News My Hero Academia mangaka under fire for offensive character name (1 Viewer)

[blueberries]

Please read or at least skim all the way through since there is lot of people jumping the gun as well as spreading misinformation about this. I have been looking various comments and angles of this and while i'm no way expert of historical happenings etc, I will try to portray the case best I can here.

What happened?

In recently release manga chapter of Boku no Hero Academia aka My Hero Academia there appeared villainous character who is named Maruta Shiga. This name caused lot of outrage within Chinese and Korean fandoms of MHA and they demanded MHA's mangaka Kohei Horikoshi to change the name and apologise.

Horikoshi ended up making statement on Feb 3th in following tweet, saying that the name will be changed in the released manga: "“Many have pointed out that the character name ‘Shiga Maruta’ in this week’s Jump chapter has brought up recollections of acts done in the past. I did not intend for that name to be associated as such. I take this matter very seriously and will change the name." Translated from japanese by Aitaikimochi

Shonen Jump also made statement stating that author and editors didn't intend to refer to past historical facts.

However the statement wasn't enough to many Chinese and Koreans. The apology wasn't seen as sincere and many claim that there was no way he didn't know the historical parallers when choosing the name. Thing have escalated to point where lot of former fans have cancelled MHA and have posted pictures of videos burning their MHA manga. Taking this one step further, according to this tweet and this newssite MHA manga has been at least temporary removed from website and MHA mobile game that was made in China is getting cancelled over this. So things have escalated a bit. Many

Western fandom of MHA has mostly jumped on defense of Horikoshi and is saying that getting offended about name is stupid and it's artistic freedom to refer to happenings during history. Lot of people see it as form of Chinese cencorship. Many are also saying that using the name Maruta Shiga makes sense in the context.. though I gotta say here that 95% of them have misunderstood the context based on tweets and comments I have seen. Nevertheless the western fandom is currently tweeting under #SupportHorikoshi

In other hand those critical towards Horikoshi decision to name character Maruta are using hashtag: #Hero_do_not_harm_innocent_people It is bit of warzone in anime fandom right now ^^;

Why name Maruta Shiga is considered offensive?

So during WW2 Imperial Japan had this Unit 731 who did human experiements in China. Their job was biological and warfare research and what is better for testing biological warframe weapons than human subjects? It's estimated that Unit 731 has around 3000 civilian victims from adults to children, mostly chinese but also koreans, russians and mongolians. These civilians were tortured to death in several type of experiements that are quite graphic to describe and have quite lot of range. However if someone is interested there is rather short info video on Unit 731:



Lot of people have defended Horikoshi's use of Maruta Shiga as name, even saying that it makes sense to use name associated with inhumane human experiement as name of villainous doctor. I could agree with that, but the problem is that unlike many western fans state- Maruta was used to refer victims of these experiements not the one's who made them. It means "logs" and works as way to dehumanize these test subjects. So basically name of villainous doctor means victims of human experiementation and one of most horrifying war crimes. It would be similar as naming villain as "Comfort woman" I guess. So in this context the outrage over the name starts making more sense. I have also heard that "Shiga" is reference to disease some of victims were infected with, however I haven't seen mention to this other than one comment.

Did Horikoshi know?

There is no consensus if Horikoshi knew the reference or not. Horikoshi himself has said he didn't intend the name to reference to real life history. In other hand some say that Horikoshi (as mangakas in general) takes lot of care and makes research when naming characters. I have also seen people saying that many Japanese don't know of Unit 731, what it did and name "Maruta" since Japanese history books don't often mention war crimes Japan committed during WW2. In other hand some Japanese have said that they know of Unit 731 and name "Maruta".

Sources: My Hero Academia writer apologizes for referencing Japanese war crimes in manga

Boku no Hero Academia Removed From Chinese Market After Character Naming Controversy – The Geekiary

thegeekiary.com

Hashtag #SupportHorikoshi auf Twitter

Sieh dir Tweets zu #SupportHorikoshi auf Twitter an. Sieh dir an, was andere Leute sagen, und nimm an Unterhaltungen teil.

twitter.com

Hashtag #Hero_do_not_harm_innocent_people auf Twitter

Sieh dir Tweets zu #Hero_do_not_harm_innocent_people auf Twitter an. Sieh dir an, was andere Leute sagen, und nimm an Unterhaltungen teil.

twitter.com

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My own opinion is that the name is distasteful. I don't know if Horikoshi knew it was used to refer human test subjects during WW2 and I kinda want to give him benefit of doubt. But I think it's definitely right call to change the name and also apologize. In other hand I think the outrage is blown out of portion, especially since Horikoshi heard the ciritism and has said that he will make changes according to them.

I have to say that I kinda have more distaste over western fans who don't take a minute to consider why Chinese and Korean fans would think this as offensive and that it might have merit as well if you looked into. Now I'm not obviously fan of Chinese cencorship, but that doesn't mean Chinese people don't have any reason to be mad about anything ever. Also bringing up Corona virus etc. is just lowblow in my books.

 

[blueberries]

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[dark_tranquility]

That's the thing isn't it. Someone who doesn't have an understanding of the offense caused by this naming, will just play ignorant and not care about how it affects other people. I agree I find it distasteful and it's getting out of hand now, from what you posted and western fans. Well the minority have never really cared much for offense, as long as they receive their goods they are happy.

Someone who isn't cultured will be like this a lot of the time, when it comes to cultural barriers or acceptance etc.

 

[RainbowDevil]

Man i hate when people say "It wasn't honest" like stfu how the hell do you know that. At least he said something. 90% of people would say nothing.
And in the case of the character, a lot of mangas and comics generally reffer to previous people in history through names, usually not fully but partially and yea changing the name is better than leaving it but tbh I don't really care about it.

 

[blueberries]

That's the thing isn't it. Someone who doesn't have an understanding of the offense caused by this naming, will just play ignorant and not care about how it affects other people. I agree I find it distasteful and it's getting out of hand now, from what you posted and western fans. Well the minority have never really cared much for offense, as long as they receive their goods they are happy.

Someone who isn't cultured will be like this a lot of the time, when it comes to cultural barriers or acceptance etc.

It's definitely getting out of hand, but I think on both sides. There is the crowd who is misinformed and is claiming nothing is wrong with the name and people should shut up, then there is crowd who keep hating even after the statement and have gone as far as death threats. And these two clashing just escalates things.

Man i hate when people say "It wasn't honest" like stfu how the hell do you know that. At least he said something. 90% of people would say nothing.
And in the case of the character, a lot of mangas and comics generally reffer to previous people in history through names, usually not fully but partially and yea changing the name is better than leaving it but tbh I don't really care about it.

I agree, there is no way they know if he was honest or not. And I think it's better to give benefit of doubt than assume worst and judge someone who might be innocent. I think its alright, even good, to refer to history, but I also think you need to be more careful then how you portray said characters. I don't think giving name of victims to villain like in this case quite works. In other hand naming the "hospital" where evil doctor does their experiements Unit 731 would make lot more sense.

 

[dark_tranquility]

It's definitely getting out of hand, but I think on both sides. There is the crowd who is misinformed and is claiming nothing is wrong with the name and people should shut up, then there is crowd who keep hating even after the statement and have gone as far as death threats. And these two clashing just escalates things.

Two sides at it. Why can't people just say nothing, if it is not something nice.
Some folks thinking their entitled to an opinion, but it's not an opinion if it hurts someone else, it's a put down and I hate that.

 

[blueberries]

I feel like this would be less of an issue... if Japan had actually bothered to issue a real apology to the victims and basically taken all the measures Germany did in atoning for the holocaust. As it stands, they didn't. They never will. And continuing to act like that's okay, by way of association with the original name for the manga character and how "it's just a name, who cares" is wrong. I scrolled through the second twitter link in the OP and there's a colorful little infographic explaining the negative connotations of the name... and severely underplaying them.

I doubt any of those people have given much thought to vivisection. Which is cutting off a person's limbs, swapping them around, and stitching the limbs were they aren't meant to go. Or freezing someone's limb off. Or the fact that one of the scientists behind this went on to find a pharmaceutical company and they all went free because they handed their research over to the CIA after the war. THAT's the level of rage-inducing nonsense that victims of these people carry with them and why even something as seemingly simple as a name hurts them greatly.

But oh no, let's just call them entitled whiny brats. Yeah, way to go, people.

I don't necessarily blame Horikoshi, by the way. It is entirely possible that he was ignorant. I'm just upset at the people supporting the original name. I think, though, what Horikoshi should do is use his position and this whole controversy to add something educational to the show about this. Not something heavy-handed, but just enough to make people think. I think it's good to draw more attention to what happened... but the right kind of attention.

Yea and not only about not apologising, sometimes you also see them kinda glorifying Imperial Japan and downplaying war crimes even in anime so no wonder people took offence. I actually didn't know about Unit 371, this was first time i heard of it so I took a time to look couple info videos of it and also realized how the "Marata" was not reference to some evil Japanese officer during WW2 (like everyone kept claiming), but victims of human experiement who were literally referred as logs in torture camp masked as Lumbermill.

I also definitely think the name needed to be changed and that it was in bad taste. I actually wouldn't have been against the doctor or bunch of evil doctors being named as Unit 371 since that would have made sense as historical reference and wouldn't be that offensive to victims.

 

[AmysTeri]

Thanks for the tag. I don't keep up with anime fandoms and goings on, so I'm glad I saw this before entering into any WTFness if I did stumble across it.

My take before I let anyone else's comments influence me (lol).
1. Western fans have a lot of nerve to tell someone what should and should not be offensive given their track record, and I say that as a westerner.
2. This actually summed up my feeling about it, if the writer's research holds true:

Maruta was used to refer victims of these experiments not the one's who made them. It means "logs" and works as way to dehumanize these test subjects. So basically name of villainous doctor means victims of human experimentation and one of most horrifying war crimes. It would be similar as naming villain as "Comfort woman" I guess. So in this context the outrage over the name starts making more sense. I have also heard that "Shiga" is reference to disease some of victims were infected with, however I haven't seen mention to this other than one comment.

3. Given #2, I'm quite sure the mangaka knew enough of the history to give this name to a villain doctor who experiments on people, so I see why some feel the apology was disingenuous. That said, many people know names of historical events while still being ignorant of the full scope of the history behind names or events. It happens. I'm still giving a full side-eye to the mangaka, though, and to the staff (because I know manga goes through many checks before it's considered up to muster). Ignorance is a common defense and cop out.

Either way, the name is going to be changed. I think that's the best outcome for this.

I got nothing on the international fanwars. I'm good to engage with k-pop fandoms. I tend to stay away from anime, political, and sports fandoms.

 

[Mangoey]

I honestly don't believe that Horikoshi was ignorant of what the name meant. Seeing the care he puts into naming his other characters and the fact that Maruta is supposed to be a villainous doctor, it feels like a very deliberate and distasteful choice.

That being said though, I don't agree with the extent of the outrage that people feel towards mha and Horikoshi. It's fine to be angry and to voice your opinions, especially when it's something as terrible as this. But going so far as to burning books and completely banning a manga series due to one character whose name is already being changed feels too over the top.

 

[blueberries]

Shonen Jump and Horikoshi have released second statement and apology explaining more of situation with the name. The explanation is translated in twitter chain. Starting from tweet below:



I will copypaste more relevant parts of it:

Editorial:
"Regarding the character name 'Maruta' that appeared in Chapter 259 of 'My Hero Academia' published in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #10 2020 (released on February 3rd), many readers from overseas, including China, have pointed out that this name brings up historical events.
The character that appeared in this chapter was named 'Maruta', but it was never intended for its name to overlap with past historical events. However, the combination of the name and the setting of the character as the doctor of an evil organization has been...
...irritating, especially in China. The editorial department should have done a deep examination of the name before its publication, so we deeply apologize. We'll take this issue seriously and change the character's name when physical and digital volumes are printed and released. ..

Horikoshi:
I'm really sorry many people felt uncomfortable and irritated about the name 'Maruta' in My Hero Academia's Chapter 259. The character's ambition by the former 'All For One' and the Villain Alliance made him want to get closer to its existence, so his name came from the name 'Shigaraki', taking 'Shiga', and 'Maruta', as in meaning 'chubby and fat'. Everything was accidental and had no intent to hurt any reader. I really apologize from the bottom of my heart, and I will do my best to not repeat this situation ever again.

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I guess with this it does seem like it was just really unfortunate coincidence. Hopefully things calm down now.