Manga Creator Reveals Why He Avoids Black Characters After Being Asked to Change a Villain

Manga artist Shoushou Kurihara, creator of Uramiya Honpo, has revealed that he began avoiding Black characters in his stories after an experience involving concerns about potential accusations of discrimination. According to the artist, in 2006, he was asked to change a villain in his manga.

The villain was originally supposed to be Black, but he was asked to make the character white instead.

Why Does the Uramiya Honpo Creator Avoid Black Characters?

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Shoushou Kurihara explained that he believes fear of complaints from human rights organizations may be one reason Black characters appear less frequently in Japanese manga.

The artist recalled an incident from 2006, while working on the Okinawa arc of Uramiya Honpo. At the time, he was asked to change the race of a Black antagonist, turning him into a white character instead.

According to the mangaka, the reasoning was that portraying a Black person as a villain could be considered discriminatory.

The request reportedly came just before the final stages of the artwork, forcing the artist to make the change at a particularly inconvenient point in production.

In his tweet, he shared a page from his manga showing that this villain was originally supposed to be Black, but he was asked to change the character to a white man. In the scene, the villain is shown stepping on a woman:

Although Kurihara did not publicly identify the organization responsible for the request in the excerpt he shared, the experience appears to have left a lasting impact on how he approaches his work.

What Happened After the Character Was Changed?

According to Kurihara, the incident led him to start avoiding Black characters in his works, regardless of whether they were portrayed as good or evil. His reasoning was that he wanted to avoid further complaints and the hassle of having to redraw completed artwork.

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The mangaka also questioned the apparent double standard between Black and white characters. From his perspective, if portraying a Black character as a villain can lead to accusations of discrimination, why is it seemingly fine when the villain is white?

At the end of his post, the artist raised a direct question about what diversity really means.

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