Even though Japan is a country with little ethnic diversity, anime often features characters of black or dark skin. In this article, we will explore the main black male and female anime characters, both female and male.
The Japanese love black people, many end up thinking that prejudice in Japan is due to skin color, but it is very likely that a black person is treated better than Japanese mestizos themselves.
It doesn't matter if the person is black, white, blonde or curly hair, because it is different from the Japanese standard, it will definitely draw a certain kind of attention, and this also happens in anime.
They are usually represented with an outgoing and lively character, unlike the Japanese who are generally shy and introverted.
Many dark-skinned characters appear frequently in anime, some appear as if they were Japanese, without implying as someone of mixed race or Afro descent.
It is worth noting that the final list of this article can include dark-skinned, mixed-race, Indian, tanned and other characters, any character with dark skin.
Table of Contents
Michiko Malandro and Afro samurai - Black Protagonists
Michiko is a protagonist of the anime Michiko and Hatchin that references Brazil. An afro-latina with a design based on the famous R&B singer Aaliyah.
One of the few black female protagonists in anime, she is smart, beautiful, capable of handling any problem like police and bounty hunters.
Afro Samurai is an anime where the name says it all, he is considered the second best swordsman in the whole world, his anime is very successful. This reminded me of an article that talks about black samurais in Japan.
Black characters in Hunter x Hunter
In Anime Hunter x Hunter we find two black characters that stand out among the rest, the girl Canary who is an apprentice butler at the Zoldyck mansion, and the dog tamer Squala in the Phantom Troupe arc.
Both characters won the charisma and empathy of fans even with a brief appearance. Perhaps because of their design and background in the Story, and Squala stars in the little romance present in the anime.
Canary's hair also caught a lot of attention; her appearance and personality are quite charismatic. I don't know why I decided to highlight these two characters from Hunter x Hunter, maybe it's because I'm watching it for the fourth time while writing this article.
Black female anime characters
We have already mentioned two female characters in this article (Michiko and Canary), but there are many others that deserve to be highlighted in this list. Below is a list of the main black female characters in anime:
Yoruichi Shihouin – One of the most prominent black characters in anime, a very strong and charismatic character that can be found watching the great shounen Bleach.
Edward – One of the protagonists of Cowboy Bebop, a skilled and very intelligent girl prodigy, hacker and technology lover.
Krone – One of the mothers who take care of the children at the orphanage of Yakusoku no Neverland, despite her strong appearance and intimidating personality, is a good character.
Kaola SU – An Indian-looking foreign character from the Love Hina anime. His personality and energy is quite visible, showing that the Japanese consider foreigners to be energetic people.
Below are some other popular black female characters:
- Ikumi Mito - Food Wars!
- Abigail Jones - Great Pretender;
- Aoi Asahina - Dangaronpa;
- Sakura Oogami - Highschool of the Dead
- Rakshata Chawla - Code Geass;
- Karako Koshio - Dean Wonderland;
- Hayase Nagatoro - Nagatoro;
- Muru Muru - Future Diary;
- Urd - Oh! Megami-sama;
- Paninya - Fullmetal Alchemist;
Black male anime characters
We've already mentioned the male characters Squala and Afro Samurai, now let's highlight the black male characters popular in anime:
Scar - One of the favorite antagonists of Fullmetal Alchemistits story is quite sad with a background that epicly addresses prejudice and war in the world of alchemists.
Hattori Heiji - Popular character from Detective Conan, despite being from Kansai, he has dark skin that he says he inherited from his grandfather.
Agile - One of the characters from Sword Art Online, their real name is Andrew Gilbert Mills showing as an Afro-American foreigner in Japan who has his own Bar.
Note: A common characteristic that I found among many black male characters in anime is that they usually have a rounded face and are usually bald or have little hair.
Below is a list of other black male anime characters:
- Lord Genome - Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann;
- Ren Akatsuki - Fairy Tail;
- Yasutora Sado - Bleach;
- Killer B - Boruto; Simon Brezhnev - Durarara!!
- Dutch - Black Lagoon;
- Phil - The Promised Neverland;
List of Black Characters in Anime
Finally, let's leave a list of Black characters from the most loved anime:
- Yoruichi Shihouin - Bleach,
- Killer Bee - Naruto Shippuden
- Afro Samurai - Afro Samurai
- Canary - Hunter x Hunter
- A (Fourth Raikage) - Naruto Shippuden
- Darui - Naruto Shippuden
- Huey Freeman
- Muhammad Avdol
- Tier Halibel - Bleach
- Aokiji
- Michiko - Michiko to Hatchin
- Riley Freeman - The Boondocks
- Karui - Naruto Shippuden
- Omoi - Naruto Shippuden
- Kaname Tōsen
- Agil - Sword Art Online
- Sid Barrett - Soul Eater
- Dutch - Black Lagoon
- Mila-Rose
- Sol Marron - Blac
- Ay (Thrid Raikage)
- Rock Lock (Ken Takagi) - My Hero Academia
- Kilik Rung
- Allura
- Ishizu Ishtar - Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters
- Uub - Dragon Ball GT
- Villetta Nu - Code Geass
- Simon Brezhnev - Durarara!!
- Ninja Ninja - Afro Samurai, Afro Samurai: Resurrection
- Ogun Montgomery - Fire Force
- Daz Bones - One Piece - Alabasta Arc
- Marik Ishtar - Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monsters, Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Carole Stanley - Carole & Tuesday
- Atsuko Jackson - Michiko to Hatchin
- Sister Krone - The Promised Neverland
- Iris - Pokémon
- Miyuki Ayukawa
- King Bakura - Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Tiona Hiryute - DanMachi
- Love Aikawa - Bleach
- Philly the Kid - Canon Busters
- Karako Koshio - Dean Wonderland
- Sandaime Muramasa
- Alex Benedetto
- Abengane - Hunter x Hunter
- Bob Makihara - Tenjho Tenge
- Young Blak - Blokhedz Mission G Animated Web Series
- Lenora - Pokémon
- Onyankopon - Attack on Titan
- Charon - Fire Force
- Urd - Oh My Goddess!
- Mana - Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Angie Yonaga - Danganronpa
- Edelgard - How Not to Summon a Demon Lord
- April - Darker Than Black
- Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt Zerbst - Zero no Tsukaima
- Jerso - Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood
- Amalia Sheran Sharm
- Kaz Kaan
- Jackie Tristan - Bleach
- Bear Walken - Gungrave
- James Ironside
- Garterbelt - Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt
- Pyunma/Cyborg
- Anthy Himemiya - Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Musa Karama - Run With The Wind
- Kuro von einzbern - FATE SERIES
- Mahad - Yu-Gi-Oh!
- Satoshi Batista - Michiko to Hatchin
- Domino Walker - Cowboy Bebop
- Abdul Hakim
- Claudia Grant - Robotech
- Tom Tanaka
- Phil - Digimon Adventure
- Brock - Pokémon
- Chocolove McDaniel
- Akagi Takenori - Slam Dunk
- Archer emiya shirou - FATE SERIES
- Akio Ohtori - Revolutionary Girl Utena
- Enrico Pucci
- Robert Jebediah Freeman - The Boondocks
- Jan Valentine - Hellsing
- Squala (Hunter x Hunter)
- Nathan Seymour - Tiger & Bunny, Tiger & Bunny
- Tiziano (Jojo's Bizarre Adventure)
- nagatoro chan
- Hibina
- Abigail Jones
- Davi - Michiko to Hatchin
- Louis Machungo
