Pokemon Concept Artist Keiko Moritsugu Wants Anime to End Fan Service, Says Industry Needs to be More Like Disney and Marvel

By 
·May 10, 2019

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.”

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:

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:

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.

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:

Moritsugu would block Kankei on Twitter.

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:

Kankei had a very strong suggestion about what’s going on in America:

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!”

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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