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The Characters of Ninjago
The characters of Ninjago, while carefully race-neutral due to the iconic Lego-yellow skin, are repeatedly coded as alternatingly white and Asian. Asian characters tend to be stereotypical and caricatural, while white characters are often out of place. Despite being a story centered around Asian culture and Asian concepts, a majority of Ninjago is distinctly coded to be white and western.
Watch a scene for each of the highlighted characters to learn more about the problems with their designs. (Make sure to click the videos for audio!)
Sensei Wu
Sensei Wu, later changed to Master Wu, is the most obviously problematic character in Ninjago:
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- Name is a mix of Japanese (sensei) and Chinese (Wu)
- Accent is clearly some sort of faux Asian (white voice actor)
- Stereotypical appearance (hat, beard, carrying staff, etc.)
- Constantly drinks tea, spouts vaguely Confucian wisdom, and otherwise performs the old Chinese master stereotype
- Falls into western trope of having an old Asian man train white students, who eventually surpass him (ex. Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid, Pai Mei in Kill Bill).
Master Chen is the Chinese-coded antagonist of season 4, Tournament of the Elements. His character is mocked for its absurdity—aka the way he depicts being Chinese:
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- Broken english and caricatural accent
- Owner of a widespread chain of noodle houses called Master Chen's Noodle House
- Overall not taken seriously due to ridiculous, tacky demeanor and written off as a repeated Chinese takeout joke (this was not a treatment any of the previous or subsequent villains, none Asian-coded, ever received)
Master Chen
Lloyd Garmadon
Lloyd
Lloyd
Wu (uncle)
Lloyd
1/5
Lloyd is the main character of Ninjago and in-universe is the Chosen One—the green ninja:
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- Lloyd is distinctly white-coded, with platinum-blonde hair, green eyes, and a white voice actor.
- This is despite both of his parents and his uncle Wu being Asian-coded. It can only be concluded that Lloyd was white-washed because Lego thought a white protagonist would appeal more to their audience of young white boys
- This leads to Ninjago being built around the white-savior trope, as Lloyd repeatedly saves the Asian-adjacent world of Ninjago with his majority-white friends.
The Core Cast
(the Ninja)
The core cast of protagonists other than Lloyd are Zane, Jay, Cole, and siblings Kai and Nya.
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- Zane, Jay, and Cole are all white-coded
- Kai and Nya are more ambiguous. Kai's voice actor, Vincent Tong is the only POC in the cast, and both siblings have names that could be interpreted as Asian. However, their parents, Ray and Maya, have traditionally-white names.
Above: Skylor Chen.
Below and right: Harumi
Harumi and Skylor
Like Lloyd, supporting characters Harumi and Skylor Chen also got the white-washing treatment.
- Despite having a name of Japanese origin and wearing traditional dress, Harumi is completely white-coded (blonde, white voice actor)
- Skylor is Master Chen's daughter but is also white-coded (red hair, white voice actor)
- Additionally, after aiding in Master Chen's defeat and befriending the ninja, Skylor retires in order to run the noodle house, where she remains for the rest of the show.
Although the focus of my project is on the Lego Ninjago TV show and not the film, I would like to make an honorable mention for Lloyd's mother, Misako:
- In the TV show, her name is Japanese and she is Asian-coded
- In the movie, she is given the westernized nickname of Koko and white-coded.
Presumably, this was to solve the confusion of why Lloyd is white and his parents are Asian, but instead of redesigning Lloyd to be Asian, they simply further white-washed the characters.
Honorable mention: Koko
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