I don't know if you can really consider this character being "whitewashed" since she's doesn't have a race... it's a damn robot with a human mind.

spoiler alert!

*promote

Promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Saturday, April 16th, 2016 5:25am PDT - promote requested by Mordhaus.

LOL. I thought this was real.

ya, that drawing doesn't look like an Asian woman at all. Looks like a white chick with odd grey tufty hair. I think this video is correct in the idea that more asians need to be cast in starring roles.. but does THIS character need to be asian just because the story/art was Japanese? I don't know. But that drawing doesn't look Asian.

Uh no, anime characters are not "drawn to look more like westerners"

I think this article explains it well:
http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2010/08/30/guest-post-why-do-the-japanese-draw-themselves-as-white/

...And @Ghostly wins the thread with the odd tactic of using facts and psychology tenants to remove racial confusion.

Yeah, sorry guys. Anime characters are Japanese unless drawn as American or British 'white'. Stories about Japan, set in Japan, with Japanese characters being played by white people is whitewashing. The fact that her character is now renamed "Major" should tell you something.

Major Motoko Kusanagi has always appeared 'Japanese' to me, even her cyborg face looked 'Japanese' to me. Those that think the anime character looks 'white' must also think that, in the anime world, Japan is populated solely with white people, because they all look like her except the actual Americans.

yes, motoko kusanagi is totally a white character. and a white secret agent in japan would totally have no effect on the story.

One view emphasizes events occurring during and after the Allied occupation of Japan (1945–1952), and stresses that manga was strongly shaped by United States cultural influences, including US comics brought to Japan by the GIs and by images and themes from US television, film, and cartoons (especially Disney).

There are two schools of thought on this theory; the link you provided is from someone who believes in the other school of thought, which is fine, but it is not the end all definition. Additionally, I never said the characters weren't Asian in the manga or anime, I said jokingly that they are drawn with western characteristics like the rounder Occidental eyes.

Clearly the original character is meant to be Japanese, and the studio certainly could replace a known actress with lots of draw power with a lesser known actress, but realistically this is meant to make money. Just like "All you need is kill" was redone and cast with money making actors as Edge of Tomorrow. In the end, the studio is selling a product and is going to want to make the most money possible, so casting will almost always go to an actor that pulls a fan base.

@newtboy I wasn't attempting to say that the character was meant to be western, I was merely joking about the art style. Sorry for any confusion I may have put forth.

I would have still seen 47 Ronin if Keanu wasn't in it, but at the same time I probably would have thought it wasn't as bad.

I love ScarJo shes my new Uma.

But yeah they should have just picked an asian chick.
At least the live Action Akira with Tom Cruise died...didn't it.

You still can...they are called 'Chūshingura' .
'The Loyal 47 Ronin' is one version you can watch for free with subtitles, it can be found on YT in 2 parts, part one is at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KE9lG7G6t4E

Many are just named 'Chūshingura', including the most famous one, made in 1962 named "Chūshingura: Hana no Maki, Yuki no Maki" There are many versions. None of the Japanese made versions have dragons or witches, as far as I know. I'm almost certain they are ALL better than "47 Ronin", but I haven't seen them all...I just know it's true.

Ironically, all Americans in anime look like Scandinavian man-mountain Dolph Lundgren.

I treat movies like these (like Oldboy, Edge of Tomorrow) as basically adaptations of foreign stories to Western society. It's not at all a surprise that Western audiences will generally want a Western lead, and studio execs know this. Besides what would be the point of remaking the anime/manga verbatim (besides converting anime to live action)? The original stands by itself.

What bothers me more is the inevitable dumbing down of the material. You can bet philosophical discussion on the boundary between human and machine, dualism and emergent bandwagon will be replaced by actions, explosions and CGI.

i don't think western audiences actual want a western lead, i think studios are locked in outdated mentalities of what an IP needs to be successful.

I agree.

I have felt very strongly since I first saw Kill Bill that it would've been much better with Badass Lucy Liu as the lead instead of Lanky-Awkward-and-Ugly Uma Thurman.

i'm not sure that's a great example since that IP was basically conceived of and developed by thurman and tarantino specifically for thurman.

Despite who Quentin had in mind, if Uma had, let's say, been hit by a commuter train before principal photography and Lucy Liu had replaced her, the films would've been vastly better.

regardless of if it would or wouldn't, thurman wasn't taking the role of an asian actor.

Opinions in Japan of the White-Washing of Ghost in the Shell has been added as a related post - related requested by lucky760 on that post.