnicity really raised my eyebrows was Lin Lee Koo. Los Angeles, of course, is very ethnically diverse, so by looking at the cast we can see a Japanese interpretation of ethnic diversity. What’s more, it takes place in a future version of Los Angeles. Xenoblade Chronicles X offers an interesting case study of ethnicity in Japanese video games, because unlike other games which take place in fantasy worlds, this one takes place in our world (although a different planet). One of these, New Los Angeles, crash lands on an alien planet. Quick summary: In 2054, Aliens destroy earth.