The hype over Yasuke is getting out of hand

He was a SWORD-BEARER, NOT a samurai. Yet, the latter is what all these media projects coming out about stick to exaggerating.

New Assaassin's Creed game aside, it is historically cited by Japanese sources that a Portuguese friar there had plans to bring him to India, where he likely spent the rest of his days tending to a church rather than becoming a Rajput.

As much as this was a bummer for Yasuke - as the friars kept tabs on him and were disgusting racists of their day - at least media could tell a romanticized version of the truth. I.e. a sequel to the upcoming Max biopic where he DOES become a Rajput. Not saying it's a smart idea, but there is no stopping these kind of blueprints, if they care so much about him.

What REALLY bugs me about all of this is the notion by the mainstream that African peoples didn't have their own warrior castes or code. Hollywood must focus on them if they care about representation and money, because they're just as much BIPOC as the Japanese. But you know as well as I do they won't.

What if I told you, Mozambique did indeed have native warriors. They were called Mang'Anja.

How is Yasuke any different to white Samurai stories? For example, the likes of Shogun, The Last Samurai, Nioh, etc. Sure, it's weird how they keep casting non-Asians in Samurai roles, but it's an issue with non-Asians in general, not just black people.

But yes, I agree that Sub-Saharan Africa has its own rich history that routinely gets overlooked in mainstream media. There are more than enough stories about medieval Europe and feudal Japan, but not enough stories about historic Sub-Saharan Africa. I'd much rather see that than a story about a black Samurai or black Viking.

Well samurais were simply the warrior class that served the lords in Japan up until the meiji period. Samurai literally meaning "those who serve"

Yasuke is in historical records taking parts in several battles in defense of no other than Oda nobunaga and is described as a very strong fighter. So calling him, a servent that knows how to bear arms, a samurai, is very appropriate.

But having said so, I would love to see more stories with realistic african historical settings, including warriors or other characters

What "hype"? It's been nothing but criticism and anti-woke crying lol.

I mean I get it, but it's not a big deal in either case. Yeah, probably would have been a better call to make it 100% Japanese cast/character since feudal Japan was notoriously isolationist. But oh well. AC series has always been about "alternative history" so this fits.

iirc Samurai was actually a social caste, in addition to a title. While you could also be elevated to samurai status, most were hereditary.

If you were a samurai, you were above the peasants, servants, etc.

It also meant you had certain duties to, and compensated by, whatever lord you served.

A non-Japanese samurai would have been a big deal because it basically means you were raised above native Japanese to a certain legal status, paid for your services, and also legally superior to most Japanese citizens.

It would not have been taken lightly and while this person might have been a samurai in all but name, I very much doubt they would have made him a literal samurai.

I hope they address this in the game, it would be an interesting way to explore tokenism, i.e. Japanese samurai saying the African samurai is only there because he is a pet or an oddity or whatever. Not that I want a game full of social commentary like that, but it'd be interesting.

The way I see it.

It's Assassins' Creed, and Assassins' Creed isn't and has never been good.

If I want to play a racially diverse game that promotes black people I'll play Resident Evil 5.

@mrbojangles25: fine, it's not correct. But it doesn't stand up to me as inappropriate, if he was filling the same role under a different title.

Anyway, I don't disagree that the game addressing this would make it more interesting, but even if they didn't I would not consider it a big distortion of history. Just a small embellishment.

It's worth noting that Yasuke had a large physical build for his time, reported to be about 6ft tall. To put that into perspective, the average male height was around 5'5 in the Middle Ages. Yasuke's 6ft height was exceptionally tall for that time.

If you look at it from Nobunaga's perspective, it would be a waste of Yasuke's physical build to just keep him as a household slave. Nobunaga was a military genius who would've recognized Yasuke as a physical asset in battle. It would've made logical sense for him to train Yasuke to be a samurai and enlist him into his army.

@comp_atkins said:

Same I have no idea what's being discussed here

@sargentd: They are discussing the new assassin's Creed main character, which is based on an African servant that was given to Japan's unifier oda nobunaga by Portuguese Jesuits.

The guy was renamed yasuke by nobunaga and became his retainer. He is said to have been a great fighter and an exceptionally strong person. Apparently, nobunaga really liked him and he fought several battles for him.

I think there is a controversy here, because some people think featuring a black man as a main character in a game about ancient Japan is a political statement.

Usually I am closer to the camp that doesn't like wokism affecting story telling and I am very firmly on the camp of hating wokism distorting history.

But yasuke was a real historical figure who was a samurai in everything but name, and I also think his story as one of the first black people to set feet in Japan is really interesting and his inclusion is not necessarily political.

And the thing is, there are some mainstream examples of African armies. The Mali Empire by Mansa Musa, and the Zulu Kingdom with Shaka Zulu. Both of them had powerful armies and would be a great time for Assassin's Creed to explore.

With that said, Yasuke is still historically accurate, so meh.

@luxuryheart: Mansa Musa and Shaka Zulu deserve to have their own movies or games. Yet I can't think of any mainstream movies or games starring them in a major role. That's something a future AC game can explore. Especially Mansa Musa, who travelled to the Middle East around the same time the historical Assassins were active there. So it would be easy to establish a connection between Mansa Musa and the Assassins.

Some gamers are trying to deny Yasuke was a samurai and even trolling Wikipedia with fake edits denying it, even though reliable academic sources say he was a samurai. But even if we assumed he didn't attain samurai status, that doesn't change the fact he was a warrior serving in Nobunaga's army, which would make him a samurai in all but name.

I thought the main characters in AC games were made up, is this the first time they have had you play as a historical figure? Last one I played was Valhalla, he was just a generic viking not a real person. Untill then I had only played the first 3.

More like hysterical accuracy amirite?

Shaka Zulu had a movie, but it wasn't mainstream. Shaka Zulu would be a great fighting game because he was a great warrior. His army were skilled with spears and he was a smart warrior.

Though I'd like to see a movie with Mansa Musa. Like, a big budget movie. It would be so fucking good. The extravagant gold, the jewelry, the fashion, etc! 😫 Though no one will do it tbh. White people, on average, don't care about black people in movies. And prior to contrary belief about Hollywood being woke, Hollywood won't fund such a movie.

@luxuryheart: Black Panther was a massive blockbuster though. And it was partly inspired by Mansa Musa. A Mansa Musa movie has breakout potential.

This game would not actually be boring if they just made it Black Dynamite.

It's Ubisoft so every character will be as interested as a plank of cardboard left in the rain.

That was back before the anti-woke crowd attacked every movie with a black people in it. Especially now that Marvel is starting to get bad press, I don't know if Black Panther would've done well if it were made now. Also, it was during the time when we, meaning black people, were frustrated at the lack of unique movies for us. Before it was just Tyler Perry movies, biopics, and hood movies. Seriously, there was a time when we were unironically excited for a Tyler Perry movie. 😫😭 We were in the trenches. Black Panther came out at the right time. Like... Contrary to popular belief with the anti-woke crowd, Hollywood really doesn't feed us. And I'm starting to worry that we'll get back to that dark time period where a fucking Tyler Perry movie was something to look forward to. Especially because the anti-woke crowd is starting to boycott any movie with black people in it.

I dont mind playing Yasuke but I would prefer if we play with Japanese Samurai due to wider cultural context. Idk seems a weird choice why not make a game based on an african empire during slave trade or their golden age but not something I really lose sleep with. Its not like I am buying ass creed day one lmao who does that in 2 years game guaranteed to have a special discounted ultimate bundle with ass mirage.

@luxuryheart: my perception is that, at least for American films, black representation is really really good. Specially if you compare it to native American, latin, east asian or south asian representation.

What I mean is, black people in USA represent around 12 to 15% of the population, but the percentage of famous actors in films is much bigger than that.

I think that's specially the case for actors that do advertisment.

Well, part of that is because we were creating our own movies. As much as Tyler Perry and Spike Lee irk me, at some point, both of them employeed over half of black Hollywood during that dead period. Though now we have Shonda Rhimes, 50 Cent, Quinta, Issa Rae, the people who created Them, Jordan Peele, and other black creators. We basically create for ourselves. Though we still aren't in all genres, except when movies/shows have a diverse cast. The people above are great, but they aren't really making anything with heroes, paranormal, sci-fi, fantasy, adventure, Western, etc. And even then, some of the genres outside of hood topics, romcoms, and biopics are just held up by one and/or one show/movie. And it's going to get worse if people keep pushing back on black characters in mainstream shows/movies. Like I said before, the anti-woke would've thrown a hissy fit if Black Panther were released today.

There's started to be more shows and movies with East Asian characters that are made in America. Latino actors/actresses are also in shoes and movies in America.

It's a work of historical fantasy fiction, featuring a character that nobody knows much about, but who has been depicted as a samurai or a samurai-like figure in a bunch of Japenese stories.

There's nothing controversial here. People are just being racist assholes, but hiding it behind silly arguments of historical accuracy (in a series that includes Atlantis and the Norse gods).

@Planeforger: I think you completely misunderstand it.

The argument for yasuke inclusion is based on historical accuracy.

The argument against it, is based on asian representation. And I think there is an argument for asian male representation in western Media, but the argument is much more valid when samurai were represented as white such as in nioh.

@luxuryheart: every group has its own art production.

I mean much more specifically for American mass media acting roles. Black actors have had roles roughly in line with their percentage of the population for some time, and my understanding is that now it's actually higher than that proportion.

In terms of proportion of the American population, That is much higher than Hispanics, native Americans, south Asians and east Asians (discounting international productions). Those groups are generally underrepresented.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representation_of_African_Americans_in_media

I found this Wikipedia page that mentions a report from 2018. My perception is that currently the percentage should be higher.

"""

This under-representation has reversed, however, according to a 2018 report from the Department of Social Sciences at UCLA, which states that, despite making up less than 13 percent of the US population, "Blacks were over-represented among actors in broadcast scripted shows in 2015-16, claiming 17 percent of the roles."[3]

"""

@nirgal: I agree that Asians are definitely more under-represented than blacks in Western media. So Asians in the West would have every right to be offended at a black lead in a Japanese setting, since Asians are already more under-represented than blacks in Western media...

However, there is a counter-balance to this: Asia has its own thriving media industries. Nowadays, Asian pop culture is huge across the world. Anime, dramas, games, movies and music from Asia are popular worldwide, especially among Millennials and Gen Z. So it's not like Asians necessarily need Western representation, when they have their own popular media industries to represent themselves.

You can't say the same for, say, Africa or the Caribbean. Nigeria has Nollywood, but that's often perceived by outsiders as a cheap Nigerian knock-off of Hollywood and Bollywood. They don't really have anything to compete with Western pop culture. So the only practical way to have popular black representation is by working in Western media industries. There are no non-Western alternatives they can turn to.

@Jag85: that could apply to many ethnic groups, not only to sub-saharan African people.

At some point it feels more like an ideologically motivated focus, rather than an effort to be fair and inclusive.

Having said so, I don't disagree with the inclusion of yasuke as I just find the character interesting.

Shows are getting more inclusive. Wednesday is one of the most popular shows on Netflix, and it has a Hispanic family. Crazy Rich Asians did good numbers and Fresh Off the Boat is a popular sitcom series. Selena Gomez and Gina Rodriguez are getting work, as is Jenna Ortega.

It's just that the anti-woke doesn't complain as much when they get roles.

Japanese woman shuts down ignorant gaijin claiming Yasuke was not a samurai:

How about we go back to calling it a asscreed game, ad call it a day.

@Jag85: Despite the criticism from whomever, I do like the AC concept of 2 main characters. It's something I'm polling about in my next post under Gaming

Asia has 1st and 2nd world nations and economies that rival the West. While Asian diaspora do have legitimate complaints about their representation in Western media they act as if their ancestral lands don't have a ton of good media with good production values that rivals and surpass the West. They put too much stock in only Western made media being valid likely because of them growing up as minorities in Western nations. Asian media has been kicking Hollywood's ass for a while now.

People consume anime and manga/manhua/manhwa more than cartoons and comics. Streaming services are buying up the global rights to as much Asian media as possible because a lot of viewers are willing to give any unknown or obscure movie or show a chance just because it is Asian and they saw how good Asian media such as Train To Busan and Squid Games was.

Also most of big budget Western media is heavily dependent on the Chinese audience in order to be a success. I believe it is part of the reason Asians as a result started getting better representation and growing representation in Hollywood. Because they realized they couldn't emasculate Asian men and fetishize Asian women as much without pissing off the biggest Asian nation they're dependent on for success.

Meanwhile most of Africa and the Caribbean are still very poor and and underdeveloped so their isn't much opportunity for a local television and movie industry with big or even small production values. So representation for Black people is heavily dependent on nations where they are a minority unlike for Asians.

Asians undeniably have better representation than Black people when it comes to video games since after all there are a ton of Asian game studios. Asian culture is also liked a lot by Western audiences so a lot of Western games will also use Asian characters and aesthetics for them.

This is a big reason why that Asians don't count as a POC or are seen as White adjacent to a lot of other POC or activist groups.

Bruce Lee paved the way for this: He was being ignored by Hollywood and frustrated at the lack of Asian representation, so he went back to Hong Kong and made the movies he wanted to make. Then back in America, his HK movies were being supported by black and Asian audiences who were able to push Bruce Lee into the US mainstream. And the rest is history.

To add, Asian films and shows on Netflix now rival the popularity of English-language films and shows. That's why Netflix now have separate categories for English and non-English films and shows. Subtitles are no longer a hurdle like they were in the past, but nowadays most young people turn on subtitles even for English-language stuff, let alone foreign stuff.

Chinese audiences no longer care about Hollywood movies. Nowadays, the Chinese box office is dominated by domestic Chinese movies and occasionally Japanese anime imports. The loss of the Chinese audience has been a blow to Hollywood.

Yeah, that was my point. Black people can't just turn to African or Caribbean medias, the way Asians can turn to Asian media. But the best way for black representation is to bankroll their own productions, like what Jordan Peele, Spike Lee or Tyler Perry have done.

Thanks to Japan dominating the video game industry for a long time (1980s to 2000s), Asian representation in the video game industry has been pretty good compared to other media industries. While blacks are more represented than Asians in Hollywood, the reverse is true for video games.

The whole "white adjacent" trope just seems like a modernized version of the "model minority" trope.

@Jag85: The whole Asians being called White Adjacent is based on the model minority trope but also how the alt-right/White supremacist fetishize Asian people and cultures. A lot of Asians have skin just as pale or paler than White people so those with unconscious/conscious skin color prejudice will feel comfortable around them. Part of the reason why Asians are more welcomed into White spaces. White Men and Asian Women is the biggest interracial pairing in the world. A technically true joke that is becoming more known to common people is to never ask a White supremacist/nationalist what race their girlfriend/wife is because 9 times out of 10 she is Asian. Even the children of these couples are calling out how racist some of their White dads are. If you go back into history Hitler praised the Japanese and made them honorary Aryans which is why a guy who was so obsessed with Aryan purity allied himself with a group of people that look much more different from him than the ones he wants to kill off.

Because of how polarized politics are, if one side likes something the other side has to hate it by default hence Asians getting thrown in the line of sight of leftist angry because racist right wingers that like them and keep trying to speak for them. It is getting ridiculous how racist some anime fans are when a lot of the anime series and characters they like would reprimand them for their view points but since most anime characters look White to them they don't care. The new go to for racist anime fans to say a Black character isn't Black is by saying they're Okinawan as if the average Okinawan has skin darker and browner than a paper bag. I've have had guys on the internet tell with a straight face that anime characters such as Kaname Tosen and Killer Bee aren't Black but Okinawan.

I have yet to see a video game with leading Asian characters get called woke even if it is made by a Western studio unless they make them look ugly or have a darker complexion. The video game Overwatch that brags about their diversity had zero Black women in it and currently has one and only because people called them out on it. Considering Overwatch characters were made with a random generator I find it hard to believe they never got results for a Black female character, but they somehow keep expanding the roster of East and South East Asian characters. Black people just aren't as marketable as Asians are globally outside of music and live action entertainment.

And can I just say, I hate the hairstyle of Sojourn from Overwatch? I've literally never seen an actual black woman with that hairstyle. The closest I saw was studs and men via dreads. My sister called it the Sokka (coined from Avatar). Though even I haven't seen that hairstyle in a while.

It's sort of reminding me of the Killmonger hairstyle where it was popular for a bit, but then black people moved on while games just kept having that hairstyle...

I know what you mean. Over the last decade, we've seen the alt-right culturally appropriate Japanese pop culture. Ironically, the traditional right-wing hated Japanese pop culture a decade earlier. In the '80s and '90s, they were fear-mongering the "Japanese invasion" of the West... But now that Japanese pop culture has become integrated into Western culture, a new generation of alt-right have appropriated it for their own agenda. The right-wing went from Japanophobia to Japanophilia over the course of a few decades. But then if we go back to the OG Fuhrer himself, Adolf Hitler was a Japanophile, so it's not such a surprising development. But where I'd disagree with you is about the alt-right having Asian girlfriends... In reality, most of them are incels who've never had a girlfriend of any race.

This is why I refuse to take sides in this culture war. Both sides of the culture war are just contrarians doing the opposite of whatever the other side do. Neither side are defending any real values that they actually stand for, but both sides are fighting for power and keep changing their values depending on whatever the opposition is doing. This isn't a new phenomenon though, as Malcolm X observed the same phenomenon back in the '60s.

Marketability depends on various factors. In terms of gender, Asian females are generally more marketable than Asian males, whereas black males are generally more marketable than black females. In terms of industries, Asians are generally more marketable in video games whereas blacks are generally more marketable in music. In terms of films and TV shows, blacks are generally more marketable in the West but Asians more marketable outside the West. But these are just generalizations based on my observations and there are many exceptions to these generalizations.

I feel homeless in this current state of the culture wars. I don't like race swapping and forced hollow diversity but I don't want a limited scope of certain backgrounds getting to be represented just to make genuinely bigoted people feel comfortable.

I still stand by racist White guys having Asian partners. It is really easy to see if you think about it and do a little searching and observations in everyday life. Obviously not all White guys in a relationship with an Asian are racist but there are enough that it is becoming noticeable to everyone nowadays. Being White is a status symbol in nearly every non-White country due to the domination Europeans/Westerners had throughout history. White people also at least partially fit Asian beauty standards which is to have pale skin. The passport bros trend that has recently blown up has been done by White men decades before other races of non White men from Western countries caught on to it. A lot of White men that are losers/incels in their home countries seek out Asian women and Asian nations because they know that them being White gives them a massive advantage because of the good global reception White people as a collective get. I mean you seriously don't wonder why so many White men and Asian women are together yet no other interracial pairing is as big?

There are a lot of self hating Asians and those desperate to escape poverty or get a leg up in status climbing that they will hook up with just about any White guy. The biggest example that made normal people notice this trend and behavior is the show 90 Day Fiance. People noticed that the White people in interracial relationships on the show like Big Ed were with foreign non-White people much more attractive and younger than them. You didn't see that kind of imbalance with any of the other interracial couples. Being White and from a wealthier country gives them access to attractive non White people of other countries that even POC from wealthy countries wouldn't have the same ease of getting. I remember almost a decade ago there was a White pickup artist lecturer that got banned from Japan because he told his mostly White male class that if you are White just go to Asia because they will worship you especially in Japan and you could be as offensive as you want because you are White.

Here is an example of White men in charge of White nationalist movements coincidentally having Asian wives/girlfriends.

This is another reason why Asians nowadays get called White adjacent because unfortunately a noticeable amount of them do have some level of White worship and enable the behavior of racist Whites. A lot of Asian men are pissed off at White incels flooding into their countries and communities and trying to claim their women as their own. Look up post from Asian women diaspora that visit Asian countries complaining about the incel White men clearly there for sex tourism that harass them thinking they are a local to prey on. Or even how incel White guys back home interact with them. There are even forums/subreddits like r/Hapas made by people that are the children of these couples that state they hate their White fathers for being racist incels and know they are only with their Asian mothers because they are too much of loser to get with a White woman or at least one as attractive as their Asian mother full of self hate.

I even saw Stormfront post talking about which Asian ethnic groups are okay for them to have children with. Seriously once you see it, it becomes hard to not see it anymore.

You make an interesting point on Asian women and Black men being the marketable counterparts of their groups. If you notice in a lot of Western media Black people are stereotyped as hyper-masculine and aggressive while Asians are stereotypes has hyper-feminine. This works in the favors of Black men and Asian women but not their opposite gender counterparts since it is not attractive for them to be seen like that. It is a huge reason why Black women and Asian men get the worst results in online and interracial dating because of the stigma attached to them by media. Black women are seen as too aggressive to be ladylike and Asian men are seen as sexless pushovers.

The hairstyle doesn't have to be realistic or seen in everyday life it just has to look go. Tons of White and Asian videogame characters got hairstyles no one in real life would wear but they look cool within the game's artstyle and character design. When I see the Killmonger hairstyle at this point I just think either there are no Black people on the development team, you creatively bankrupt and/or you were to lazy to look up Black hairstyles on google

I agree with the little passive-aggressive Zelda person.

It's Ass Creed. Whatever. Play a better game.

Yeah, I don't see the point to race swapping either. It's just lazy writing. It was a fad a couple of years ago, but now people are getting tired of it. Most audiences would much rather see well-written original characters rather than lazy race-swapped characters.

Oh, I already know about the whole passport bros thing. It used to be mainly white guys doing it in the past, but now there's a lot of non-white guys to do it as well. While white guys are known for doing it in Southeast Asia, on the flip side there are also many black and Asian guys doing the same thing in Eastern Europe and Latin America. As for the most common interracial pairing, I think it depends where you live. Here in the UK, the most common interracial pairing I usually see is black guys with white girls. But I've heard in the US, the most common pairing is white guys with Asian girls? It varies from country to country.

Considering how most of these alt-right types are incels who can't get girlfriends in their own countries, it's not surprising that some of them become passport bros to get girlfriends from abroad. Which is ironic, because that's only contributing to the so-called "white genocide" they keep crying about.

I get that it doesn't have to be realistic to a certain extent. But like... If it's not going to be realistic, then at least be creative and fun. Like...

The above was a trend on Twitter with the cool hairstyles and assigning them to a gym. The only hairstyles I would see in day to day life is the ice gym, fire gym, dark gym, and ground gym. And even for ground gym, most would cut their hair before it got that long. The others aren't realistic at all. Yet, they're at least interesting and creative. There's so much you can do with our hair, and they keep picking the same boring styles.

I honestly I have no interest in the game. Ghost of Tsushima 2 will probably be announced soon and be superior in nearly every way.

I mean... It's pretty much established that you hate anything with black people in it. So...

Nah, I'm really excited about the new Blade game actually. So it isn't that, try again.

And how long until the anti-woke brigade looks for a reason to not support this game? By calling it woke?

Haven't followed this but are they making the black samurai gay as well?. Lol!!

I mean it was already a little weird thinking of you playing as a tall black samurai dude in a fuedal Japan setting.. now he's a gay samuri boy too tho?? It's just way too silly lolol..

You would have heard about it already. Unless they make him bisexual are do something that has a clear modern leftist agenda behind it, it won't get criticism because contrary to your belief it's a little more complex then " black people bad"

Lol, God I hope this true.🤣🤣 all the people that defended this trash will come up with an excuse to defend this as well.

It hasn't been confirmed. But if true: Ubisoft's defence of having a black samurai protagonist is that he's a real historical figure, so it's not blackwashing... But then gaywashing the same historical figure would undermine their own argument. If the historical figure was gay, then that should be included. But there's zero evidence Yasuke was ever gay, so it would be blatant historical revisionism.

Was AC ever historical tho? I thought all the main characters were made up? Is this the first one based on a real person?

All the player characters were fictional up until now. This is the first AC where you play as a historical figure.