Many Anime lovers insist that those characters are not white at all but are instead Asian and dismiss anyone as ignorant for not being able to see that. I think those people are deluding themselves.
I think the die -hard anime fans don't look at the subtleties in anime characters. These characters are white in appearance but have Japanese names, like in shows like City Hunter, Speed Racer(or Mach Go-Go), Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, Captain Harlock and many more. There was a manga called Slam Dunk. It was the story surrounding a high school basketball team in Japan. One of the players is a black guy and the rest is white. The funny thing is that they have Japanese names. I think it was an anime series and it is on DVD.
The animated film Blood: The Last Vampire, the characters all were Japanese except for two black male characters.