How Black Fans Are Changing Anime
Megan Thee Stallion cosplaying as Shoto Todoroki from My Hero Academia. [Illustration via AJ+]
If you’re not watching anime, you’re far behind the times. In the decades since shows like Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z popularized the Japanese animation style in the late 1990s, anime has gone fully mainstream, raking in more than $19 billion a year. This boom in popularity has led to more Black characters, which thankfully are less based in the American minstrelsy traditions that inspired earlier animators.
For her piece “Why So Many Black People Love Anime,” AJ+ producer Eileen Salazar interviewed Cheyenne Ewulu about anime’s relationship with Black fans. Ewulu hosts the Amazon Prime YouTube series Anime Club and in 2015 directed Shades of Cosplay, a documentary on anti-Black racism within the cosplay space.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did you get into watching anime?
I think Dragon Ball Z solidified me into anime fandom. I'm a ‘90s kid, so I grew up in the age of Kids’ WB, FoxBox, 4Kids and all of these channels that showed shonen anime titles. They were shoving anime down our throats as kids.
Anime has gone from a thing that people used to be bullied for liking to something cool. How do you feel about that transition?
It's about time, honestly. I think when Pokémon came out in the early 2000s it really opened the doors for new shows to become internationally popular. Fans who felt like they needed to hide that interest were able to be open and proud about it. If people make fun of it now, you can just be like, “I don't care because me and Megan Thee Stallion have the same taste, so you lose, sorry!”
Has social media had a positive or negative impact on the Black anime community?
Outside of school, I found a lot of Black friends who liked anime mostly through Twitter or Instagram. I often hear people say, “When we go to our local anime club, Black anime fans just aren't there.” But when you go online, there's a whole community of us. Whether we're cosplaying, creating funny content, making anime Twitter accounts, we're everywhere. You can't miss us.
What inspired your documentary Shades of Coplay?
Shades of Cosplay came about in college, when I was a heavy cosplayer. I sewed my own stuff, the whole works, and spent so much money. At the time, in 2015, there were all these different docuseries on YouTube about cosplay that didn’t even feature Black cosplayers. I had also faced discrimination within the cosplay community, online but also in person. It’s crazy that some people are bold enough to come up to you in person and say crazy stuff.
At that time, I didn't really feel like anybody was putting on Black nerds.
What attracted you to cosplay?
I felt like I could embody my favorite characters. I loved cosplaying as Korra from The Legend of Korra, and I made three or four versions of her outfits. Every time I put on that costume it felt so cool to represent another brown girl. One time at this anime convention, this little girl came up to me and said, “Look, mommy, there's Korra. Can I have a picture?” Seeing fans smile is always a treat for me, too.
You once tweeted, “Black women existing in the anime space makes the ashies and the crusties SEETHE every time. At this point it’s just comical. And don’t think I don’t notice how Black women are treated in this space vs. how their male peers who do the exact same things are treated.” Could you explain that?
There was a situation in which a Black voice actress was cast as a main character of a really popular show, and people were being racist and really crappy about her casting. For a long time, the anime community has been full of people who are unfavorable towards Black people, and Black women especially. It often seems like Black women are never treated with the same grace as their male counterparts.
With that tweet, I was just fed up seeing all the crap online. And I was like, “Y'all can be salty that people who look like me have infiltrated your precious community.” But at this point you can't deny us. We're cosplaying, we're out here creating our own anime. Some of the dopest anime characters in history are Black. You can't deny us this fandom; it's time to give us the respect that we're due.
As a Dragon Ball Z fan, how did you feel when you first saw Mr. Popo, a character often criticized as being a racist caricature of Black people?
I didn’t really clock him until I was older and like, “Damn, so this is what I have to see in the stuff that I love to consume.” We see caricatures of Black people in anime less and less now, which is great, and I'm hoping that this trend continues and that Black people are even more respected in character creation. There are a lot of really cool anime characters who are Black, like Ogun from Fire Force.
Is there anything I didn't ask that you think is important to know about Black people in the anime space?
Black anime fans exist throughout the Black community. I feel like it’s a staple at this point. They love anime in the hood. So we're out here and we're going to be out here for a while. You'll find your people eventually. Just keep looking.
Watch Salazar’s full documentary on Black anime fans on YouTube.
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