White Samurai and Gryphons (Yet another diversity in YA thread.)

So, in my quest to find books that where "anime-esc" I was pointed to a number called Stormcaller. Now, I read a preview and at first, it looked good. I am absolutely obsessed with Japanese mythology. I love the Youkai, the deities...just everything about it. So I was psyched when the book opened up with the protagonist fleeing an oger Oni that was described exactly how one should look....but then, something irked me. When the protagonist mentioned her love interest, a samurai, he was clearly described as being non-Asian/white in appearance. Ok, this, in and of itself, was not 100% terrible. I thought...maybe this is just to make it more like anime...maybe he has blue hair to go with those green eyes and the whole thing is going to be like one big anime cartoon. So I stayed and looked into getting an actual copy of the book. Then...I found...it has gryphons in it. Honest to goodness **** **** European griphons, and from what I know they are not treated as being a foreign element to the story's very Asian setting.

This got me pissed off. This book was the only one I could in the YA SF/F genera find that was based in Japanese mythology yet it had white samurai and a clearly European monster that was in no way made to be less European stuffed into the setting and made an important plot element. Why can't we have a story based in a society based on a non-western culture without adding western elements and white people to it? What would be so terrible about making those gryphons into Tengu and that white, green-eyed love interest a Japanese boy instead?

Why must YA fantasy always be the white knight fighting ogers or the white witch fighting a European-style vampire enclave in an american city? Why can't we have say an Arabian dervish struggling to free herself from a pact with a Dijin thats keeping her from being with the Sultan's son? Why can't we have an African witch doctor out to rescue their lover from a rival witch doctor that was their former teacher who turned to serving the evil spirits? Heck, why can't we have a Samurai who's actually Japanese and fighting against a corrupt, land-hungry damayo and his cunning Nogitsune consort to save his own damayo's daughter?

Why even when we claim we are doing something in a non-western society must western monsters and white people still find their way in? Why are non-western mythologies and non-white casts so scarce in YA? Anyway, my ranting is over. Now I open the floor to a more general discussion. Do you all as readers and writers of YA notice the lack of SF/F YA stories based in non-western mythologies and/or with non-white casts? If so, do you find this disturbing? Why do you think this is if you believe it to be true? Do you really think publishers are racist? Or is it the readers that are the racist ones? Perhaps all of us writers and readers of YA who want diversity should look in the mirror if we want the answer to why non-white characters and non-western mythologies are so under-represented in the YA SF/F world?

Discuss your thoughts here...

Having read all the posts here I am glad I didn't actually sink money into this book and decided it was eehh after the preview and the synopsis. I don't think there is anything -wrong- with using Japanese, or any non-western culture as the basis for a fantasy world as a white writer, mind you, but if you intend to do such a thing at least have the common decency to do the god damn research and get things right. Just the fact that the author uses "hai" in the way he does and fails to grasp even something as basic as how honorifics like "sama" work is unimaginably frustrating. I mean...I'm a total noob writer yet even I know to do the proper research when playing with non-western cultures. I like to play with Japanese mythology admittedly, and am white. However, I at least know and care enough to do the research. I've been called "paranoid" due to the fact I research cultural and language details excessively and refuse to write anything based in Japanese mythology/culture until my good friend who's going to study abroad in Japan in the near future is able to fact check it with locals(admittedly she's fact checking her own work too considering she's doing a novel that's essentially a mech anime on paper.).....but I feel that's whats -needed- to prevent stuff like this and really gain an appreciation for the culture your writing about while also showing it proper respect. The fact that such measures have been labeled by some as "paranoid" in and of itself is disturbing to me, let alone the fact something as poorly researched as this can get published.

If your not willing to do the research(and no, reading a few wikis is not "research.") and immerse yourself in the culture your writing about then frankly you have no place writing about it in my eyes. Thats why stormdancer got me so upset. That and the white samurai. That's what made me want to drop the preview before I even saw the terrible Japanese grammar and other troubling elements mentioned here. Also...I can't help but laugh at how stormdancer throws in (poorly used) Japanese without providing it's readers any kind of guide to it. Again, despite the fact I am a terrible, noob writer right now, I STILL know that it would have been helpful to have a glossary of the various Japanese terms used in the book that states their meaning and tells the reader how they are used. To assume that the only otakus would pick up a book set in Fantasy Japan as this author apparently did is another very ignorant train of thought that also quite offensive.

So you want to write a novel in fantasy Japan and/or uses Japanese mythology and culture but you happen to be white? Great, thats essentually me as well, but I know that before you rely on anime as your main inspiration it's best take a god damn step back and realize that fantasy japan =/= anime. It equals fantasy Japan....and there is way, way more to Japan then anime. To best write and appreciate, and HONOR the culture with your work, which is what a true lover of anime would want to do, you have to put in the extensive research to be accurate. Honestly, if your a WASP and want to write something that's -totally- anime-inspired and uses mythology without putting in any serious legwork, my advice is just to stick to Judo-Christian mythology and/or European lore. There are countless animes that use that as a basis and of the ones I know there are actually MORE based in Judo-Christian and/or European lore then there are ones based in Japanese myth.

In fact, my aforementioned friend and I agree that Japanese mythology doesn't even make your story "anime-esc' at all because of the fact many, many animes don't even use Japanese mythology as a basis. You find just as many, if nor more animes with christian-style angels and demons, Satan, fantasy counterparts to the catholic church, western dragons, knights, hermetic magic, alchemy, giants and other things typically associated with standard European fantasy as you do those based in Japanese myth.

So my advice to the author of stormcaller would be to either do the god damn research and learn to appreciate and honor the culture you claim to be interested in or write an "anime-esc" story that has nothing to do with Japanese mythology. The latter can be done easily by taking normal, European style fantasy and adding in anime imagery as well as non-visual, culturally neutral tropes that have come to be identified heavily with anime. Technicolor hair with large bangs and flashy DBZ-style magic with energy balls ect.. as well as copious amounts of magitek that's more on the "high tech" side then the "steampunk" side alla FFVII and Nanaho all are cosmetic steps that can be taken to give your setting that "anime" feel visually without relying on Japanese culture and things like kimonos and ō-yoroi armor. Heck, Japanese names are not even necessary to get that "anime" feel as there is enough fantasy anime where characters have western or even totally made-up names(See animes like Black Butler, Slayers etc..) to assure that your story can feel like an anime and appeal to the otaku market without the need for actual Japanese language. Heck, you can even use some of the use tropes and conventions from anime in your story without ever touching Japanese language and mythology; there are plenty of character archtypes(hot blooded shonen hero, tsundre love interest, genki girls ect..) and non-visual tropes that appear a lot in anime that don't rely on Japanese language and/or culture....and totally western works can and have used them.. So yeah....I've likely ranted for far, far too long. I apologize about this but I'm just extremely frustrated by this book. /endrant

Also, to those that mentioned alternative titles based in Japanese culture/Mythology I thank you! If anybody else has some well-researched titles that play with Japanese mythology and/or culture I'd be grateful!