Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - Why It's Difficult To Separate Rurouni Kenshin from Nobuhiro Watsuki
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5513 Location: Iscandar |
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If anyone is most to blame it is the people who decided to greenlit this new anime adaptation, not the fans who are going to watch it.
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Joe Mello
 Posts: 2317 Location: Online Terminal |
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This is 100% my subjective opinion and you're free to ignore it at your leisure, but I wasn't a fan of the animal fact tangents. I get the intended purpose of them and I'm not mad or offended by them, but I think if the premise of this "episode" is to discuss a serious issue and how it's important to talk about these things, introducing an intentional comedic distraction undercuts that premise.
Again, just my opinion, and I appreciate you folx tackling this at all. |
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Themaster20000
 Posts: 872 |
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The most upsetting thing is how he got a slap on the wrist for it. Meanwhile, someone like Pierre Taki gets arrested on drug use,which lead to him getting jail time and having his likeness and voicework,erased from Judgement.
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3586 Location: Finland |
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Only if they're closely enough related(nieces, nephews, siblings or grandchildren,etc). They don't adopt unrelated orphans. |
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zztop
Posts: 650 |
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I am curious what the opinions on the Japanese side of the fandom re. this issue are like. Do they also have similar opinions or is there a divergence of any kind?
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2581 |
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.. or both? Why do the fans get a pass the production committees don't? Last edited by NeverConvex on Tue Jun 20, 2023 12:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TheSleepyMonkey
Posts: 960 |
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Reminds me of how Will Smith gets blacklisted from most movies he was in because of a slap, meanwhile Erza Miller does whatever the f__k they wants and people at DC still seem obsessed in defending them. The double standards in not just Japan, but everywhere are insane.
Corrected Miller's pronouns-LL |
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Nonaka Machine Gun B
 Posts: 825 |
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This isn't a defense, but it's not weird that Watsuki wouldn't be at AX. Even "clean" authors of that caliber wold typically sit out overseas affairs.
Kenshin is easy; forget it and move on. It's harder when his former assistants(the creators of One Piece, Toriko, Shaman King, and Trigun) went on to achieve success and congratulated him on his new movie after his scandal, in addition to the creators of Naruto and Eyeshield 21. Do they not know? Do they not care? Considering what went down with Shimabakuro, there's always going to be questions about Oda, Nightow, and Takei for me. Not enough to condemn them outright, but it would be great if anybody in that sphere publicly denounced Watsuki. |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1333 |
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To be fair, we don't know and may never know if any/all of them have privately brought up the subject in addition to publicly congratulating him on the movie. |
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b-dragon
Posts: 500 |
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"Most to blame" is pretty clearly Watsuki himself. But that whole superlative is irrelevant- I can't fully control what a creator or company do. I can only control my own actions, and who/what I support. I can accept only responsibility for my own agency, and as such I choose not to support creators whose actions I find heinous, or the companies wanting to paper over that history. Even that's limited- I bought something on Amazon yesterday, I'm not qualified to be some ethics police. But some sacrifices are easier than others- and excising bits of entertainment media is definitely on the easier end. There are musicians I like that I don't listen to any longer, games I won't play because of the devs, and in a similar vein I won't watch or rewatch Rurouni Kenshin. Having gone through all that, thats only my conclusion for me. I don't intend to chastise anyone who's conclusion differs from mine. |
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ZetMoon80
Posts: 110 |
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Watsuki paid what the laws of his country deemed applicable for his crime. Of course he deserved a higher penalty, and we can theorize as much as we want about the reason why he got off so easily, but that's how the facts are. Everyone can rationalize their reasons to continue giving support to the series or just forget it. For my part, I will watch it because it has been significant in my life and I've been wanting a reboot for years (I wish it had happened in other circumstances tho). My other reason may sound naive, but I want to believe that Watsuki is somehow treating his paraphilia. At this point, I don't expect a public statement apologizing and showing repentance for what he did, but without any kind of proof, I just hope that he has not relapsed and is not acquiring that shit again.
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WisteriaCrow
Posts: 5 |
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@ZetMoon80
This is how I feel about the situation too. He was charged for his crimes and faced the consequences deemed appropriate. Do I think the consequences should have been heavier? Eh, probably. But, to be fair, he still lives with probably the worst consequence out of all of them -- the damage to his name and public figure, and the knowledge of what he did (assuming he is somewhat remorseful, at least). It's something he'll have to live with the rest of his life. And I do hope he's getting treatment. A paraphilia is not something someone chooses, or would ever want, to be born with. And yet, he sadly has it. And he let it get the best of him, unfortunately. But I personally don't believe in demonizing someone for the rest of their lives for a crime or mistake (with some exceptions), as long as they're taking steps to be better. In the case of Oda and other authors still treating him as a friend, I'm not sure I can blame them. Yes Watsuki did something very vile and terrible. But some longtime friendships can survive through that sort of stuff. (And I assume Oda and company at least don't support what he did.) All that said, that's just how I feel about this stuff. I can totally understand if someone does feel strongly about holding this against Watsuki the rest of his life and never wanting to engage with his work ever again. It was a pretty awful thing, after all. EDIT: Summarized a paragraph cause this was LONG. Last edited by WisteriaCrow on Tue Jun 20, 2023 12:58 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Kirki
Posts: 296 |
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"Aya Hirano got banned because she had a sex life while Watsuki just got a slap on the wrist for an actual crime involving underage girls." Yes, the words you are looking for are misogyny and patriarchy. I don't care if the mere mention of these words makes some people mad, it is what it is. It was bad in Japan 10 years ago and it still is now.
Also, on top of this, Watsuki is VERY well connected in the magazine that arguably makes the biggest bucks in the industry. Of course Oda and other creators have supported him, albeit indirectly. Let's not forget, his crime is not even considered a serious one in his country. He paid the fine and that was it for the society he lives in. That's their laws. Anyways, everyone is free to do as they please with the info they have. As long as it's published, people have the right to watch it. What I don't really get is the appeal of this series getting a reboot. We have already seen this story back in more innocent times, and enjoyed it adequately. Surely there must be other series out there needing reboots or adaptations, series whose creators have not committed you know, crimes, so we wouldn't be conflicted at all. This particular story has been dragged and adapted in multiple mediums already and no, it's not THAT great of a story, nor does it have THAT much lore. After the tenth watch (and some crimes on top) it's time to let it go for the love of God! |
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Megiddo
 Posts: 8360 Location: IL |
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Well, Watsuki made his purchases of the material when it was legal to do so, did he not? I'm not sure how you could criminalize actions Watsuki did which were legal at the time? |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2581 |
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Wait, what? 
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