Phenotype Stereotype



In anime, the foreign characters will all too often be given physical features that fit the Japanese stereotype of that nationality, regardless of how common such traits actually are in that part of the world.

In real life, Japanese supposedly have a tendency to assume that all white people that show up in their country are from the United States (statistically, most aren't), and by extension often assume that all non-Japanese travelers or immigrants with palefaces are American. And, in Japan, the stereotype of someone from the U.S. is usually a blond and blue-eyed person (Again statistically more common in Britain than the U.S.). Because of this, if foreign characters in anime are white, in most cases they will be blond, blue-eyed and tall Americans, unless there's a plot reason for them to be from another country or have another look. This is especially common in anime that use non-traditional Hair Colors and eye colors; any other combination is fair game, but if you see blond with blue on a non-main character, that'll be the foreigner.


 * Similarly, Irish characters are very likely to have red hair. Most Irish are actually brown-haired; red is simply proportionally more common with Irish than other Europeans.
 * In a similar vein, if a character is black, he or she is most likely to be from the United States, rather than from an African country or somewhere else. The character may be drawn with poofy hair, if not an afro, as hair texture is otherwise tricky detail in low-budget animation.
 * Also Germans, especially in context of Those Wacky Nazis, (or simply characters Putting on the Reich) are most often portrayed as overwhelmingly blonde, and often very light, by media all over the world; in reality, Germans are mostly browns and dark blondes, with lighter blondes rarer, and white blond practically nonexistant.

Someone who is foreign, But Not Too Foreign will often look totally non-Japanese, to distinguish him or her from the rest of the cast.

Notice that this does happen in real life, the assumption usually being how close that person looks to someone you'd already be familiar with. In Mexico, for example, blondes are automatically assumed to be American or Canadian, while in France, those who have a brown skin are assumed to be Arabs or Turkish. Americans that subscribe to Political Correctness Gone Mad tend to consider all black people "African-American" without asking, which many recent immigrants (ranging from Austronesians to Antilleans and French-born Magrebis) and people who identify otherwise typically resent. As well, someone who either is or who could be mistaken for Hispanic will often be believed to come from whichever Latin American country is closest (Cuba, Mexico, etc.) to that region of the US. And let's not forget the assumption that all Asians are from Japan or China.

Frequently applied to the Occidental Otaku. Compare Mistaken Nationality, which often occurs when phenotype prejudices clash with the reality of the situation. In work with People of Hair Color, stereotypical eye colors are often used as well.

Anime and Manga

 * Nadia's appearance in Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water played with the concept, where Nadia appearance is halfway between psuedo-Indian (costume-wise) and African (her skin color.) The designers later admitted initial designs had Nadia's appearance more obviously towards black (particularly her hair), but were never happy about how shoddy the texture and movement looked in the early designs.
 * Played straight with the most of the cast of G Gundam, but unlike many examples, only to a certain degree. Surprisingly still, the Japanese characters, Domon and Rain, fit the bill to this trope; the only one who doesn't is the Swedish Allenby Beardsly, who has sea-green hair.
 * The cast may play this straight, but the mecha design plays it even straighter - to the point of stereotyping.
 * Yuki in Gravitation was shunned by his father for looking "too American".
 * Shuichi's American manager "K" is a deliberate sendup: handsome, straight-forward, carries a gun everywhere he goes, and is usually addressed "Mister K".
 * Although he's a White-Haired Pretty Boy, Kodomo no Omocha's half-American has blue eyes. This is even more noticeable because every other (Japanese) character in the show has brown eyes.
 * Hanaukyo Maid Tai: La Verite features two American characters, both of which are blond and have bright green eyes.
 * Azumanga Daioh both uses and subverts this trope. After teasing Kagura for her failed attempt to talk to a foreigner traveling, Yukari attempts to show off her English skills by bothering another similarly 'obvious' looking anglophone... until running away when she finds out he is German.
 * In Noir, most of the background Corsicans are obviously Mediterranean. The exception is the lead Mirelle, who is blonde and blue-eyed. Similarly, Kirika may not be Japanese but is obviously designed to look 'familiar' versus Mirelle being 'a hot foreign chick from Europe'.
 * Mariasama ga Miteru has a similar example: In the episode featuring a school trip to Italy, the first two times we see Italians in the foreground, both are blue-eyed and dark blonde, which while not impossible in Italy, don't show up much. Later, we see a woman with light brown hair and pale blue eyes. All other extras in crowd scenes and such are more realistically Mediterranean, i.e. dark-haired and brown-eyed. One suspects that the makers knew that the latter look is the most common in that country, but could not resist throwing in a couple of Gaijin stereotypes.
 * Sei, who has blond hair and blue eyes, had once been mistaken as an American by Eriko.
 * In Ouran High School Host Club, The half-French Tamaki has the typical look. In fact, his extremely violet eyes often appear to be fluorescent.
 * Also,, who is of Russian descent and has blond hair and blue eyes. However
 * In Yoichi Takahashi's Captain Tsubasa and Hungry Heart: Wild Striker, every dark-skinned character is Brazilian, although not every Brazilian in the series has dark skin (namely, Roberto in Tsubasa). Both titles are about soccer, and the "street" predominant phenotype in Brazil is nearer to African than to the archetypical Latino, as the most famous Brazilian soccer player can show us.
 * Also, several of the German players had blue eyes and either light blond (Schneider), dark blond (Schester) or light brown (MÃ¼ller, at least in Road to 2002) hair. And not all dark-skinned charas are Brazilian; Hyuga is Japanese and has much darker skin than his peers.
 * Transformers Armada (which was Japan-made but apparently set in America) has the blonde-haired blue-eyed Rad as the de facto leader of the human sidekicks. His best friend Carlos is...well, a walking Hispanic-American stereotype.
 * Mai-HiME has Alyssa Sears, who fits this trope perfectly.
 * So does Lucky Star's Patricia Martin, notable for being unable to say her own name.
 * Pet Shop of Horrors has Leon and Chris. Leon, who is blond, blue-eyed and aggressive, is designed to be an example of Americans and American/Western philosophy, a foil to the clearly Eastern Count D. The show otherwise takes place in a fairly diversely colored Los Angeles.
 * Kaere Kimura from Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, who's a stereotype in more ways than one; she has blue eyes, blonde hair, and she'll sue you at a moment's notice. It should be noted that Kaere is actually Japanese, but she spent some years studying abroad and came back a little different. It should also be noted that the entire series is built upon cliches and stereotypes, including the personalities of all the characters. Her fitting this trope was definitely intentional.
 * The British special agent "November 11" in Darker than Black. Averted though with his partner, April, who is black. On the other hand, there are a large number of blond foreigner characters on the show.
 * Ana in Ichigo Mashimaro is British, so of course she is depicted as having light blond hair and blue eyes (much to the delight of Nobue). Her last name "Coppola" is actually Italian though, but probably sounded foreign enough - not to mention funny to Japanese ears (and hey, it's not impossible that her family moved to Britain from Italy).
 * Italians (and most Europeans) have been immigrating to Britain for over two centuries: Antonio Panizzi devised the basis for all modern library classification schemes as Chief Librarian of the British Museum in the 1850s. For a more modern example, Tony Iommi, the lead guitarist of Black Sabbath.
 * Likely because of its Only Six Faces Show Within a Show gimmick, Genshiken goes out of its way to give its "real" characters distinct facial features with more subdued coloring than is usual. Two American otaku make an unfortunate appearance late in the second season of Genshiken. Pale, loud, blond, respectively blue- and green-eyed, and without much sense of decency and personal property (respectively). Gratuitous English abounds.
 * Kate from Sketchbook.
 * Tina from Ai Yori Aoshi. Although she's usually 'American'-like in promotionals and merchandise due to her appearance, she's was born in Japan and simply travels a lot, which at least provides an excuse for her horrible English.
 * David Rice on Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro has not only the typical blue eyes/blond hair combination, but an enormous nose and tall frame..
 * Blond-haired and blue-eyed Anthony is the personification of this trope as the American exchange student in Doki Doki School Hours. Of course, his Japanese is impeccable.
 * This Ugly Yet Beautiful World has character with orange, purple, pink, green, and blue hair, yet the only blonde is the American Jennifer Portman.
 * In Witch Hunter Robin, the Japanese characters have dark hair, while the Italian Robin and the American Michael have blonde hair and blue eyes.
 * But Yurika Dojima, who seems to be Japanese, is also blonde-haired and blue eyed -- maybe because she's a spoiled rich girl.
 * Both used an averted in Planetes. Fee is American, but has darker hair and skin than either of the Japanese characters, and the Arab and South American characters also have realistic complexions. On the other hand, the Russian Yuri and German Edel both have blonde hair and green eyes.
 * Elizabeth "Liz" K. Strawberryfield from Kamen no Maid Guy, from England.
 * Marie Chupacabra W. Whitebear from Penguin Musume, from America. Has a bit of Red Eyes, Take Warning too.
 * Alisa Bannings of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, from America. Fate, who has blond hair, was also able to pass herself off as a foreign student.
 * Averted in Death Note; half-Japanese L has black-tinged-blue hair, and Raye Penber has black hair. Meanwhile, the entirely Japanese protagonist has fair brown hair.
 * Misa, who is also entirely Japanese, has Blond hair, but it's explicitly dyed.
 * Then there's Mello, a blond, blue eyed guy from Britain who moved to Los Angeles to join The Mafia.
 * Sakura from Da Capo has blond hair and blue eyes, a British grandfather, and has been staying in the USA for several years.
 * Justified in Chrono Crusade. Rosette and Joshua Christopher are Americans with blond hair and blue eyes...but the anime is set in America, and characters with other realistic Caucasian shades of hair show up as well, such as a redheaded German and a brunette woman. In fact, there's far more brunettes in the series than blonds.
 * Zettai Karen Children had the Liberty Bells, a team of ESPers from Comerica. Ken McGwire, the male half of the team, fit this trope. Mary Ford, the other half of the team, was dark-skinned and white haired.
 * In the Slam Dunk 3rd OAV, a half-American player named Michael Okita came to Japan and joined the Ryoukufu team. His eyes are blue and his hair is blond, of course.
 * Used, Averted, Subverted and Inverted in Ghost in the Shell. Dr. Willis from America has a strong jawline and blonde hair. The CIA agents in the episode Jungle Cruise are so stereotypically Japanese the Japanese main characters wonder if they're for real. Various other Russians, Americans, Israelis, Brits, Chinese and Germans also appear, with their own range of hair and skin colours, including a black Brit.
 * Ayase from Okane ga Nai is described as "mixed race", his blonde hair and blue eyes make him seem a foreigner. In the manga it is explained via flashbacks that this is one of the reasons why he was discriminated against while growing up. His amazingly fey looks and occasional crossdressing did not help either.
 * Averted in Code Geass where it can sometimes be impossible to tell the Britannian characters apart from the Japanese ones. Britannian protagonist Lelouch is actually one of the few characters with black hair, while his Japanese friend/rival Suzaku has light brown hair. In general the East Asian characters have darker, less diverse and somewhat more realistic hair colours. The only outliers are the Japanese Kallen, who is half-Britannian, and the Chinese Mao and Tianzi, who seem to be albinos.
 * Yamato Ishida and Takeru Takaishi of Digimon Adventure are at least a quarter French and are appropriately blond-haired and blue-eyed.
 * Americans Wallace of the same series and Alice McCoy of Digimon Tamers are also blonde-haired and blue-eyed.
 * So is half-Austrian Touma H. Norstein of Digimon Savers.
 * Half-Italian, half-Japanese Izumi Orimoto (Digimon Frontier) has got the blonde hair. Her eyes are emerald green, not blue.
 * In GetBackers, we have Ban the (quarter) German with having blue eyes, and Hevn the American with blonde hair. Fair enough. Then again, when Ginji and Himiko hear that is German, they both automatically assume he is related to Ban.
 * In Detective Conan this trope is evident for Vermouth and Jodie, but subverted by James Black, who has black hair.
 * Also, minor character Hakuba, better known from the connecting series Magic Kaito, is half English, and has blond hair and blue eyes in the manga. In the anime, he is portrayed with darker hair and brown eyes, however.
 * In RahXephon the Alpha Squadron plays this straight with Cathy, the hot-tempered, rock-and-roll playing American but averts the trope with Elvy who is Indonesian and Jean-Patrick who is I think is supposed to be either African or French.
 * Australian exorcist John Brown from Ghost Hunt.
 * Zigzagged in Full Metal Panic!. Ethnically German (though born and raised in Japan) Kurz Weber is blond-haired, blue-eyed, and about six feet tall. On the other hand the resident American of the Power Trio, Melissa Mao, is black-haired and clearly of Chinese descent.
 * Evangeline A.K McDowell from Mahou Sensei Negima, born in some part of western Europe is blue-eyed and completely blond with Rapunzel Hair. Ayaka Yukihiro is also half-Japanese and blond.
 * On the other hand, you also have the Darkskinned Blonde Chinese Ku Fei, and the freckled/redheaded Natsumi
 * To make sure the audience gets that a very short scene is taking place in the US, Toradora! briefly focuses the camera on the roommate of the central character of that scene, a busty grey-eyed blonde.
 * Axis Powers Hetalia is hit hard with this trope - justified, since the characters are supposed to be walking stereotypes. Every country (except Lithuania and Hungary) north of Austria is blonde, getting paler and paler until one hits the platinum blonde-haired Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the stark white-haired Iceland, which is Truth in Television since the percentages of blonds goes up the higher North you go, as shown by blond map of Europe. And all of them, this time including Hungary and Lithuania, have blue, green, or purple eyes. Hungary having green eyes is a bit of Truth in Television, as Hungary and Turkey are tied for having the highest percentage of green eyes of any country in the world: 20% each. The North American twins are similarly blonde-haired and blue-eyed. All Asian, Middle Eastern, and Southern European nations have the brown/black scheme.
 * Monster, which is set in Germany, has many blonds with blue eyes, along with several Asian characters including the protagonist.
 * Fumio's grandfather in the Manga Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo looks, talks, and acts like John Wayne... assuming of course that John Wayne was a practitioner of Chainsaw-Fu.
 * Lampshaded pretty hard in the Touhou Doujin God's Children's Day by Kagero. In a prescient anticipation of her characterization as daydreaming Wrong Genre Savvy Nerd in the then-unreleased Undefined Fantastic Object and Hisoutensoku, Sanae immediately categorizes the blue-eyed (that day) and blonde Alice as "some kind of super-foreigner" and try to speak to her in English. The comic then goes on a tangent about what Sanae must have thought of the equally blonde, but ethnically Asian Marisa (Or so we're told).
 * In Neon Genesis Evangelion has several examples.
 * Part-German Asuka has red hair and blue eyes. Her mother was Half-German and in at least one adaptation had blond hair.
 * Most of of the (all-Japanese) cast have brown or stylized black hair, like Misato's Shiny Midnight Black which occasionally looks purple, except for Fuyutsuki (whose hair is grey with age), Rei (albino-like), Ritsuko Akagi (flashbacks make it clear she dyes her hair blonde), and Kaworu (albino-like ). Some of the Japanese characters sport non-Japanese eye coloring, including the aforementioned albino-like Rei and Kaworu . There's also Shinji's eyes, which are dark blue and which he seems to have gotten from his mother, Yui. The Classified Information revealed she was the daughter of a prominent member of SEELE; Fanon generally takes him to be one of the international members, or at least a Japanese man with foreign ancestry, to explain her blue eyes.
 * Kensuke's hair is a lot lighter than one would expect a full-Japanese person's hair color to be. He also seems to have blue eyes. This has never been explained, but fans usually agree that he must have a gaijin ancestor somewhere in his family line.
 * There's also a scene in the second Rebuild of Evangelion movie; where the American division of NERV had people who looked like they were of Nordic/Aryan decent- Blue eyes, light blonde hair, and even detailed facial features associated with Caucasians. But then you had Kaji standing right behind them looking like the only young, cool, (and not to mention: bishonen) guy in the room. (Maybe because he's Japanese...hopefully that's not supposed to be racist?)
 * Either played straight or possibly slightly parodied in Angel Densetsu. Kitano's neighbors, introduced later in the manga, are an American guy married to a Japanese woman and their children. The guy is of course blond and Aryan looking and a "stupid gaijin" to boot. Their children are also blond and completely un-Japanese in appearance and it's even lampshaded by Ikuno, who in trying to tell him not to judge by appearances (not to be afraid of Kitano, naturally), she notes that anyone looking at him wouldn't expect that he only speaks Japanese.
 * In Love Hina, the American Sarah McDougal has blonde hair and blue eyes. Lampshaded a little when she tells Motoko, "Kaolla and I are not Japanese!"
 * Momiji Sohma of Fruits Basket is half German and half Japanese; he has blond hair like his German mother despite the fact that it isn't the dominant phenotype. In the anime it's not a result of the curse, since Momiji's uncursed little sister has the exact same blond hair as him, while in the manga she has some shade of brown.
 * Bandit Keith from Yu-Gi-Oh! actually started the trope of Wearing a Flag on Your Head because of how American he is.
 * Liz and Patty from Soul Eater are both Americans (New Yorkers, in fact) and are blonde and blue-eyed. Though blonde/very light-brown-haired Maka's exact ethnicity is never really specified, her surname is "Albarn" (which points to being at least part Anglo-Saxon) and her mother's name is Kami, pointing to Japanese, so she probably gets this from her (even though we have yet to see her) while her father, Spirit, is the death scythe for North America.
 * Durarara!! averts this trope with Simon, an African-Russian guy who works for a Russian sushi shop...? in Japan.
 * He still has blue eyes, though.
 * Also we meet Russian tourists and an Italian immigrant. Atypical.
 * There is another, more minor foreign character, a young woman who is shown holding up signs to advertise for different businesses, and she is blond and blue-eyed.
 * Celty is Irish (well, a mythological creature from Irish legend) and, when she had a head, she was a redhead.
 * Played extremely straight in Eyeshield 21. All the major players of the Nasa Aliens are blonde with the exception of Patrick "Panther" Spencer (who's black) and the Gonzales brothers (who are most likely Latino).
 * Not to mention the World Cup arc. In particular, the "Pentagon" of Team America is made up of Panther, two blondes (who are also extreme jerkasses), a Native American (he has braided hair and wears face paint at all times), and a Hollywood action star. At first it seems the Hollywood star, Bud Walker, appears to simply avert the blonde stereotype (his hair is black) till you realize it's because he's a parody of American action movie actors like Brad Pitt.
 * In Future GPX Cyber Formula, several of the characters have those: the British Clair Fortran (light blond hair, blue eyes, light skinned), the American Jackie Gudelhian (dark blond hair, blue eyes) and the Austrian Karl Lichter von Randoll (blond hair, green eyes, light skinned).
 * Averted in Best Student Council with But Not Too Foreign Japanese-American Cindy Manabe, who has red hair and green eyes, not standing out too horribly from the rest of the technicolor cast.
 * Averted for the most part in Transformers Super God Masterforce; The show's cosmopolitan cast features characters of many national origins, but only the French-born Minerva is a blue eyed blonde. Of course, the Mexican (repeat, Mexican) Bullhorn has flaming red hair, green eyes, and fair skin.
 * In Shaman King, Magical Native American Silva actually has the closest to mongoloid features in mukokuseki; he has (ridiculously) slanted eyes, even though real Indians (with the exception of Inuit) often don't even have the epicanthic fold. Oddly, he's built like a bara character.
 * Now and Then Here and There has the American Sara, who's blond and blue-eyed. It's actually a plot point, since she gets mistaken for the resident White-Haired Pretty Girl Lala-Ru.
 * Softenni's Elizabeth Warren.
 * In one episode of You're Under Arrest there's a white American kid with green eyes, freckles, and blond hair. Somewhat subverted since he's half-Japanese.
 * Mariya and his sister from Maria Holic have some Italian genes in them, and are blonds.
 * In Asobi Ni Iku Yo, the character Jack (actually a woman, Jack just being her initials) dresses in full barely covering cowgirl gear, extremely buxom, long blond hair and is always seen eating fast food.
 * The personifications of America, France, and Britain in Afganisu-tan all have Blue Eyes. Meriken and Britain have blond hair, while Franse has light red.
 * In The King of Braves GaoGaiGar, we have the American-born 3G Bridge Bunny Swan White. Blond-haired and blue-eyed, she even speaks Japanese in a clumsy, amateurish fashion compared to the Japanese crew members. Later on, we meet her brother Stallion, who's been working with the American counterpart to 3G and is as blue-eyed and blond as his sister.
 * Zig Zagged in Sakigake Otokojuku, where the only foreign student at the titular school is the blond-haired American J -- but since J's Big Ol' Eyebrows and Go Nagai Sideburns are black, his hair is probably dyed.
 * One of the protagonists of Flower Flower is a blonde haired girl with Green Eyes. She comes from a fictional country called "Adingala" which seems European.
 * Averted in Hamtaro. Maria is from France however she's a brunette with Brown Eyes.
 * In Kill Me Baby this appears to be the case with Sonya, who has blond hair and blue eyes, although her background is shrouded in mystery.
 * Bokutachi Otokonoko revolves around two protagonists, one of them being only half Japanese and having blond hair.

Live-Action TV

 * Kamen Rider 555 has a black American called Mr.J, who is a villain that is quite big and doesn't have much hair.

Video Games

 * In Umineko no Naku Koro ni, the Italian woman Beatrice Castiglioni has beautiful blond hair and blue eyes. Even after she births a child with a Japanese man, the child still has blond hair and blue eyes.
 * In Katamari Damacy, one of the characters you can roll up is a fat blond man with an American flag on his shirt. His name is, of course, "American Guy". He's even fatter than the sumo wrestlers.
 * Hilariously, he also ears a ball-cap, has glasses and is bearded. He looks like Micheal Moore (who has worn American flag shirts before).
 * Street Fighter varies with this this - the characters are from all over the world and they for the most part have varied physical appearances that would seem appropriate to their nationalities (although Sagat must have had a rather excitable pituitary gland, and doesn't look the least bit Southeast Asian). It still shows a disproportionate number of blond Americans, since only Americans who aren't blond are Guy (who's Asian,) Balrog (who's black,) and Crimson Viper. They're outnumbered by the blond Ken, Guile, Charlie, Cody, Alex, and Rufus, though it's All There in the Manual that Ken dyes his hair.
 * Vega (Balrog in Japan). He's European, therefore he has a light skin and bright blond hair (sometimes light brown or red), in accordance to the Japanese stereotype (according to Soul Calibur, the Japanese seem to mix up Spain and France, the same way we'd mix up Korean and Japanese culture). And he's Spanish therefore in the American film adaptations he's played by dark-skinned and black haired actors of Mexican and Native American descent in accordance to the American stereotype. Yet in Real Life the most common hair colour in Spain is dark brown.
 * Harukanaru Toki no Naka de has blond, blue-eyed Shimon (a quarter French, according to the manga). Considering the huge amount of colors used for the main cast's hair, this doesn't look too unusual at first... except that in Kyou these features are mostly associated with the Oni Clan, and poor Shimon, who was bullied for his appearance even in his world, keeps getting mistaken for one of its members... The Oni Clan itself probably counts as well, considering their origins.
 * Bebe, the French foreign exchange student in Persona 3, is as blatant an example of this trope as you could ever hope for.
 * Katawa Shoujo's token half-Japanese girl is naturally one.
 * The other half is Scottish, though, not American.
 * Rival Schools plays this partly for laughs like all its exaggerated tropes from oldschool shounen mangas. All three American students have blond hair and blue eyes... including the token black guy.
 * The Tokimeki Memorial series is guilty of this, especially being a series that loves the You Gotta Have Blue Hair trope: the only two characters having the Blonde Hair / Blue Eyes combo in the series are Patricia McGrath of Tokimeki Memorial 1 Pocket, and Elisa Dolittle Naruse of Tokimeki Memorial 4. The first is an Eaglelander; the second a case of But Not Too Foreign.
 * Averted in the case of Secret Character Chiharu Aoki of Tokimeki Memorial Girl's Side 1st Love: he's an Eaglelander too, but has blue hair and eyes. In Girl's Side 2, meanwhile, blond and blue-eyed Englishman Christopher Weatherfield hangs a lampshade: "It's clear that I'm a foreigner. Don't I look like one~?"
 * Pokémon has the "Lightning American", Lt. Surge.
 * Unova, which is based on New York, has its fair share of blonds. It's Averted in a lot of cases though.
 * Orre, which is based off Arizona, also averts this in many cases.
 * Final Fantasy VII has the oddly red-skinned people of Cosmo Canyon (which is based on American Indian stereotypes). And of course Barret is a Mr. T Mr lookalike.
 * Harvest Moon averts this in most cases. The entire series takes place in Western towns in an unidentified country that resembles the Americas and occasionally Europe, with a lot of Japanese influence. Since the cast is western, it can't have every game plagued with blonds and red-heads.
 * It's partially justified by the choice of giving potential partners a distinctive look. Each of the potential husbands and wives have a different hair and eye colour. Usually, it became distinctive of their respective relatives.
 * The Heroic Spirit Gilgamesh in Fate/stay night (and Fate/Zero) is pale-skinned and blond. Uruk lay within the borders of modern-day Iraq, and that combination of phenotypes would have been extremely unusual to say the least.
 * Klavier and Kristoph Gavin in Ace Attorney both are pale-eyed with blond hair. The von Karmas have either white (due to being old) or blue hair. They're all referred to as "German" in the English versions of the game, but in the original Japanese they're from America.
 * Vert's design in Hyperdimension Neptunia is based on the American Stereotype of being Blonde, Blue Eyed and Busty.