Ask John: Why Are Some Anime Girls So Tan?

Question:
Why are some women in anime, like Kitsurubami from FLCL, extremely tan? I could understand if it was for the sake of cutural diverity, except that in some anime characters like Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell From Gundam Wing seem to be from similar cultures, but the first is Asian and the later is American. On top of that, it is a very unnatural look. Is this just the animators diverisfying or is there more to it?

Answer:
I have to warn you that I may be ignorant about some aspects of this trend, so my answer may be incomplete or uninformed. I’ve always assumed that dark skinned girls in anime were a reference to the “ganguro” fashion trend. “Ganguro,” which literally means “face black” is a fashion trend for teenage Japanese girls to have bleached blond hair and a deep tan intended to create a “California girl” look. The best example of ganguro girls in anime is in the Super GALs! Kotobuki Ran TV series in which the ganguro girls feud with the kogals (another variety of trendy Tokyo girls’ fashion).

It’s also possible that some dark skinned anime characters are just tanned. Azumanga Daioh explains that Kagura has a dark tan just because she’s on the swimming team and happens to be in the sun a lot of the time. Nadia of Secret of Blue Water seems to have a dark skin tone because of her ethnic origin. I can’t explain Kitsurubami’s skin tone, except to possibly blame it on the fact that she is an alien, after all. But slight variations in skin color may be just a way to diversify character designs and make characters stand out.