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INTEREST: Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! Author Talks About His Disability, Gender Identity, and PC C


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we love lain



Joined: 24 Apr 2018
Posts: 145
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 1:11 pm Reply with quote
Very wise words from this author; what a shame people misconstrued what was (from what I read anyway) a pretty clear and honorable statement about why they write the way they do, which I think has a lot of merit: don't write a particular way because society demands you to or wants to project their morality on to you; write because you firmly believe in what you are saying. For the author, that belief is that we should seek to treat each other with value, respect, and understanding, as they believe any human being should to another. There's no need to jump down other people's throats for not seeing the world the way you do, which ironically was what seemed to happen to author in those past tweets
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Touma55



Joined: 22 May 2021
Posts: 242
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 1:29 pm Reply with quote
I don't like the view that cute things are only for girls. Anybody can like anything no matter what other people say.
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Sariachan



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 1507
Location: Italy
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 2:09 pm Reply with quote
Touma55 wrote:
I don't like the view that cute things are only for girls. Anybody can like anything no matter what other people say.

This.

This author, unfortunately, had to deal with a stereotypical view of genders. But why did he care so much about what a random girl told him? I think it's a matter of character and personality, but growing up he should have understood that what that girl told him made no sense.
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Touma55



Joined: 22 May 2021
Posts: 242
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Yeah it really sucks and I feel pretty bad for him. I got picked on for liking stuff that was considered boyish when I was in school, but I didn't let it bother me too much. In his Tweet he said he was bullied so maybe that is why he still thinks that way. Sometimes the things people get bullied for can stick with them even after they grow up even if it was really stupid especially if the bullying was bad and since we are talking about a Japanese school it probably was.
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Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 815
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 2:50 pm Reply with quote
Sariachan wrote:
I think it's a matter of character and personality, but growing up he should have understood that what that girl told him made no sense.

Easier said than done, though. Those who were hurt by bullying may end up always caring for what others say, so as to not be hurt any further.

Hope he finds comfort in himself, one way or another.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 13750
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 4:41 pm Reply with quote
It's refreshing getting more into the authors' perspective and how that impacted their work.
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dm
Subscriber



Joined: 24 Sep 2010
Posts: 1463
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 4:41 pm Reply with quote
I think you can kind of see the roots of one of the things that make Keep your hands off Eizouken so charming in this note. When it was airing, people saw neuro-divergence in the character Midori, and many of the characters just seemed gender-irrelevant (plus the international backgrounds of many of the students in the school). So: writing what he knew.

Sort of a long way from Chiaki Konaka, no?
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CatSword



Joined: 01 Jul 2014
Posts: 1489
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 4:44 pm Reply with quote
His only mistake was taking what someone said on Twitter seriously.
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 773
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 5:01 pm Reply with quote
dm wrote:
Sort of a long way from Chiaki Konaka, no?

I'd say the thing with Konaka is way more complicated than people think. I don't want to derail the thread but I don't see their work as fundamentally opposed at all, particularly since Konaka has been out of the industry for decades and then wrote one shitty thing, but it's not like his previous works were anti-diversity at all. He's not involved in right-wing activities, he just read some shitty stuff online and thought "I guess I can use this for my story".
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OtomeGay



Joined: 14 Oct 2021
Posts: 138
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 5:05 pm Reply with quote
No wonder I liked Eizouken so much, the author seems like a pretty great guy.
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Davy Sprocket



Joined: 21 Feb 2023
Posts: 31
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 5:12 pm Reply with quote
Arale Kurashiki wrote:
I'd say the thing with Konaka is way more complicated than people think. I don't want to derail the thread but I don't see their work as fundamentally opposed at all, particularly since Konaka has been out of the industry for decades and then wrote one shitty thing, but it's not like his previous works were anti-diversity at all. He's not involved in right-wing activities, he just read some shitty stuff online and thought "I guess I can use this for my story".


Having a diverse cast is not 'political correctness'. Owara still goes out of his way to clarify he does not side with "political correctness", he's just saying he's writing what he knows. No surprise he wants to make that distinction very clear since he experienced it himself first hand. I remember when English speakers attacked Owara for liking loli artwork and basically threw him under the bus.

Political correctness, in the sense of what Japanese creators like Mamoru Oshii, Chiaki J. Konaka, Eiichiro Oda, Atsushi Ohkubo, Ken Akamatasu, and many others tend to criticize and talk bad about is about forcing people to adhere to your moral guidelines and censoring yourself.
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 19 Jan 2012
Posts: 688
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 5:26 pm Reply with quote
Davy Sprocket wrote:
Having a diverse cast is not 'political correctness'. Owara still goes out of his way to clarify he does not side with "political correctness", he's just saying he's writing what he knows. No surprise he wants to make that distinction very clear since he experienced it himself first hand. I remember when English speakers attacked Owara for liking loli artwork and basically threw him under the bus.

Quote:
“I choose to do this not because society demands politically correct expression but because of my own origins. And at the same time, I feel that I am of a generation for whom such [inclusive] expressions are a 'normal thing.' […] What we humans, who seek political correctness in expression, are ultimately aiming for is a stable state where people naturally respect each other without political considerations. I believe that my generation is naturally developing in this way.

I am not denying [the need for] political correctness with this statement.”

“The criticism I received was probably misreading what I wrote as, 'I don't need political correctness. I know enough about diversity,' and what I wanted to say is the exact opposite.

It cannot be more clear from him that he absolutely supports political correctness. He isn't acting out of it like an obligation like others treat it as, but is already living according to the principles and values people associate with it. That's what he's clarifying. He sees the need for it for others that don't understand like he does because of his circumstances. To try to twist his words to be about lolicon rights or pretending that others raging against a made-up definition of political correctness in order to argue against inclusivity is missing the point so incredibly hard. Especially when he is being as direct as possible that he supports inclusivity and the need for empathy and communication, which is the entire reason he divulged all of this.
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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 1185
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 6:08 pm Reply with quote
Davy Sprocket wrote:
Having a diverse cast is not 'political correctness'. Owara still goes out of his way to clarify he does not side with "political correctness", he's just saying he's writing what he knows. No surprise he wants to make that distinction very clear since he experienced it himself first hand. I remember when English speakers attacked Owara for liking loli artwork and basically threw him under the bus.

Political correctness, in the sense of what Japanese creators like Mamoru Oshii, Chiaki J. Konaka, Eiichiro Oda, Atsushi Ohkubo, Ken Akamatasu, and many others tend to criticize and talk bad about is about forcing people to adhere to your moral guidelines and censoring yourself.

Well, what actually happened was more nebulous than that:

He was following an artist who made nice backgrounds which he used as inspiration for his works, but, said author also did... questionable art.

People is free to believe him or not, but, as you said, crazy people made a huge drama out of it and he was pissed off.
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nargun



Joined: 29 Mar 2006
Posts: 930
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 6:10 pm Reply with quote
My conviction remains that high school english classes should include a section on pragmatics. *Certainly* anyone who is or thinks they might be neurodiverse should read up on pragmatics.
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Los Nido



Joined: 26 Jun 2022
Posts: 132
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2023 6:23 pm Reply with quote
ATastySub wrote:
It cannot be more clear from him that he absolutely supports political correctness. He isn't acting out of it like an obligation like others treat it as, but is already living according to the principles and values people associate with it. That's what he's clarifying. He sees the need for it for others that don't understand like he does because of his circumstances. To try to twist his words to be about lolicon rights or pretending that others raging against a made-up definition of political correctness in order to argue against inclusivity is missing the point so incredibly hard. Especially when he is being as direct as possible that he supports inclusivity and the need for empathy and communication, which is the entire reason he divulged all of this.

You can choose to interpret it that way if you want, although the article does say "Ōwara isn't making a conscious effort to push an agenda or be politically correct."

I suppose this is a case where people will choose what 'politically correct' means to them. Nothing in the series would be what I consider political correct, though. At least in the way the word is used these days when it comes to how it's used in Japan. It sounds like he made the statement because he didn't want people thinking he was making fun of anyone and he said he didn't want to laugh at anyone insensitively.
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