Forum - View topicINTEREST: My Hero Academia Character Gets Name Change Following Controversy
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Goto page Previous 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
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Spastic Minnow
 Bargain HunterExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Some analogies used in this thread:
These all miss the point almost completely. AGAIN It’s not the reference to the tradgedy itself that sets people off We all agree that the experiments were atrocious. It should also follow that the victims should have our sympathy and ALWAYS be treated respectfully Talking about "Comfort Women" starts to go in the right direction. Imagine a military sex slaver calling himself Ianfu ("Comfort Women") Suzuki. NOT the victims being called as such- but the villain using the name casually. What many still can’t quite fathom is how Murata is not a reference to the act- it’s not the name of a historical villain- it is the disgusting term for the VICTIMS. It’s the casual reference to a victimization that is the problem. I don’t know much about the Bataan Death March but a villain named after the tragedy would not bat an eye, but did the Japanese have some infamous derogatory term for the victims? Let’s say that when they bayoneted or beheaded someone for not marching fast enough they were called “Broken Toys” - as they were tossed aside with no care. And every Filipino citizen knows the Japanese called them “Broken Toys” and the character in your anime who likes to casually kill prisoners is called “Broken Toy” Can you see how that's different? You are NOT referencing a tragedy. You are casually mocking the results of that tragedy. Imagine a Southern Racist and killer named "Strange Fruit”. One of the most graphic and chilling terms to reference lynching victims ever |
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enurtsol
 Posts: 14761 |
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^ How about a German torturer named Anna Frankie
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Something like that, yeah. seemingly making light of victims hits raw nerves. And while I think the reactions from China and Korea are partially justified, it has gone too far. Many years ago when the English writer Peter Milligan was writing his off-the-wall X-comic, X-Statix, he wanted to introduce a mutant who was a resurrected Princess Diana. Once word got out, the reaction was not kind. There were calls for the heads of Marvel execs. He apologized and made it a generic "princess" superhero who came and left quickly. The furor was over. NOT as bad as war crimes of course (although, partially a national insult), but apologies and changed directions should count for something when the offense is really on such a small scale. This isn't an official Japanese national statement to the world, it's a non-political supporting character's name in a cast of hundreds in one manga among many manga coming out of the country. |
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Meongantuk
 Posts: 353 |
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Or some supervillain called... Holocaust.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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^^^
Tasteless but too broad and descriptive of the tragedy itself. Some edgy author could get away with it, and probably has. Oddly, I could not think of any group term for Holocaust victims that would engender the same sort of reaction. There were plenty of terms for programs of violence against, and prejudicial names for the Jewish, Romany, disabled, homosexuals, etc. targeted by Nazis but no terms I could think of for the victims that would automatically engender the same sympathy and outrage. The Nomu could possibly be a reference to a Mengele experiment though. Kinda vague though, and would come from "Noma"- a gangrenous disease that he afflicted children with to study the effects. Not the name of the children. Some name for "Holocaust-denier" might come close. It's the insult that really hits. |
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SuperRed
Posts: 37 |
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Guys...the problem with your examples is that the words you are using "Anne Frank", "Jim Crow", "Doctor Holodomor" etc. have internationally famous and obvious meanings, "Maruta" has like 3-4 possible interpretations to what it references, the official English translator thought it was a pun on the character being fat, some people think it just means a piece of wood, just like Deku is a kind of wood reference, Shiga is a reference to Shigaraki not the real bacteria, you can't justify irrational outrage when there's at least a 75% chance it's not a reference to the victims and on top of that it's not even common knowledge in Japan among young people like Horikoshi.
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Marimo0
Posts: 186 |
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Except in Japan, Nomu's name means "brainless". |
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AkumaChef
Posts: 821 |
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I honestly cannot see the difference. I can't see how you can consider one mocking the tragedy but not both doing so. Many pages back in this thread (or was it one of the other related threads) I asked if there was any difference between naming an evil villain Zkylon Undermensch versus Zyklon Mengele. Nobody answered my question. As for your example, I see that as a similarly offensive name, just like my examples above, or other names which people are tossing about in this thread (Hitler, et al). |
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DavetheUsher
 Posts: 505 |
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There is a super-villain called Holocaust though. He's a Static Shock/Teen Titans. He has fire-based powers and even made an appearance in the Young Justice cartoon There's also the mutant Holocaust in Marvel, he's a glowing skeleton with life-draining powers. Not that taboo, apparently. Comics have a history of not shying away from topics like this, at least the older ones. After all, one of the most beloved Marvel characters is Magneto, a Jewish boy who survived the Holocaust yet harbors Mutant Supremacist views which makes him such a complex and compelling villain in the right hands. |
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Redbeard 101
Oscar the Grouch
Forums Superstar  Posts: 16935 |
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Alright folks, discussion has been allowed to go on but this is getting very far off topic at this point with a lot of the commentary. So let's reel it back in to the actual topic as it pertains to MHA. Thank you.
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules Posts: 4609 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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Even I have to disagree with you on the relevance of the discussion. Unless you've deleted posts that DID start to go OT. (although I have decided to end my discussion in it- because I've said what I feel needs to be said by me). It's a touchy discussion to have but does all pertain to reasons the name was changed, why there was outrage- which was mostly in the countries we're talking about, and how the outrage continues to affect MHA in countries where it was banned- even though he has apologized and changed the name. |
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luisedgarf
Posts: 656 Location: Guadalajara, Mexico |
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For some bizarre reason, the whole thing has a collateral victim: Kouta Hirano, the creator of Hellsing.
For some stupid reason, some Chinese users are insulting him, despite he had nothing to do with MHA at all, maybe because the initials in their names, something explained by Hirano himself here: https://twitter.com/hiranokohta/status/1228594319373680640 |
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