Azur Lane’s Possible Referencing of Hentai Doujin in Design of Latest Character Causes Outrage

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Mar 31, 2020

A Twitter user has accused popular battleship ginjika game Azur Lane of referencing a particularly controversial hentai doujin based solely on a small accessory included in the character design of a newly revealed character.

On March 24th, the official Azur Lane Twitter account announced that a new character fashioned with a ‘gyaru’ aesthetic, USS Marblehead, would be “[gracing] your dock in the near future”:

Following her announcement, users on Twitter began to take note of Marblehead’s ID card, which shows what appears to be a previous, dark-haired appearance for Marblehead, and began to jokingly assert that the difference in appearances is a reference to the hentai doujin ‘Emergence’:

Emergence, also known as Metamorphosis, 177013 or ‘Henshin’ in Japanese, is a hentai doujin by artist ShindoL which follows shy and nerdy high school student Saki as she descends into a life of hardcore prostitution and drug addiction.

However, it is more likely that the drastic difference between her two appearances is a reference to her real world counterpart, the USS Marblehead, which suffered massive damage during WW2 and underwent massive repairs before returning to service.

Whether Marblehead’s appearance is an intentional reference to Emergence or not, the possibility was enough for a number of people to become outraged and demand that Azur Lane remove what was perceived as an inappropriate reference.

One user, in protest, edited the original art to remove the ID tag completely:

Azur Lane's Possible Referencing of Hentai Doujin in Design of Latest Character Causes Outrage

This tweet has since been deleted.

On the /r/AzureLane subreddit, one user begged  the Azur Lane team, in a now deleted post, to “remove that nametag from her design” because he believed it was counter to his idea of the girls as “a manifestation of all the pure and beautiful wishes of humankind”:

YouTuber Hero Hei found it interesting that Crying Silently knew that the ID card could possibly be referencing Emergence.

He questioned, “Anyone else find it a little odd how the person who is so upset by the ID card know what it’s referencing? You know, people on Twitter that tend to complain about things often self-project. They are often into the thing they are complaining about. They just like to bully others and find an excuse to stand on a moral high ground while they do it.”

Emergence artist ShindoL does not believe the ID card has anything to do with their work. When asked, they responded, “Probably has nothing to do with my work. If, by chance it was inspired by my stuff then I would be flattered and would ask for some work to be sent my way.”

As of writing, the Azur Lane team has shown no intention of changing Marblehead’s design.

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