Let's be honest here, a creator can make Apples be purple and slightly deformed and call it Banora Apples, but it's still an apple. Plenty of people who like DBZ or FF to debate with on how to classify said characters based on traits such as skeletal structure, influences from the creator, etc. These classifications, I don't think about much when playing games in general, not that much of a fanboy in trying to identify with any character. Gonna have to find someone else here to debate with on any particular character's race or racial influences.

You clearly misread. Elementary and even some high school school kids don't think about "race" until it is pointed out in some way whether by a national event or cited as bullying reason etc. How you could extrapolate that to "race doesn't matter", I have no clue other than a misread whether intentional or not.

Japanese isn't a race it's a nationality and/or ethnicity, and neither Goku nor Cloud are from Japan nor do they share any real cultural traits with Japanese people.

You've changed crux of your argument (or perhaps clarified what you inteded to argue) to now be what school age children do or do not think; though that isn't very compelling as neither you nor I are capable of reading minds. However the comment I did respond to was clearly written--"Race, in general, isn't a big deal when you are younger..." and it clearly can be a big deal to young people; just perhaps not a big deal to you.

Don't know how you can say that with a straight face. You got me laughing right now. [1] shows clear influence by Japanese culture. With Japanese language symbols in each creation, again, I can't see how your claim stands that there is no influence. I could never say that creations are not influenced in any way by the world we live in. Race/Nationality/Ethnicity tend to be used in an intertwined manner these days so I have to believe you are not being of good faith here. It's 2023, so you can read it as Pokemon and DBZ are of Japanese origin and leave out the fluff. If we really used the race term literally, it wouldn't be used at all to describe differences between people in the human race.

I've changed nothing. You misread it and I clarified it for you to come to an understanding. Race/Skin Color/Nationality, whatever it is you want to read it as with the negative connotations assigned, isn't something any young-in thinks about on a daily basis without it being pointed out in some way.

Anyway, I'm not interested in going on circles on this. I would know about said experience given my own culture and interactions. No one needs to reads minds to give anecdotes about their life experience and talk to other people in the same situation about their life experience and thoughts about things that happen(ed) to this day.

[1] https://scontent-hou1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.6435-9/106206584_2...