In an age of English localizers inserting their own opinions into original their translations of Japanese media, one of the most common such habits has seen the term ‘lolicon’ regularly replaced with the term pedophile – and the latest victim of such an unjust accusation of real-world criminal activity based on one’s enjoyment of an art style is Mashle: Magic and Muscles‘ Vince Crown.
Mash Burnedead in Mashle: Magic and Muscles Episode 3 “Mash Burnedead and the Baleful Bully” (2023), Aniplex via twitter
The change in question was discovered after the series’ anime adaptation aired its fourth episode, ‘Mash Burnedead and the Challenging Magic User’, debuted on Crunchyroll.
Following its premiere, fans went back to Hajime Kōmoto’s original manga to compare how faithful the episode was to the mangaka’s original vision.
In doing so, fans discovered that Viz Media’s localizers had yet again done the dishonorable deed of inserting their own political bias into their translation.
Vince Crown looking at picture of his precious little sister in Mashle: Magic and Muscles Episode 4 “Mash Burnedead and the Challenging Magic User” (2023), Aniplex via Twitter
The scene in question occurs in the middle of Mash Burnedead’s clash with the aforementioned Lance Crown in Chapter 9, ‘Mash Burnedead and the Big Brother’.
During their battle, Mash unleashes an earth-shaking gravehole attack against Lance, in the process snapping a locket off of his opponent’s neck.
As it lands at Mash’s feet, he opens it up to discover it contains an image of Lance’s little sister, Anna.
Per side-by-side comparisons of the original Japanese release and Viz Media’s provided by fan translator @iuntue, in Shueisha’s version, Mash mistakenly responds to this discovery by accusing the two-marked being of simply being “a lolicon”.
Mash Burnedead accusing Lance Crown of being a lolicon in Mashle: Magic and Muscle Chapter 9 “Mash Burnedead and the Big Brother” (2020), Shueisha. Words and Art by Hajime Kōmoto via Twitter
In turn, Lance rebuffs Mash’s allegation and clarifies that he is actually a ‘siscon’ – in other words, someone who has a close attachment to their own sister.
Lance Crown’s Siscon declaration in Mashle: Magic and Muscle Chapter 9 “Mash Burnedead and the Big Brother” (2020), Shueisha. Words and Art by Hajime Kōmoto via Twitter
However, in Viz Media’s localization, Mash instead calls Lance an outright “Pedo.”
Viz Media mistranslation of Mash Burnedead accusing Lance Crown of being a pedo in Mashle: Magic and Muscle Chapter 9 “Mash Burnedead and the Big Brother” (2020), Shueisha. Words and Art by Hajime Kōmoto via Digital Issue
Further, instead of refering to himself as a “siscon”, Lance simply states that the girl in the picture is his sister.
Viz Media mistranslation of Lance Crown declaring the girl in his locket is his sister in Mashle: Magic and Muscle Chapter 9 “Mash Burnedead and the Big Brother” (2020), Shueisha via Digital Issue
Interestingly, in a rare turn of events, Crunchyroll’s subtitles for Mash and Lance’s dialogue in the anime adapatation is consistent with Komoto’s original dialogue.
Lance Crown confesses to having a sister complex in Mashle: Magic and Muscles Episode 4 “Mash Burnedead and the Challenging Magic User” (2023), Aniplex via Twitter
As of this writing, Hajime Komoto, Shueisha nor Viz Media have commented on the mistranslation.