To John. Indeed Asians draw so many "western looking" characters, but really in most cases it's the western audiences that fail to recognise the Asian features within the character design. Because, afterall, we're really not that different. Also, people are heavily influenced by Hollywood, so that might be a reason too, but it also depends on the genre and the story itself. For example, if the story takes place in medieval Europe, characters are gonna look like medieval Europeans. If it's a total d&d style adventure cartoon, characters will be mixed, of all kinds and races, even if humanised animals. As for the cases where there really is no reason to draw "foreigners", that's a bit like when a musical band from a non-English speaking country sings in English.

I wonder why so many Asians tend to draw western characters, instead of their own Asian characteristics? Daria, you live there now, and perhaps it may be worth your while to find out. When I was station in Korea, I never saw this back then.

To Royal. Sure it is an unconventional style, but I did study art (although not in an art school, but almost, long story). And I've seen literally tons of Japanese and Korean comics, cartoons and films, and I'm in Korea now. I didn't passively just watch, I observed the details in character design too, since drawing is my field too. You learn to recognise the Asian features, really. Sailor moon has big eyes and she's blond - easy to point fingers on a "western character". But her lower eye lids are flat and she wears a Japanese school uniform. As for her blond hair, it really doesn't mean anything because Sailor Mercury has naturally blue hair and Chibi Moon pink. It was just an example. It all means your simple explanation is valid, sure, but there is much more to the "manga style" than just cuteness.

To Daris, your answer seems valid from a logical and social point of view, but there might be a simpler explanation. Maybe it is just a form of art like manga . Picasso or Salvador Dali made unconventional art, these may be something like that, although i am not completely sure.