BL Manga Author Uses China Flag When Talking About Taiwan and Has Event Canceled
BL manga author Nikuya Inui ended up making a pretty serious mistake, which resulted in a major conflict with her Taiwanese audience—but what exactly happened?
Nikuya Inui is a BL manga author. One of her works that received a Taiwanese release is #BL-gokko, which was completed in a single volume. She is currently publishing Kowamote no Rinjin ga Ω datta Toki no Taishohou, which began serialization in 2023.
BL Manga Author Uses China Flag When Talking About Taiwan and Has Event Canceled
Everything started when the author published a statement announcing the termination of her contract with Core Magazine. In the same post, she listed the languages in which her works had been published, mentioning Chinese, French, and Korean editions.
The issue arose when, while referring to the Chinese-language edition released in Taiwan, she used the Chinese flag emoji instead of the Taiwanese flag—something you simply don’t do, especially knowing that China and Taiwan have a long-standing political conflict.
A fan then replied politely, explaining that the edition in question was published specifically in Taiwan and that using the Chinese flag could cause discomfort. The comment was respectful and made it clear that many Taiwanese readers might feel uneasy about the association. However, the author’s response only worsened the situation.
Nikuya Inui then made things even worse by stating that she “didn’t know exactly which countries her works were sold in” and that, because of this, she generally referred to them as a generic “Chinese version.”
That was her big misstep—and here’s why: once something is on the internet, it stays there forever. Taiwanese fans quickly remembered that the author actually does know very well where her manga is published. As proof, they resurfaced a post from 2022 in which she explicitly mentioned the Taiwanese edition of her manga.
Situation Gets Worse After Audio of the Author Mocking the Issue Surfaces
Shortly after, the situation escalated further when the author commented on the controversy during an audio space on X. During the conversation, she adopted a tone many listeners considered ironic, laughing while saying it was strange that a “Chinese version” was not sold in mainland China. This remark was interpreted as dismissive and further inflamed Taiwanese readers.
Listen below:
Did you feel she sounded ironic?
Faced with the negative backlash (in other words, being caught in a lie), the author issued an apology, acknowledging that her statements lacked proper consideration and ended up hurting readers and causing confusion.
However, the apology was considered very weak. Later, she released a much longer “apology 2.0,” stating that her previous message was insufficient and that she had acted ignorantly and hastily by speaking on the subject without properly verifying the information.
As a result of the unnecessary controversy she caused, two autograph events scheduled to take place in Taiwan on February 7 were canceled. The Taiwanese publisher responsible announced that all fans who had already purchased tickets would receive a full refund by the end of the year.
Below is a screenshot of the local publisher’s statement:
