> Ganguro is associated with a certain Japanese subculture and aesthetic, [...]

Yes. What's your point?

> [...] and not meant at all to represent darker-skinned races.

No one ever claimed that. The question to my post was simply where to possibly get data from for "darker skin tones". Ganguro seems like an option because ... well, darker skin tones? Care to elaborate why you bring up "representation of darker skinned races" up in this context?

In the context that they were using skin tones in, (cf. "usually Japanese characters", "go all SJW on you guys"), it's easily inferred that the interest is in more diverse representation of races and not excessively salon-tanned Japanese skin.

... because that was the request of the root comment? And also because Ganguro does not, in fact, represent races with darker skin tones so is a falsely equivalent set of data?

It's funny how people get attached to this topic even when it's just about fictional drawn characters. But yeah, for the sake of data: Just put a color filter on the images, tone the skin down and put them back into the training set. Is that a "falsely equivalent set of data" to represent those groups? Who knows. Probably, if you really want to believe in that. But before we go any deeper into this completely out-of-context racial representation argument, keep in mind that the process I just described is the exact same thing actual artists of said fictional drawn characters use to achieve the results in question.

> process I just described is the exact same thing actual artists of said fictional drawn characters use to achieve the results in question.

If we understand the ancestor comments as asking for more diverse representation, then no, because ganguro and many other anime archetypes and their clothing and accessories are ultimately Japonicentric, in the same way that you might consider angels and demons contrasted against each other post-antiquity Eurocentric.

My opinion on the matter is that it's not necessarily a worthy goal, but there is a more distinct difference to representing people of different races even in anime faces than just skin tone.

In anime specifically dark skin can be more associated with demons, monster girls and dark elves than humans though :)