Well, because as PHIMBO  said it, "You are what you consume." And it just happens so that animanga content by far makes up the bulk of the media I consume - and they influence my preferences. That being said, I just find animanga as a whole more aesthetically pleasing than live-action. Aesthetics aside, I also feel that the culture surrounding animanga FCs (in general anyway) is more positive than the culture surrounding RL FCs. 

Now, I'm not bashing the premise of using RL FCs, but I've found myself noting that the culture behind animanga and RL faces are quite different based on my experiences as a RPer.

For starters, I noticed that generally animanga players tend to view their FCs as little more than placeholders/references for what their characters look like. Whereas I tend to get this "fantasy dream-casting" vibe from sites that use RL faces. As in, they tend to attract players who view their FCs as more than just a reference for their characters' appearance... they feel like they're literally envisioning their character being played by that specific actor/actress as if the RP were a movie or TV series.

My apologies to RPers who prefer RL faces who do not fit the above bill; you are cool people and have my respect!


Though that being said, I've never grasped the idea of 'claiming' faces to begin with, drawn or RL. Like, I've been in this hobby for a long time, long enough to remember a time when nobody batted an eyelid when half a dozen characters were running around a site with Sephiroth FCs. Sure, I understand the sentiment behind wanting a distinct look for one's character - but this is an instance of where Reality is Unrealistic. i.e. Look-alikes and mistaken identities are not that rare (Though they're by no means common either!) in the real world. Like, I still chuckle at how my nephew said I looked like Benedict Wong; (when portraying Wong from Dr. Strange) and social media has their fair share of cases of celebrity look-alikes. But somehow, we just can't have that in fiction?