(Even though the title and the structure of this post might give an impression of a scientific work, as a matter of fact, it isn’t :-). However, to give the illusion of reliability and traceability, I deliberately put some references, some of which unfortunately neither reliable nor traceable :-). Some other are legitimate sources, though…)
Disclaimer: read it when you really have nothing else to do :-) But if you decide to read it, please read it through until the end.
Introduction
It is a common knowledge that some people in Japan believe in blood type stereotyping, which is a tendency to guess people personality based on their blood type (It could be either Discipline-Orderly A, Highly focused-Do it my own way B, Cheerful-Carefree O, or Eccentric-Exotic AB). It went to the level that there were some TV stations that aired programs containing fortune telling using blood type[1]. This kind of fortune telling was not supported by any scientific background (well, I think ALL fortune telling are not supported by scientific background anyways :-) ), nonetheless some suggested that blood-type stereotyping can be scientifically explained, since blood contain hormones that are known to influence human behavior[2]. Some studies have also shown the relation between blood type and health (e.g. suitable diet based on blood type[3], health risk based on blood type[4]), thus some believe that it is highly possible that blood type also exerts influences on human’s personality. However, it proved that the verification of the actual relation between blood type and personality was a difficult task due to the many factors that contribute to the development of one’s personality[5].
Regardless of the debates, some Japanese manga, anime, and RPG are including the blood type in the introductory profile of the main characters. The reason behind this might be to provide further reality to the characters in the story, however, it might also because the author was influenced by blood type stereotyping during the development of the story’s characters. It is still unclear which one of the above mentioned reasons was the main reason, therefore it is necessary to perform a validation study (and I did it because I had some free time :-) ).
In this study, a method to validate whether blood type stereotyping was indeed giving influence on Japanese pop culture was proposed. The method was implemented, and the result of verification was discussed.
Methodology and Scope of Study
This study aimed to prove the influence of blood type stereotyping on Japanese pop culture. The validation method was done by listing the characters of certain blood type from various manga/anime/RPG and performed a crosscheck whether the personality of the characters fit well with blood type stereotyping. If the blood type stereotyping and the character’s personality match well with each other, then a conclusion could be drawn that there was indeed an influence of blood type stereotyping on Japanese pop culture.
To limit the scope of the study (because it’s tiring, you know :-) ), only characters of AB blood type were evaluated. The reason behind the selection of AB blood type is because it is an interesting subject of observation, shown by the following phenomena:
1. AB blood type has the least population among blood types in the world (5.1% of total population of the world[6]), while in manga/anime/RPG, the population is seemingly much higher than that. Quick survey of main characters from selected manga/anime/RPG showed that the population of AB blood type is around 27.6%, more than 5 times higher than reality. (What is meant by selected manga/anime/RPG here are the manga/anime/RPG that I selected in order to support my statement :-) ). The reason for this might be because every story need an eccentric-exotic character, and AB blood type fit well for that purpose.
2. AB blood type is often being connected to eccentric characters. There was even a tendency to set eccentric figures in history to have AB blood type. For example, it is rumored that both JFK and Marilyn Monroe were of AB blood type (Marilyn Monroe was an actual AB, however, record showed that JFK was an O, not an AB)[7, 8, 9]. The tendency to relate AB blood type with eccentric characters further justified the selection of AB blood type as the subject of observation, because it would be easier to locate eccentric characters in manga/anime/RPG compared to other type of characters.
(I could make up several more reasons to the list above (such as the rumor of 20% of the University of Tokyo’s students are of AB blood type), however, the actual reason why I chose AB was that I am an AB (yeah, I am exotic, that’s what I wanna say :-) ). And moreover, even though it is said that AB population is low, it seemed that there were lots of people of AB blood type around me (like, 2 of my close friends in high school were AB, as well as my 3 siblings). If you prefer to have your own blood type as the subject, please feel free to do this using your own blood type :-) ).
The following manga/anime/RPG were chosen as the subject of investigation: City Hunter, Chibi Maruko-chan, Kindaichi Case Files, Final Fantasy series, Mobile Suit Gundam, Hunter x Hunter, Keroro Gunso, Naruto, Nodame Cantabile, Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin), Sailor Moon, and Saint Seiya. The list represents manga, anime, and RPG, and it also covers several genre such as fantasy, children’s story, teens’ story, history based fiction, mystery, and robot (well, Gundam fans would be mad at me with this notion. Let me correct it, Gundam is not a robot. It’s a mobile suit :-) ).
(You might ask why I didn’t use other classic manga such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Detective Conan/Case Closed, or why I didn’t list any of Takahashi Rumiko’s manga. Of course it would be nice to have them in the list and for example discuss why Piccolo and Haibara Ai are likely to have AB blood type :-), however, there were no official blood type list of the characters from those manga, which made them hard to be used as the subject of this study).
To simplify the analysis of character’s personality, we listed a probable AB character description based on the stereotyping. Since AB is stereotyped as eccentric-exotic, the character that will suit this stereotyping will be:
1. Eccentric/loner main character
2. Eccentric/loner villain
3. Loner/hostile/mysterious sidekick/friend (what is meant by hostile here is a sidekick/friend that often not get along well with the main character. By not get along well with the main character, it emphasizes the fact that he or she is ‘different’).
4. Ex-villain (Most of the times, ex-villain is an eccentric figure).
If the character with AB blood type from the manga/anime/RPG could be classified as one of the above mentioned characters, then the hypothesis of blood type stereotyping gave influence on Japanese pop culture is proven.
Result and Discussion
The discussion of characters from selected manga is presented below.
a. City Hunter
The AB blood type character from City Hunter is the main character, Saeba Ryo[10]. It is easily spotted that Saeba Ryo is a bit outlandish, so he could be easily categorized as eccentric main character (pervert main character would be more fitting, though :-) ).
b. Kindaichi Case Files
From this manga, the AB blood type character is Akechi Kengo[11]. As can be read from the story, the presence of Akechi in the story was as semi-rival for Kindaichi, even though sometimes they help each other to solve a mystery. From this description, it can be concluded that he is a hostile sidekick (because he also often makes fun of Kindaichi :-) ), thus fitting well with AB stereotyping.
As an additional information, Kindaichi Hajime’s blood type is B[11].
c. Final Fantasy Series
The AB blood typed character from Final fantasy VII, arguably the most famous RPG in the series, is the leading role, Cloud Strife[12]. A quick look at the character will show that Cloud is a loner main character, which again showed the conformity with blood type stereotyping.
The leading role in Final Fantasy VIII (Squall Leonhart) is an AB[13], and he has the same traits as Cloud. Furthermore, Cefca Palazzo, the eccentric main villain in Final Fantasy VI, is also an AB[14].
d. Hunter x Hunter
Kurapika portrayed a stereotypical AB[15], loner and mysterious. In addition, even the gender of the character often became the subject of arguments, which solidify the mysteriousness of the character.
e. Mobile Suit Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam portrayed both the main character (Amuro Rei) and the main villain (Char Aznable) as AB[16, 17]. Amuro was descripted to have a little social interaction, which listed him as loner main character, while on the other hand Char can be viewed as an unconventional villain (since he also did several good deeds which is unconventional for a conservative villain), thus both fitted well with AB stereotyping.
f. Keroro Gunso
Even though including this manga to the list will raise some debates (can aliens have human’s blood type? - and yes, Keroro and his team are aliens, not frogs :-) ), I still put it on the list because it completely supports my hypothesis :-). The AB personality from this manga is Kururu[18]. Kururu fits well the AB image: eccentric, loner, and a bit hostile even toward his allies, that is why I am refusing from excluding him from the list :-).
g. Naruto
This is also a keep in the list because Sasuke, the AB character[19], is a perfect model for AB blood type: a loner, ex-villain, and occasionally quite hostile toward Naruto.
h. Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin)
Himura Kenshin is definitely a typical AB main character[20]: eccentric and loner.
Additional fact: Kamiya Kaoru is an O[21], which might provide the explanation to their somewhat a bit ‘cat-and-dog-ish’ relation (according to blood type stereotyping, AB and O have the worst compatibility[22]).
i. Sailor Moon
Hino Rei (Sailor Mars), the AB character in this series[23], had crows as pet, which simply cannot be defined as ordinary. Moreover, her frequent argument with Usagi provided the base to categorize her as hostile sidekick.
Additional fact: The author of Sailor Moon (Takeuchi Naoko) is the wife of the author of Hunter x Hunter (Togashi Yoshiro)[24] and the manga of both are included in this list. However, it is unclear whether they influenced each other on using the blood type stereotyping or not (If you want to know, you can ask them directly :-) ).
j. Saint Seiya
Similar to Sasuke from Naruto, Ikki Phoenix also provide a typical AB character[25], a loner, ex-villain, and a bit hostile character. This provided another evidence on the influence of blood type stereotyping on Japanese pop culture.
Because I start to get tired here :-), I summarize the rest of the result in the following table (sorry for cutting short the discussion, but it’s really tiring. If you had written scientific journals before, I think you know the feeling :-) ). The table showed the close relationship between blood type stereotyping and selected manga/anime/RPG’s character.
Table 1. Summary of
conformity of AB blood typed characters from various manga/anime/RPG to blood
type stereotyping
No
|
Manga/Anime/RPG
|
AB blood typed Character
|
Personality
|
Applicability of Blood Type
Stereotyping
|
1
|
City Hunter
|
Saeba Ryo
|
Eccentric Main Character
|
Yes
|
2
|
Chibi Maruko-chan
|
Noguchi Emiko[26]
|
Hostile Friend
|
Yes
|
3
|
Chibi Maruko-chan
|
Maruo Sueo[26]
|
Hostile Friend
|
Yes
|
4
|
Detective Kindaichi
|
Akechi Kengo
|
Hostile Sidekick
|
Yes
|
5
|
Final Fantasy VII
|
Cloud Strife
|
Loner Main Character
|
Yes
|
6
|
Final Fantasy VIII
|
Squall Leonhart
|
Loner Main Character
|
Yes
|
7
|
Final Fantasy VI
|
Cefca Palazzo
|
Eccentric Villain
|
Yes
|
8
|
Mobile Suit Gundam
|
Amuro Rei
|
Loner Main Character
|
Yes
|
9
|
Mobile Suit Gundam
|
Char Aznable
|
Eccentric Villain
|
Yes
|
10
|
Hunter x Hunter
|
Kurapika
|
Loner Sidekick
|
Yes
|
11
|
Keroro Gunso
|
Sergeant Major Kururu
|
Hostile Sidekick
|
Yes
|
12
|
Naruto
|
Uchiha Sasuke
|
Ex-villain, Hostile Sidekick
|
Yes
|
13
|
Nodame Cantabile
|
Okuyama Masumi[27]
|
Hostile Friend
|
Yes
|
14
|
Samurai X (Rurouni Kenshin)
|
Himura Kenshin
|
Loner Main Character
|
Yes
|
15
|
Sailor Moon
|
Hino Rei (Sailor Mars)
|
Hostile Sidekick
|
Yes
|
16
|
Saint Seiya
|
Ikki Phoenix
|
Ex-villain
|
Yes
|
Conclusion and Recommendation
The result above showed that there is indeed an influence of blood type stereotyping on Japanese pop culture. Of course there are also products of Japanese pop culture that did not get influence from blood type stereotyping (which I did not include in this study because it did not support my hypothesis :-) ).
Regardless the result above, the real influence of blood type on human personality is still open for debate.
The result of this study can be used to guess the blood type of characters from manga/anime/RPG that did not list blood type of the characters (e.g. it would be interesting to know the blood type of Doraemon or Pikachu, if it is possible for a robot and pocket monster to have human blood type :-) ). It can be expanded even wider, for example, it can be used to guess the blood type of characters from Harry Potter if J.K. Rowling were to develop the character based on blood type stereotyping (In my personal opinion, I think Snape (ex-vilain), Hermione (hostile sidekick), and Voldermort (loner villain) are likely to be AB typed. Rowling only mentioned about half-blood[28, 29] and mud-blood[30] in the books, though :-) ).
In the end, it is not important whether your blood type really give an influence on your personality or not. There are other important factors that influence your personality, such as your environment. Therefore, if you think you have a good personality, rather than connect it to the blood type, it is better to thank your family who had raised you well, or your friends who had given you good influences.
And quoting from what Rachel Dawes said to Bruce Wayne in ‘Batman Begin’, “But it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you” [31], it is really what we do that made us ourselves, and not our blood type.
(If you’re a Potter’s fan, you might prefer a quote from Dumbledore: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities”[32]).
So the bottom line is, it is fun to read about blood type stereotyping from time to time, but don’t take it too seriously :-).
References
The result above showed that there is indeed an influence of blood type stereotyping on Japanese pop culture. Of course there are also products of Japanese pop culture that did not get influence from blood type stereotyping (which I did not include in this study because it did not support my hypothesis :-) ).
Regardless the result above, the real influence of blood type on human personality is still open for debate.
The result of this study can be used to guess the blood type of characters from manga/anime/RPG that did not list blood type of the characters (e.g. it would be interesting to know the blood type of Doraemon or Pikachu, if it is possible for a robot and pocket monster to have human blood type :-) ). It can be expanded even wider, for example, it can be used to guess the blood type of characters from Harry Potter if J.K. Rowling were to develop the character based on blood type stereotyping (In my personal opinion, I think Snape (ex-vilain), Hermione (hostile sidekick), and Voldermort (loner villain) are likely to be AB typed. Rowling only mentioned about half-blood[28, 29] and mud-blood[30] in the books, though :-) ).
In the end, it is not important whether your blood type really give an influence on your personality or not. There are other important factors that influence your personality, such as your environment. Therefore, if you think you have a good personality, rather than connect it to the blood type, it is better to thank your family who had raised you well, or your friends who had given you good influences.
And quoting from what Rachel Dawes said to Bruce Wayne in ‘Batman Begin’, “But it’s not who you are underneath, it’s what you do that defines you” [31], it is really what we do that made us ourselves, and not our blood type.
(If you’re a Potter’s fan, you might prefer a quote from Dumbledore: “It is our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities”[32]).
So the bottom line is, it is fun to read about blood type stereotyping from time to time, but don’t take it too seriously :-).
References
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17, 2015, http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%A1%80%E6%B6%B2%E5%9E%8B%E5%8D%A0%E3%81%84
[2] C. S. Carter, “Hormonal Influences on Human Behavior”, New
Aspects of Human Ethology, pp 141-162, (1997)
[3] M. T. Jacobsen, MS, RD (reviewer), “The Blood Type Diet”
in WebMD, Retrieved January 17, 2015, http://www.webmd.com/diet/blood-type-diet
[4] L. Geggel, “Your Blood Type May Put You at Risk for
Heart Disease” in Yahoo News, Retrieved January 17, 2015, http://news.yahoo.com/blood-type-may-put-risk-heart-disease-154253164.html
[5] A. Caspi, B. W. Roberts, “Personality Development Across
the Life Course: The Argument for Change and Continuity”, Vol. 12, pp 49-66 (2001)
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January 17, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_type_distribution_by_country
[7] “Health and Medical History of President John Kennedy”
in Doctor Zebra, Retrieved January 17, 2015, http://www.doctorzebra.com/prez/g35.htm
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John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Retrieved January 17, 2015, http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Research-Aids/Ready-Reference/JFK-Fast-Facts.aspx
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[18] “Kururu” in Keroro Wiki, Retrieved January 17, 2015, http://keroro.wikia.com/wiki/Kururu
[19] “うちは一族” in NARUTO -ナルト- キャラクターリスト,
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2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_Togashi
[25] “鳳凰星座の一輝” in Wikipedia, Retrieved
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[26] ちびまる登場人物, Retrieved January 17, 2015, http://www.geocities.jp/chibi_maruko_chan_room/character/ketsuekigata.htm
[27] “のだめカンタービレの登場人物” in Wikipedia,
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[28] J. K. Rowling, “Chapter 28 Flight of the Prince” in
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, 2005.
[29] J. K. Rowling, “Chapter 13 The Very Secret Diary” in
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[30] J. K. Rowling, “Chapter 7 Mudbloods and Murmurs” in
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1998.
[31] Rachel Dawes in Batman Begin, 2005.
[32] J. K. Rowling, “Chapter 18 Dobby’s Reward” in Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1998.
