Upcoming Anime Series Canceled Because of Racist Twitter Comments From The Creator
Plans for an anime series adaptation of the popular Japanese novel, Young Again in Another World, have been canceled after the author’s past discriminatory tweets on China and South Korea sparked controversy.
The creator of the story writes under the pen name MINE, and after the anime series was announced, a bunch of Twitter users came out against it and pointed to several tweets that MINE posted between 2012 and 2015 that contained racist and derogatory comments towards China and South Korea. According to Japan Times:
Mine reportedly said in Twitter posts that Chinese people lacked a sense of morality and that having South Korea as a neighbor is a misfortune for Japan, while referring to the two countries with derogatory names. The tweets were posted before the first volume was published in 2014 and have already been deleted.
People also pointed out that the series apparently focuses on a hero who had killed 3,000 people with a katana during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The fantasy story follows this protagonist who died at the age of 94, and then was reborn in another world inhabited by monsters.
Not long after the backlash, four of the main voice actors for the series all announced they were quitting the show and the show was quickly canceled.
MINE issued an apology on Twitter, saying, "As for several tweets I previously made, they caused many people a great deal of discomfort, and I truly apologize for the improper language."
MINE also said that he has been talking with his publisher about correcting the original novel so that it does not provide discomfort for readers. "Once again, I am truly sorry for the unpleasant feelings as well as the trouble I have caused." But the publisher announced that they were suspending shipments of the novel.
This just goes to show that the whole world is in the process of changing, and people around the world are taking a stand against racism and showing that it will not being tolerated.