Bleach H-Doujinshi Artist Complains About AI “Copying His Style” and Gets Mocked in Japan

A Japanese adult manga artist who is a big BLEACH fan became the target of ridicule and backlash on Japanese forums after taking to social media to demand reports against AI-generated images, claiming that other people were “stealing his drawing style.”

The problem? The style and characters he draws originally belong to Tite Kubo, and he has been making money from Bleach doujinshi for years.

The Plea for Help That Sparked Immediate Backlash

The controversy began when artist Iwao (@iwao178minus), who is widely known in the adult-art scene for creating adult doujinshi and fan art featuring BLEACH, posted a formal complaint on X:

“I’ve been receiving several reports that people are selling AI-generated doujinshi copying my drawing style. I try my best not to look at this kind of thing (because it makes me uncomfortable), but since other people are uncomfortable with it too, I’d appreciate it if you could report it when you have some free time. I believe reporting it as plagiarism is the right thing to do. Well, I don’t have much hope that anything will actually be done, but…”

The Japanese community reacted almost immediately. Users quickly questioned the artist’s audacity in claiming “intellectual property” over artwork based on a franchise that he himself uses without an official license.

One follower confronted him directly:

“Wait a minute, aren’t these characters from BLEACH? The art style of the BLEACH characters belongs to Tite Kubo, not you. I’m not defending people who use AI to sell doujinshi, but you’re being extremely arrogant.”

Instead of backing down, Iwao tried an even more controversial response:

“If you read the original work, you’ll understand: Master Tite Kubo’s art isn’t as bad as mine.”

The user’s response summed up what many people following the argument were thinking: “So what? Are you saying that because you based your drawings on the old anime, they aren’t Kubo’s style? Or are you going to claim those aren’t Rukia and Orihime? Either way, you can’t call this ‘my style.’”

The Debate Over Art Styles and Copyright

Amid the controversy, other creators discussed the fact that Japanese law does not formally protect an “art style.” User Tanukichi (@Tanukichi_mingo) raised the issue:

“The rule that ‘an art style is not protected by copyright’ is frightening and strange. For example, if a foreign company published and sold a manga clearly drawn in the style of Akira Toriyama, wouldn’t they escape punishment simply because what they copied was the art style? Style is an artist’s very identity… We’re not talking about something merely being inspired by them, but machines capable of reproducing it with surgical precision, to the point where anyone could mistake it for a new work by the original artist.”

However, the major distinction pointed out by the community was simple: one thing is an author with their own universe, such as Akira Toriyama, having their legacy replicated; something completely different is an artist producing unauthorized parodies and then claiming moral ownership over derivative illustrations.

For an idea of what we’re talking about, here are some of Iwao’s drawings of Orihime:

To be fair, he also draws Code Geass and Gridman, but people zeroed in on Bleach.

The Merciless Reaction From the Japanese Community

On Japanese imageboards such as 2channel/5channel, commenters did not hold back when pointing out the contradiction in Iwao’s argument:

• “Did he ask Shueisha and Tite Kubo for permission before saying this? I can’t believe someone making unauthorized piracy has the nerve to say that.”
• “So when he copies other people, it’s fine, but when someone copies him, he gets offended?”
• “The guy turns Orihime into a promiscuous btch in his doujinshi and now wants to play the moralist and ask people to report things because he’s ‘uncomfortable’?”
• “Doujinshi creators only exist because manga authors turn a blind eye. Where does this arrogance of acting like they actually own something come from?”
• “If you really want to defend your own unique style, why not create original characters instead of making money off other people’s works?”

And that’s the whole drama.