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Bushiroad Founder Apologizes for Uttering Vulgarities in Livestream

Bushiroad founder Takaaki Kidani posted an apology on Twitter on Sunday for uttering an "inappropriate" remark during an Assault Lily Bouquet anime talk show livestream. Kidani had uttered the Japanese word "chinchin," meaning "penis," during the stream. This moment was captured by viewers and spread on social media.

The context for Kidani's utterance was a question he was asked about the BANG Dream! Girls Band Party! mobile game. A character named Lisa was recently revealed to have a little brother, which confused some fans because the character had been implied to be an only child until then. When asked about the possible "outrage" from BANG Dream! fans, Kidani told the female voice actors on the stream to cover their ears, and then said, "There's no problem with male characters appearing, as long as they're a father or a little brother whose penis can't get hard yet."

In his apology tweet, Kidani wrote that he didn't realize that the event was a livestream and thought that his words would be bleeped. A number of responses to his tweet do not appear to accept his apology, and accuse Kidani of missing the point. One popular response reads: "That's not the point. This isn't the kind of issue where things are resolved by bleeping things. The issue is that it was wrong to say that a word you'd need to censor in front of women in the first place. Even if you had a familiar relationship with the cast and it was the kind of environment where you could say that kind of thing, it's anachronistic and scummy for a person at the top like you to say it in a show that will be streamed to the whole country."

Another popular response told Kidani that his comments were off the mark even when it came to addressing the issue of Lisa's brother:

"× You'll get criticized if a little brother (read: male character) appears

○ You'll get criticized if a contradiction in Lisa Imai's character emerges

Even if Lisa had a little sister, people would have gotten heated just the same. Please don't misunderstand that and say inappropriate things. It's gross."

English-speaking BANG Dream! fan account @BandoriBroth also pointed out that the series has depicted male family members at numerous points in the past, which have caused no issues. The user insists that the issue BANG Dream! fans had with Lisa's brother stemmed from the fact that Lisa was previously portrayed as a "caretaker" type, which was stated to come from her interactions with the younger children in her neighborhood. This implied that Lisa did not have a sibling of her own.

"The reason why continuity matters to us is because Bandori has had an extremely consistent narrative, and this is a huge misstep on its amazing track record," @BandoriBroth tweeted.

Bushiroad launched the BANG Dream! multimedia project in January 2015, and the company formed the Poppin' Party band for the project in February 2015. The BANG Dream! Girls Band Party! smartphone game launched in Japan in March 2017, and an English version launched in April. The BANG Dream! television anime's first 13-episode season premiered in January 2017. The second season debuted on January 3 this year, and the third season will premiere in January 2020. The BanG Dream! FILM LIVE film opened in Japan on September 13.

Kidani founded Bushiroad in 2007. The company owns a number of cross-media franchises, a number of which originate from its card games. Kidani stepped down from the representative director position in 2017 and is currently a board member of the company.

[Via @Bandori Broth, Kotaku (Brian Ashcraft)]