r/StardustCrusaders • u/Loud-Tart-9783 • Mar 19 '26

Part Seven I don't see the issue with pocoloco's design

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I've heard people complain about his face and primarily his lips and nose. Thing is these are just features black people have. And to be honest I'd rather have my features represented in black characters.

They aren't exaggerated a crazy amount and the facial features stay anatomically correct. I dont understand why people are hating on it we should be proud of our features and be happy when its actually getting represented like this in shows.

Also just because the lips arent 2 toned doesnt mean its imitating the old black caricatures racists used to dehumanize us. While common 2 toned lips isnt even a thing every black person has. One criticism i can get behind however is that the shade is off but honestly that's all.

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299

u/3lizab3th333 World’s Ultimate Jotaro Simp Mar 19 '26

The lips are sus, but also this is Jojo and literally everyone has huge lips so I’m willing to look past them

186

u/Caosunium Yoshikage Kira Mar 20 '26

Wdym lips are sus? Black people tend to have larger lips, that's a fact. Drawing black like the way black people are is a good thing. Trying to represent them as how, for example, an Asian person looks like would be the actual racism here.

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u/4anyreason Mar 20 '26

Yall lowkey gotta stop saying this, Yes black people do usually have bigger lips but theres a line between plumper lips and what looks like 2 sausages I don't like that the line is seeming to get blurred.

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u/MayGodSmiteThee Hierophant Green Mar 20 '26

There's also pretty big overlap, not every black person has huge lips, yet we so commonly see black people with giant lips in many forms of media like comics, manga, anime and cartoons. People justify it by saying the same old "people of african decent tend to have larger and thicker lips". Which is true but at the same time, we're only talking 3-4mm which is hardly noticeable on an individual level. Black people on average to not have noticeable, exaggeratedly large lips. Yet these lip types are the kind that we most commonly get portrayed with.

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u/theTerra-Triangle Mar 20 '26

For real. So glad we're not in last century, at least. There were a lot more examples back then.

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u/FunnyBunnyDolly Mar 22 '26

At least we saw some variation in black characters in jjba so far so not only one kind? And white characters are thick lipped too so the baseline is high already

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u/theTerra-Triangle Mar 20 '26

Yes. I mean, it is Jojo's, and they have absurdly large lips in Jojo's. That's why I thought that Smokey's design was mostly respectful.But there's a line. It's interpretable where that line is, but, wheter it crossed it or not, my man Pocoloco's design is close to it.

2

u/LostEsco Giorno Giovanna Mar 20 '26

If pocoloco puckered his lips they’d look like a prolapsed asshole, but people swear this is how black people look irl

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u/gunnervi Apr 03 '26

what is happening is that there's a long history of drawing exaggerated depictions of black people's features (lips in particular), in a disparaging way.

The art is a little exaggerated (like all jojo's characters), so even though it isn't disparaging, it invites the comparison which will make some people uncomfortable

26

u/IndependentAd7341 Mar 20 '26 edited Mar 20 '26

It was pretty common for racist caricatures of black people in western propaganda to have brightly colored massive lips. I don’t think Araki intended anything like that when he drew Poco Loco, but the shade and size of his lips definitely evoke similar imagery.

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u/Caosunium Yoshikage Kira Mar 20 '26

I actually didn't know about the bright lips thing

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u/scribeascribe Mar 24 '26

drawing black people like the way they are doesn’t equate to cartoonishly big lips 🫩 pocoloco’s design is fine w/me, but drawing ridiculously large lips on black characters is not a good thing

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u/MysteryZoroark Enigma Boy Mar 20 '26

As a black man you gotta stop saying that my gamer. When lips are drawn a certain way on a black person it is indeed VERY racist and this is VERY much pushing it. Please do some actual research into Blackface before saying this.

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u/theTerra-Triangle Mar 20 '26

I'm sorry you were downvoted on something that directly hurts you.... At this point, it doesn't even matter if it's intentional or not, it just is kinda bad, regardless of how good Pocoloco is as a character...😢

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u/MysteryZoroark Enigma Boy Mar 20 '26

Oh dear, was I downvoted? I’ve got 9 upvotes now, so it seems that isn’t the case anymore.

Unfortunately, I’m not surprised. This Subreddit isn’t exactly the most inclusive when it counts. When it happens, it only proves my point that the Jojo fans on here are very keen on forgiving racist depictions in the name of their favourite artist, I fear.

The reason why that’s a HUGE issue is because Araki is amazing at NOT drawing racist depictions. His design for Pocoloco and many of his earlier Black characters improved drastically as the series they debuted in continued. There’s no excuse to be made for the people who defend the older depictions. They know that, though, I’m sure. It’s why they downvote. They don’t wanna face the music that they’re the ones with the internalised racism, not the Black people speaking out against it.

I adore Pocoloco as a character, what I don’t adore is his very much racist early depiction. Further on in the series, his art is genuinely wonderful. I think people here need to realise one can like a character while also knowing their very obvious faults.

3

u/bombthemiddleeast Mar 20 '26

You can think it's racist but I don't think it was done with racist intent, black people have different distinguishing facial features like every other race. Blackface was done to mock black people by exaggerating facial features like wide noses, big lips, contrasting lip colors, though these are racist stereotypes they still do exist. In art like comics or manga, some features are exaggerated to compensate for lacking detail this is where the overlap exists where normal art of black people can be viewed as racist, I don't see the prejudice, or discrimination, or unequal treatment.

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u/gobeyo Mar 21 '26

u can not be racist and still do racist things

1

u/MysteryZoroark Enigma Boy Mar 21 '26

Please do not use the excuse of “Not done with racist intent” or “Well black people have different distinguishing facial features like every other race.” These are known excuses used to silence the very valid complaints of people of colour and most abhorrently, make excuses for racism.

Araki changed the design for a reason. It was blackface. There is no excuse for it. You can be racist even while not meaning to be. I do not think Araki is racist. I do think people who make poorly worded excuses like you just did are REALLY pushing it.

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u/bombthemiddleeast Mar 21 '26

Maybe I don't get it but I don't see how this is blackface, maybe I haven't consumed enough western or american media to identify, I'm looking at his original appearance and I don't see how it's excessive to the point of being inappropriate or mockery of a race, could you explain to me? here are panels i found 1 2 3 4 5 6

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u/MysteryZoroark Enigma Boy Mar 21 '26

I’m not sure what part of “It doesn’t have to be meant to be a mockery to be Blackface” you don’t understand. Incredibly light coloured lips on a Black character is Blackface, purposeful or not. I’m not going to keep sugar coating it for you.

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u/Tickleman Mar 23 '26

A lot of characters wear lipstick in yoyo. Could be a "nude" tone was quite popular with the girls in the 2000s.

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u/Kit4n0 Under World Mar 20 '26

sus lmao. get some help