Fate/Grand Order: Moonlight/Lostroom OVA Lightens Emiya Alter’s Skin for Western Streaming Services

Spencer Baculi |

Jan 1, 2020

As the 2017 Fate/Grand Order: Moonlight/Lostroom OVA made its subtitled debut on western streaming services, viewers have noticed that Emiya Alter’s dark black skin color had been lightened in comparison to his appearance in the original Japanese version of the special.

On December 31^st, 2019, the OVA premiered for the first time outside of Japan on the Crunchyroll and Funimation NOW streaming services. That same day, Twitter user @Ebicentre presented a side-by-side comparison of a shot of Emiya Alter standing behind Olga Marie in an ensemble shot which showed the stark contrast between Emiya Alter’s original and ‘lightened’ colorings:

Oh, great, what a way to begin 2020 by seeing a relic from the 4Kids days. Unbelievable. Are we really going down this route, Aniplex? pic.twitter.com/HasBgH5PTD

— Ethnic Weeb (火生琉) 🇦🇺🐯🏓 (@Ebicentre) December 31, 2019

A comparison image of the changes between the two versions can be seen below, including parts of his updated skin palette bleeding over his hairline into the coloring of his hair:

Fate/Grand Order: Moonlight/Lostroom OVA Lightens Emiya Alter’s Skin for Western Streaming Services

Anime YouTuber Apocalypse Industries responded to Ebicentre’s tweet with a clip of the scene in question, wherein Emiya Alter’s skin palette rapidly swaps colorings in between shots of gun fire:

Here’s the clip so you can see it frame by frame. pic.twitter.com/mhjvlBPwLS

— ApocalypseIndustries (@Manilla_AI5) January 1, 2020

In the original version of the film, Emiya Alter retains his darker appearance throughout the fight:

Emiya Alter’s design was similarly edited when he debuted in the North American version of the Fate/Go mobile game in January of last year in an attempt to avoid accusations of blackface by Western audiences.