Female Mangaka Criticizes Adult Men Complaining About Bocchi the Rock Censorship
The mangaka Fukuchi Mami made a tweet criticizing adult men who are complaining about not being able to see a “sexualized minor,” all because of the controversy surrounding Bocchi the Rock. Just to be clear, Fukuchi Mami is not the author of Bocchi the Rock.
The writer who worked on the Bocchi the Rock anime revealed in an interview that she considers fanservice to be “noise” and asked for some scenes to be removed from the anime.
This includes the girls commenting about breast sizes and a bath scene in which Bocchi, due to extreme nervousness, decides to take an ice bath to try to get sick.
In the manga, she bathes naked, but in the anime version, they changed it so that she wears a swimsuit. At first, nobody really understood why, but after this interview, a huge controversy exploded.
Female Mangaka Criticizes Adult Men Complaining About Bocchi the Rock Censorship
Fukuchi Mami then commented the following:
“To achieve anime supremacy, we decided to put a swimsuit on a minor, who didn’t need to be sexualized, after discussing it with the original author.”
“… This extremely correct stance from the production makes me realize how shocking and dark the reality of Japan is, when seeing the reaction of some adult men (though I believe it’s only a portion of them).”
Basically, she is criticizing the fact that adult men are complaining about the censorship applied to the anime. In another tweet, she said:
“If it’s a work meant to be seen by a wide audience, then naturally one has to be careful with depictions related to sex, which are delicate. I think trying to gain popularity with easy and cliché erotica will become outdated from now on.
In practice, there are quite a few works I end up dropping because those so-called fanservice scenes get in the way. Just to be clear: I am not against erotic expressions when they are narratively necessary.”
Once again, part of the “fanservice only if narratively necessary” camp. Anyway, her opinions generated the following reactions from the Japanese public:
“Then you should also supervise the manga to achieve manga supremacy!”
“Well… isn’t it natural for men to want to see naked bodies?”
“It’s true, if you want that, just read erotic manga.”
“Funny how when it’s nude boys, women happily draw them.”
“Ah, but if it’s boys being nude, then it’s ‘fine.’”
“If you start saying fanservice is ‘unnecessary,’ then it’s over. Anime itself isn’t necessary. If you only want to consume what’s ‘necessary,’ then just eat, shit, and sleep.”
“Soon enough these people will say underage girls should hide their faces, lol.”
“They’re twisting it as if only ‘lolicons’ are the ones reacting against it.”
“Honestly, what irritates me is when underage girls in illustrations are sexualized… deep down, it’s because I can’t stand the disgusting libido of the otakus behind it. That’s it.”
“Anime that only features underage girls are already that kind of anime from the start.”
“But the question is: if it’s not okay in anime, why is it okay in manga?”
“If that’s the case, then the original manga author becomes a villain portraying sexual exploitation of minors. If you’re going to defend the changes, you also have to criticize the manga’s existence, otherwise the logic doesn’t hold.”
“The natural flow is to regulate BL culture entirely.”
“This woman doesn’t understand the essence of the controversy either. They’re all idiots.”
“Seriously… I thought all illustrators were perverts… weren’t they?”
“The ultimate ideal has always been ‘young women.’”
“In the end, wasn’t the bath scene totally unnecessary?”
“But the scene is exactly about the character trying to avoid her part-time job by taking an ice bath to catch a cold. If you cut it, the story doesn’t make sense.”
“Then she could be wearing a swimsuit, it wouldn’t make a difference.”
“Wearing a swimsuit in the bathtub at home? Are you crazy?”
“Another one twisting the main issue.”
And some people pointed out something true: what about the Bocchi the Rock manga, which is written and illustrated by a woman? The author of Bocchi is female, and the manga includes ecchi scenes and girls talking about breasts.
Even Bocchi’s breast size was noticeably reduced in the anime version. So if it was cut from the anime, is it okay for the manga to show everything? After all, children also read manga, right?
In short, it seems the controversy is far from over.