Pokemon Concept Artist Keiko Moritsugu Wants Anime to End Fan Service, Says Industry Needs to be More Like Disney and Marvel
Keiko Moritsugu, a Pokemon concept artist and character designer as well as CG artist for Doraemon, took to Twitter to criticize the Anime industry and it’s willingness to service fans. She went on to condemn the sexy fan service seen in much of Anime.
She also stated that she wished the industry would evolve like Disney and Marvel by “interweaving” social issues within their products.
Keiko Moritsugu took to Twitter on the issue. Using Google Translate it reads:
“The ability to update the quality of Disney and Marvel movies every year is something that has become a contentious issue in the real world. Japan anime can’t do that anymore. “If you mix the erotica, you can fool the geeks, right? Because I’m making in the methodology.”
ディズニーやマーベルの映画が、毎年のようにクオリティを更新出来るのは、実際の社会の中で争点になっている事をきちんと脚本に織り込んでいくからなんだよ。日本のアニメはもうそれが出来ないのよ。「エロを混ぜればオタクを騙せるんでしょ？」という方法論で作ってるから。
— Moritsugu Keiko 森次慶子 (@W_Fei_hung) April 25, 2019
One Angry Gamer’s translation provides a bit more detail.
“Disney and Marvel films are in a position where each year they improve their quality, because they take actual societal issues and incorporate them into the middle of the script while interweaving them into difficult criticisms of the world.
Japanese animated films are not capable of doing that at this time.
How do we blend in erotic fan-service to swindle otaku out of their money?’ seems to be the current methodology to produce content in Japan.”
As you’d expect, Moritsugu’s message resonated with the growing Social Justice elements trying to influence the Japanese anime industry. Her comment received over 2,500 likes and over a thousand retweets.
With one user agreeing to a point about the change they believed should happen in Anime but stating that Marvel and Dinsey wasn’t the way:
@W_Fei_hung Moritsugu-san I mostly agree with your assessment of Anime these days has declined. I’m not sure I agree that following the Disney and Marvel approach would be better, But all the ridiculous Fan Service and Moe Nonsense certainly needs to go. Ganbatte 🙂
— Orion Wüthrich (@Daishikaze) April 30, 2019
Moritsugu Keiko took her message further. She would point to the movie Zootopia as an example. She said that if it were made in Japan people would be up in arms claiming it was made for minorities and feminists:
日本で今、ズートピアみたいなアニメを作ったら「フェミニストを殺せー！」「いやこれはマイノリティのための映画だー！」と、ネットでは大騒ぎになると思うんだけど、それで良いのにね。それでこそ社会性のある作品だと思う。
— Moritsugu Keiko 森次慶子 (@W_Fei_hung) April 25, 2019
Translation provided by OAG’s Sankaku:
“These days, if you made a movie like Zootopia in Japan, I think people would get all worked up about it online, and say things like ‘Kill the feminists!’ and ‘Wait, this movie was only made to please minorities.’ But there’s nothing wrong with that happening. That shows that a movie has social relevance.”
Moritsugu Keiko would go on to be critical of other issues related to anime. She specifically took issue with the exaggeration of breast jiggling in animation as well what she views as the refusal of the industry to take a deeper looked at gendered relationships.
女がキャッキャするだけのアニメを見て、男は癒されるのかもしれないけど、女の場合は女に癒しを求めすぎてる男達を見て、精神的に疲れ果てるんだよ、、、。
— Moritsugu Keiko 森次慶子 (@W_Fei_hung) April 26, 2019
Fellow industry professional, Yabai Kankei, was having none of it. She was very blunt in her view of Anime and told Moritsugu that Anime wasn’t a place for people to be reminded of social issues. And that she should take her SJW agenda back to the United States:
Ah shut up. Nobody wants to watch anime and be reminded of social problems and crap. We want to see bigtiddy schoolgirls blow robots up with tanks while wearing cat ears.
Take your SJW agenda back to America!
— Yabai★Kankei (@YabaiKankei) April 30, 2019
Moritsugu would block Kankei on Twitter.
Ain’t no surprise. pic.twitter.com/zHK3SHf7H1
— Yabai★Kankei (@YabaiKankei) May 4, 2019
Another user, PrinceCaim chimed in and spoke amount the SJW influence on American mediums. He felt that agendas should be kept out of all mediums:
Agreed tho I live an america and want it gone from here too, I say we all agree to keep this agenda out of our mediums
— PrinceCaim (@CaimTheSlayer) May 5, 2019
Kankei had a very strong suggestion about what’s going on in America:
Take your country back.
— Yabai★Kankei (@YabaiKankei) May 5, 2019
Other users also praised Kankei for taking a stand to protect Anime and its heritage of fanservice: User Spriggangirl praised Kankie, stating(Paraphrasing the translation) “Way to go! Someone making sense about the social justice trash!”
時間の経過とともに、誰かがこのSJWゴミについて声をかける意味があります。行く道！😃😃😃 pic.twitter.com/WHbjcbiE3P
— Spriggangirl (@EnzoXRyu) May 4, 2019
Anime in recent years, like video games, has seen a growing social justice movement within the industry.
We’ve seen rumblings of this in January, when a number outlets refused to review Crunchyroll and Kadokawa’s The Rising of the Shield Hero. In fact, not only did a number of outlets refuse to review the show, but they attacked the show for including a false rape allegation as a plot point. Kadokawa Producer Junichiro Tamura would address the “controversy” revealing there isn’t one in Japan. “We in Japan do not see these anime as controversial, so we will continue to produce more content like Shield Hero.”
In fact, just last month, it was revealed the novel and manga adaptation of the The Rising of the Shield Hero had printed over 6.2 million copies in Japan since it first hit the market in August 2013. Yusagi had previously reported that the novel and manga series had been printed over 4 million times on February 25,2019. That means there have been 1.2 million printings in less than 2 months!
Rising of the Shield Hero is not the only anime to face criticism. Sword Art Online author Reki Kawahara allegedly noted that he should write stories with “political correctness” in mind after visiting fans in the West.
What do you make of Keiko Moritsugu’s opinions on the anime industry? Do you think the industry needs to change? Or do you agree with her detractors that the social justice agenda should be kept out of anime?
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