u/kazaam2244

Okay, guys, public service announcement:

Look, I get it. Illustrators are expensive. That's why I keep my mouth shut regarding my hostility towards the use of A.I. on this specific scenario only.

But if you just HAVE to use it, why not actually put some effort into it? A.I. is completely free, you have all the time in the world to use it, and it won't ever get upset no matter how many changes you ask it to make.

So why oh why is every cover I see on here some variation of this? Some super dark, extra crispy mess starring a Sung Jinwoo knockoff, with a side of jagged font and an ominous-looking location in the background for dessert.

Like, literally, all I did was go to ChatGPT, type in "Generate a stereotypical cover for a litRPG web novel on Royal Road", and this is what it immediately spit out.

I'm of the opinion that an A.I. cover can only hurt your chances of being successful on RR. No one is going to take a moral or ethical stance over a handdrawn cover, but they most certainly will on an A.I. one, especially if it's obviously A.I.

But hey, if you really need a cover that bad, and A.I. is your only option, then at least try and make it stand out. I want everyone on this site to be a success, but I feel like you're just hurting your chances going low-effort on the first thing ANYONE will ever see about your story.

Black (African-American) fans have never demanded representation from anime. What we've done is globbed onto characters who seem "Black-coded" because that's all we've had in both in local (American) and global media.

Every (actually) Black fan I know knows that these three characters aren't really Black. We claim them because for the longest time, blacker, darker-skinned characters were not common in anime, and if they were, they weren't depicted well.

>"Why don't you gas up actual Black characters in anime?"

Any time someone asks this, notice the characters/anime they bring up: Gachiakuta, Fire Force, AOT, stuff that did not exist or wasn't popular when I--a Black, 30+ yr old man--was growing up and watching anime.

The reason we look at Piccolo and Yoruichi and try to claim them as Black is because they were literally our earliest exposure to cool, "dark-skinned" characters. Piccolo was a character in an anime that was likely the first anime experience for many of you. Yoruichi was one of the first dark-skinned characters introduced in what would become one of the "Big 3" anime of the time. Miriko is a more recent character, but MHA is one of those series that bridges the gap between old gen and new gen anime fans. So of course there are still some Black anime fans who claim her in a series where there's only one actual Black character total.

And this isn't an unreasonable thing to do, nor is it unreasonable to expect stronger Black representation, considering anime has historically had no problem also portraying White Americans and Europeans in their series. Monster, most of the cast of AOT, Code Geass, Fullmetal Alchemist, Vinland Saga, Howl's Moving Castle, heck, just look at this.

Sure, you have a few stereotypes like Bandit Keith in Yu-Gi-Oh, but by and large there are tons more blond haired, blue-eyed characters of European descent who are actual characters and depicted respectfully in anime, despite it being Japanese media.

Yet for some reason, Black people are the only ones who get grief for wanting representation, even when our little headcanons don't harm anyone. Non-anime example, but take The Odyssey (2026) for instance. Why did the lion's share of vitriol fall on Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy when the main members of Odysseus' crew were South Asian, East Asian, and White? This is why i HATE discourse around this subject, because it ALWAYS sounds like people are just trying to rain on Black people's parade.

We didn't have characters like Ogun or Jabber. We had Mr. Popo, Mr. Black, and Choco-love. Pitch-black toned characters with donut lips who are racist caricatures at worst, and unfortunate stereotypes at best.

If you don't see Piccolo or Miriko as Black, that's fine. But why are you going out of your way to scream in Black people's faces that these characters aren't Black? Why do Black cosplayers get grief and hate for cosplaying non-Black anime characters? Why is unreasonable for the Gachiakuta live play to cast Black actors, but 90% of the One Piece live action series is played by white actors?

Is your problem really with the fact that these characters aren't Black, or something else?

"Oh no, the word "slavery" is in this story. Time to call the author a pro-colonizing, nationalist-fascist in my 3.5 star review." /s