No, the lead actor is where the problem of whitewashing is at its worst. This was not any kind of artistic or thematic decision, the decision to choose her is because Hollywood feels they need a white lead actor for their movies. The reason for her casting was the same reason why the Dragonball Z movie had a white…

Yes, yes they are. It takes place in Japan. All the characters are Japanese. Just because the animation doesn’t make them “look” Asian doesn’t mean they aren’t Asian.

Bollywood does not have the luxury of picking actors of any ethnicity that they might want. They’re almost completely limited to the local actor pool, which does not feature a great deal of ethnic variation from outside India. On the other hand, in America you can get actors of every colour without a slightest…

And yet still no complaints about the casting of Apocalypse going to a non-Egyptian.

The difference there, unfair though it may be, is that Hollywood is the leading film producer in the world. What Hollywood makes is seen by much more than America, whereas Japanese TV/cinema isn’t very popular outside of Japan (except for anime). So there’s a double-standard.

Their NAMES for one thing. Their countries of origin for another. Their stated histories for yet another.

I loved that she got a child’s body at the end, and the black market explanation was just a gimmick to get it in the movie.

The whole series is an exploration of identity and Motoko is almost entirely body-agnostic; she lives in her mind. So getting a child body and not caring is amazing, beyond maybe some chagrin at…

Wow, dude. Way to make it personal.

Yes, this Indian Superman really dominated the cultural narrative until the Zack Snyder reboot.

It’s not the same thing because when it comes to Asians, they always bend the race to White. And Bond isn’t a “white” name because historically blacks took on their slave names. Kusanagi is a Japanese name, come on

I’m white and it pisses me off. You take a Japanese character named Mokoto Kusanagi, who lives in Japan and works for the Japanese government, and what do you do? Cast the whitest person you could find.

What?
“Nothing about the story that forces it to be in Japan”

Artistic license I guess. When I see anime style cartoons, I think Asian. I mean, Ariel in the little mermaid has hair that isn't natural in the human world. And white eyes aren't that big either.

Dude, I’m not going to click on another link and go through another article or post.

I disagree about the setting. Important parts of the story rely on the arcane nature of Japanese bureaucracy. And the idea that the Major is ‘owned’ by the state would have a different meaning in an American context. The characters don’t seem to think it’s such a strange thing. (Which is something I dislike about that…

The difference is, other countries do it because:

The guilt that we as Americans are expected to have for doing it too is ridiculous.

White wrapping. Nice.

Motoko has a custom-built body made to look like a generic, off-the-shelf model to avoid attracting attention. Making it look Western in Japan really wouldn’t fly.

Are they actually keeping her name Matoko Kusanagi? Wow. Are they keeping it set in Japan too? I mean the setting is important to the series but if you are going to go around whitewashing I assumed they would move it to America or something.