• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.

MHA is seemingly getting banned in China over possible reference to Japanese WWII atrocities

alexi52

alexi52

Member
Oct 28, 2017
18,884


This stems from the controversy of Horikoshi naming a evil scientist in his story Maruta which is the Japanese word for Log and it's also the name of a horrific event in World War II where does Japanese were experimenting on Chinese and Korean citizens a and it was what they called the Victims

This was met with instantly backlash and both SJ and Horikoshi quickly responded with promising that the name will be changed


Translation:

"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."

From many Japanese people on Twitter they said it probably was a mistake and they themselves were unaware about the full history of the word, the Japanese don't really educate their own people on their past war crimes, Maruta is a common name that can mean Log, fat, and round which describe the character and carry the theme of characters without power have wood themed names in MHA

But this apology did it go well on Chinese and Korean Twitter, they're demanding a full and sincere apology now.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
NHarmonic.

NHarmonic.

▲ Legend ▲
The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
10,290
Man, terrible situation all around. Jump fucked up, from Hori to the editors.
 
LycanXIII

LycanXIII

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
9,974
Nah, he knew what the name was, considering the doctor

created the Nomu
 
OP
OP
alexi52

alexi52

Member
Oct 28, 2017
18,884
Takyon

Takyon

Member
Nov 8, 2017
3,705
Sera said:
I mean to put it in western terms imagine a german author naming a fascist villain who commits fascist atrocities similar to the nazis "The Undesirables" or even "Anne Frank"
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Well no, because it wasn't a a person's name or a specific term like "undesirable". The way Japanese words are put together means you can have a few different meanings in there.
 
zashga

zashga

Losing is fun
Member
Oct 28, 2017
4,192
Hmm, I guess Japan choosing to willfully ignore/downplay their nation's misdeeds during WW2 may have some negative consequences. Who could've guessed that?
 
Sera

Sera

Member
Oct 27, 2017
698
Melbourne
Btw could we get a thread name change "MHA is seemingly getting banned in China" is pretty innocuous compared to the actual topic
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
49,964
Geno said:
I don't get why people got mad about the name, he's a villain character not a hero.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
That's kind of the crux of the thing, isn't it? Even if it's supposed to be calling out Imperial Japan, it's not the most well executed call out.

On top of that, it's really just sensitive when Japanese people are using words or images that they used to abuse other Asian countries. If I recall, Sgt. Frog had a similar issue where the frog aliens (haven't seen it, I assume that's what they are?) were referring to humans as "pokopen", which is a ethnic slur for Chinese people. It was meant to essentially compare the frogs to the racism and militarism of Imperial Japan, but it still caused a stir because they're essentially using that imagery and throwing a slur around.
 
OP
OP
alexi52

alexi52

Member
Oct 28, 2017
18,884
Sera said:
Btw could we get a thread name change "MHA is seemingly getting banned in China" is pretty innocuous compared to the actual topic
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I put seemingly because I'm not sure if it's going to fully be banned, the manga ban seems like it could be temporary and the anime is still available there, and at this point I'm expecting Horikoshi to make a second apology
 
diakyu

diakyu

Member
Dec 15, 2018
17,525
Solid said:
IDK MHA character names are usually deliberate pubs and references that allude to character traits
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yes which this name is. It's a combo of "round" and "fat", or at least that's what the english jump translator said. It's very possible Horikoshi didn't know about this nickname and it's very possible he did. We may never know
 
Takyon

Takyon

Member
Nov 8, 2017
3,705


This is the official english translator for MHA.
So not only does "maruta" mean "short and fat", which is what the doc is
Not only is "log" a part of the Wood-theme Horikoshi has ascribed to his quirkless characters
maruta is also "daruma" reversed.

There's literally three reasons that Hori chose this name for this character, all of which have nothing to do with Japanese War Crimes. Obviously that connotation fits this character's evil deeds, but it's obvious from the furor and the quick apology that this was just a big slip-up.
 
Gentlemen

Gentlemen

Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,503
Takyon said:


This is the official english translator for MHA.
So not only does "maruta" mean "short and fat", which is what the doc is
Not only is "log" a part of the Wood-theme Horikoshi has ascribed to his quirkless characters
maruta is also "daruma" reversed.

There's literally three reasons that Hori chose this name for this character, all of which have nothing to do with Japanese War Crimes. Obviously that connotation fits this character's evil deeds, but it's obvious from the furor and the quick apology that this was just a big slip-up.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

If it was intended as a play on "達磨" the mangaka would have been better off keeping the kanji for the name at least somewhat related.
But they didn't. They chose "丸太," which is fraught with the unfortunate implications that brought them here today.
I'm not buying it.
 
MrSaturn99

MrSaturn99

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,450
I live in a giant bucket.
Man, and here I was thinking this would blow over. I hope things get resolved soon so Chinese fans can continue enjoying the series.

L Thammy said:
That's kind of the crux of the thing, isn't it? Even if it's supposed to be calling out Imperial Japan, it's not the most well executed call out.

On top of that, it's really just sensitive when Japanese people are using words or images that they used to abuse other Asian countries. If I recall, Sgt. Frog had a similar issue where the frog aliens (haven't seen it, I assume that's what they are?) were referring to humans as "pokopen", which is a ethnic slur for Chinese people. It was meant to essentially compare the frogs to the racism and militarism of Imperial Japan, but it still caused a stir because they're essentially using that imagery and throwing a slur around.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

That's correct -- the anime changed it to "Pekopon," and the manga eventually followed suit. (At least, I know the old Tokyopop localization did for later volumes, anyway.)
 

Deleted member 52442

User requested account closure
Banned
Jan 24, 2019
10,774
Well he plans to change it immediately and will likely avoid this in the future, guess its resolved...?
 
NSESN

NSESN

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,298
Gentlemen said:
If it was intended as a play on "達磨" the mangaka would have been better off keeping the kanji for the name at least somewhat related.
But they didn't. They chose "丸太," which is fraught with the unfortunate implications that brought them here today.
I'm not buying it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I dont get it. Why do you think it isnt a play on Daruma? The author already did something similar with another pseudonym Shigaraki Tomura and Shimura
 
lunarworks

lunarworks

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,102
Toronto
NSESN said:
I dont get it. Why do you think it isnt a play on Daruma? The author already did something similar with another pseudonym Shigaraki Tomura and Shimura
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
The author has a weird way with names. Weirder than a lot of manga.

Also, that front corporation Detnerat is Talented spelled backwards. A "quirk" could be considered a talent.
 
NSESN

NSESN

▲ Legend ▲
Member
Oct 25, 2017
25,298
lunarworks said:
The author has a weird way with names. Weirder than a lot of manga.

Also, that front corporation Detnerat is Talented spelled backwards. A "quirk" could be considered a talent.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
I am not saying that also doesnt have a second meaning, but I think the play on Daruma is obvious, specially the way he came up with Daruma in the first place, he created it from scratch to hid his identity from the league and in that case makes a lot of sense it is similar to his true name
 
Keyouta

Keyouta

The Wise Ones
Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,193
Canada
Man that Twitter thread is crazy, I know it's just select people, but some Japanese are denying there ever being a 731 group.
 

Syril

Member
Oct 26, 2017
5,895
Gentlemen said:
If it was intended as a play on "達磨" the mangaka would have been better off keeping the kanji for the name at least somewhat related.
But they didn't. They chose "丸太," which is fraught with the unfortunate implications that brought them here today.
I'm not buying it.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Yikes.

Character names in MHA are about as puntastic as an Ace Attorney game, so the charitable interpretation of naming an evil scientist 丸太 in this context is that everyone involved was super negligent.
 
Big One

Big One

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,277
Keyouta said:
Man that Twitter thread is crazy, I know it's just select people, but some Japanese are denying there ever being a 731 group.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
Though keep in mind how much this is offending Chinese and Korean fans as well. It's a pretty sensitive issue. This isn't solely pissing off Japanese nationalists.
 

FPX

One Winged Slayer
Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
2,273
Before I saw the blowback from non-Japanese fans, I thought he would just be getting criticized by people from Japan for the reference, since Japan sure loves to downplay their WW2 war crimes. Shows what I know
 
You must log in or register to reply here.