Wow, quite a lot there to unpack, isn’t there? Time for a bulleted list!

Man if people can gender bend character and get praised and even their own articles featuring them on Kotaku I feel skin color should be a total non issue. Cosplay as who you want to cosplay regardless of gender, race or anything else. Make it your own and have fun!

In that light maybe Kotaku should be making an…

As far as I know the only good example of a character of African descent being portrayed well in anime is Dutch from Black Lagoon , such a badass. As badass as the Chinese-American girl and the white computer geek. Such a great anime.

I could be wrong. I usually am...

More like saying telling a racist joke isn’t disrespectful if you really had no idea the joke racist.

If it was so transparent, the article wouldn’t have posited it 20+ years later.

You read an entire article about how hard it is to have darker skin when cosplaying characters from anime due to the fact that darker skinned characters are so under-represented, and you nitpicked the one small thing to get DEFENSIVE about (Mr. Popo), instead of showing any form of understanding or empathy. Typical…

lll will is not necessary to cause injury. People are still responsible for their words and actions regardless of their intentions. You know what the road to hell is paved with.

The only thing that’s been lost in this exchange is your humanity, assuming you ever possessed it.

More like saying telling a racist joke isn’t disrespectful if you really had no idea the joke racist.

As a black cosplayer, I totally get that fear. I usually stick to characters that wear masks or full body stuff just so my race feels like it matters less.

it wasnt viewed by the people who made him as disrespectful though. its only here in the west the people have a problem with the portrayal.

Japan has no clue about black people. They still allow companies to actively sell products with blatant historical racist themes.

“I can look good,” Kimberly said, “but I won’t look as good as someone with a lighter skin tone cosplaying this character.”

Blackface caricatures are still popular in Japan, and were even moreso during the 80's when Dragonball was created.

A lot of portrayals of Djinns in folklore portray them as slaves. For instance, in the earliest versions of the Aladdin story, the Djinn/Genie is always referred to as “the slave of the lamp.” Traditionally they’re bound to a person and unable to deny their commands.

This is why I was so happy Jason Mamoa was hired for Aquaman. I’ve always wanted to do Aquaman but I never looked the part. I did a bad ass cosplay of the new Aquaman with tattoos and everything.

Would people cosplay as the other Power Man? I’m actually wondering about that.

Black Panther also wears an entirely concealing outfit.

Totally understand 100% Ugh, just reading this knotted up my stomach a bit.