×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Interest
Pokémon Adventures Manga Artist Apologizes for Using the Manga to Express Political Opinions

posted on by Kim Morrissy
Satoshi Yamamoto tweeted images from the manga with hashtag 'I oppose the revision of the public prosecutor's office law'

Pokémon Adventures manga artist Satoshi Yamamoto posted an apology on Twitter on Sunday for posting images from the manga under a political hashtag.

The tweet reads: "I'm terribly sorry for using the panels and lines of the manga as a front for expressing my opinions without using my own words. I have sullied the image that the readers have of the manga and its characters. I'm also sorry for continuing to let it be until I received instructions otherwise. I know that it's not something that I can take back, but I will delete the tweets in question."

The tweets that Yamamoto were referring to are believed to be unedited panels from the Pokémon Adventures manga, which he posted with the hashtag #検察庁法改正案に抗議します (I oppose the revision of the public prosecutor's office law). The panels featured lines such as "There are people who try to bend the world the way they want it" and "You can't just take something so precious from us with such selfish reasoning."

The hashtag refers to opposition to a proposed bill being discussed in parliament currently, which would raise the retirement age for public prosecutors from 63 to 65. Critics argue that this would allow prosecutors to stay in office longer and negatively impact the country's democracy.

According to Kyodo News, the hashtag inspired more than 3.8 million tweets on Sunday evening, and a number of Japanese celebrities and artists expressed their opposition to the proposed bill, including singer Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and actors Arata Iura and Kyoko Koizumi.

After deleting the tweets combining the hashtag with the Pokémon Adventures manga, Yamamoto has continued to express his personal opinions. He immediately followed his apology with a tweet that reads: "Once again, I oppose the revision of the public prosecutor's law."

[Via Hachima Kikō]


discuss this in the forum (18 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

Interest homepage / archives