Transnational Conflicts and Dialogs in Japanese Manga Consumption

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to identify the impact of the transnational consumption of Japanese manga on today’s international society. Advances in information technology and the popularization of online platforms lead to economic and market growth for the content industry and transnational conflicts between global fans from different cultural backgrounds. By analyzing the typical cases, these conflicts could be categorized into three types of background: the different perspective of history, the old feud with the other country, and the image of the war memories. On the one hand, these cases reveal the different ways of reading that are rooted in different cultural backgrounds and sometimes reinforce stereotypical images of other countries. On the other hand, this situation also provides an opportunity to create dialogs that lead to mutual understanding among global manga fans.

1. Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to identify the impact of the transnational consumption of Japanese manga (comics) on today’s international society. With the advancement of information technology, media content from different countries is now accessible to audiences worldwide, transcending geographical boundaries. This situation leads to economic and market growth for the content industry, but it also leads to transnational conflicts between global fans who live in different areas and have different cultural backgrounds.

Against the background of transnational consumption of media content, this chapter focuses on the transnational consumption of Japanese manga and the conflicts and dialogs among global manga fans. However, unlike [1], which focuses on the story and structure of manga, this chapter focuses on the actual comments of manga fans and the communication among global fans caused by manga. Specifically, it examines the conflicts and dialogs that arise between fans who read the same manga but interpret it differently.

2. The transnational consumption of Japanese manga

Advances in information technology, including the development of digital devices, advances in communication technology, and the popularization of online platforms and applications, provide global consumers with the opportunity to access and consume media content such as films, music, video games, and comics from different countries. Notably, the transnational consumption of Japanese manga is a prime example. Manga is “Japanese-produced comics and graphic novels [2],” that have unique representations; for example, manga is read from right to left, various onomatopoeic sounds are derived from the Japanese language, and some symbolic expressions, such as the sweat mark, differ from Western comics. Nevertheless, manga is now consumed around the world and has a large number of transnational fans who live in different cultural areas.

For example, based on data from [3], which covers approximately 85% of the U.S. trade print book market, Japanese manga titles dominate 13 of the top 20 spots in the latest adult graphic novel sales rankings, according to sales data from October 1 to August 28, 2023. Manga sales in the United States are currently strong and growing. In fact, they “went through two years of explosive growth in 2021 and 2022, and while sales are down in 2023, they are still ahead of 2019 [4].” In France, the pass culture, a government subsidy to promote cultural and artistic exposure, has been used to purchase manga, often referred to as the manga pass [5].

In addition, Japan’s leading publishers are dedicating themselves to local services overseas. Shueisha, the publisher of Spy×Family, One Piece, and Dragon Ball, expanded its manga distribution service, MANGA Plus SHUEISHA, and released an archive of over 15,000 manga episodes for paid users [6]. In the U.S. market, Kōdansya, publisher of Atack on Titan, Fairy Tail, and Sailor Moon, launched the manga application K MANGA [7]. Manga UP!, published by Square Enix, the publisher of Fullmetal Alchemist, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, and Soul Eater, offers a digital manga application service for overseas [8]. BOOK☆WALKER Global, run by Kadokawa, the publisher of Ranking of Kings, Bungo Stray Dogs, and Neon Genesis Evangelion (manga adaptation of anime), added the vertical scroll manga service TATESC COMICS for overseas [9]. Furthermore, today’s Japanese manga market is expanding not only to Asia and the West, the main export areas, but also to the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia [10].

The point of this expansion of global publishing is not simply to strengthen the market but the simulpub that can eliminate the lag in consumption outside of Japan. “Chapters of ‘Simulpub’ manga series are released […] at the same time as the original Japanese chapters in Japan [11].” Previously, the manga had to be translated and republished, making it difficult for global manga fans to enjoy manga at the same time as Japanese fans; however, simulpub allows global manga fans to access the latest manga episodes just like Japanese fans. With the global publication of these Japanese publishers, it can be said that the transnational consumption of Japanese manga is being promoted all over the world. However, this situation also raises some new and negative issues for transnational manga fans.

3. Transnational consumption of media content leads to conflicts between global fans

Since the 2000s, fan studies have focused on global fan communication facilitated by the transnational consumption of media content. On the one hand, some studies point to the positive side of global fan communication. These scholars assume that “fan communities exist beyond social and cultural differences and across time and space barriers [12].” Therefore, “[f]ans’ offline identity is rather unimportant as being a fan of a specific object (a film, TV show, comic book, etc.) takes precedence [12].”

On the other hand, [12] cautions against this optimistic view, pointing out that “[a] fan from one region may communicate with a fan from another region and may browse websites on the same topic; however, this does not equal community participation. Global and transnational groups […], cannot be formed because of differences in fanism, which are determined by local economic, cultural, political, and historical factors [12].” Indeed, cases have been found where global fans interpret the same media content differently due to different backgrounds. [13] found different readings between Hong Kong audiences and Japanese audiences in Hong Kong when watching the same Japanese drama rooted in the resolution level of Japanese society. [12] also presented the answer that German Star Wars fans, unlike non-German fans, feel the similarity of the image of the Empire with Nazis, from his questionnaire [12]. These different readings by global fans sometimes cause conflicts among transnational fans; for example, the above answer reads, “I witnessed conflicts resulting from this, as something that is ‘just a game’ to others touches on something almost sacred to at least some German fans [12].”

This situation of fans consuming the same media content but interpreting it differently has not suddenly emerged since the Web 2.0 era. In fact, counter-arguments against media imperialism in the 1990s already noted that “viewer reception of globally distributed media products is conditioned by local contexts” [14]. However, it is the first time that the different readings of each area can meet and cause some conflicts among transnational fans, and this situation has been triggered by the advances in information technology after Web 2.0. As just described, conflicts between global fans of the same media content have been occurring recently, and this situation does not exclude manga.

4. Methodology

This article uses online ethnography, the perspective of aca-fan described as later, and triangulation to analyze the conflicts and dialogs among global manga fans. First, with online ethnography, some typical cases, which are global fan conflicts caused by manga, were found through web news, online forums, and social media. Finally, six cases and titles, Attack on Titan, Hetalia – Axis Powers, One Piece Wano Country Arc, My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Tokyo Revengers, were selected with the following two criteria.

One is that this manga, known as the title, has global popularity even in Japan. There are countless manga titles in Japan, including paper and digital; therefore, as a prerequisite, the object of analysis investigation must have huge global fans and multiple online discussions. The other is that have the global fan conflicts caused by these titles been covered by the news media, or have they led to discussions involving global fans living in more than one country? To ensure reliability, the analysis was conducted using triangulation with both the fans’ subjective online comments and the news organizations’ objective reports through the authors’ perspective of the aca-fan. Aca-fan means “people who are both academics and fans [15].” In early fan studies, scholars distanced themselves from fans and studied fans as separate from themselves, as us and them, and this scholarly stance tended to overlook the actual voices of fans. In this situation, [16] constructed the stance of the aca-fan to “signal a dual allegiance – to treat our subcultural knowledge as part of what informed the work we were doing as scholars [16]” through his study. To analyze the online comments of fans, including an internal context and code among manga fans, it can be helpful to use this perspective of an aca-fan by authors, who are also fans of Japanese anime and manga. In addition, triangulation with both the subjective online comments of fans and the objective reports of news organizations through the authors’ perspective of the aca-fan protects the qualitative data from extreme objective or subjective bias.

Finally, as content analysis, which “is a research technique for making replicable and valid inferences from text (or other meaningful matter) to the contexts of their use [17],” authors will list the status and limiting point for analysis as follows. Authors are native Japanese speakers and can use English for study; and therefore, when they understand fans’ comments, such as in the Korean language, they use the Deep L translation tool. Meanwhile, this method has a limiting point: it is difficult to research fans’ comments other than in Japanese and English. In particular, due to the language barrier, it can be said that this analysis could not adequately address some comments from Asian fans in Chinese and Korean languages.

5. Some manga titles cause global Fan conflicts due to different readings

5.1 Case 1. Attack on Titan: the different of perspective of the history

Global fan conflicts due to different readings of manga have come to the fore, especially since the 2010s. By analyzing the typical examples, these conflicts could be categorized into three types of the background, which are the different of perspective of the history, the old feud with the other country, and the image of the war memories. Attack on Titan is a dark fantasy manga created by Hajime Isayama. This manga depicts the battles between Titans and humans in the beginning; however, as the book progresses, its story changes to a complicated ethnic war. It has been serialized since 2009 to 2021, has gotten into adaptations such as anime, live-action movies, and live-action musicals, and has big fans all over the world.

This manga, the major conflict among global fans, was triggered by one of the blog entries written by the manga creator of Attack on Titan, Isayama, on October 4, 2010 [18]. According to the blog post, Isayama responded to his fan’s question by saying that one of the characters in Attack of Titan, Pixis, was modeled after Yoshifuru Akiyama, who is a real historical person. In response, some Koreans shared this information on their social media, and people claiming to be Koreans criticized it in the comments section of this blog article. The comment that triggered the conflict was posted in 2013, about 3 years after the blog post, and can be summarized as “I’m Korean, I knew Pixis was modeled after Yoshifuru Akiyama online. Do you know that Akiyama is senpan (the war criminal)? Maybe the author is a right-winger? If the author has no historical perspective, you must apologize. This manga is too popular all over the world, so the author must have a global historical perspective [18].”

Yoshifuru Akiyama is the general of the Imperial Army in Japan; therefore, this comment indicates that some Korean fans took issue with the author’s creation, which was based on people who belonged to the Imperial Army. After this post, audience claiming to be Korean or Japanese had a dispute on this blog, and with analysis, their comments can be categorized into two types: genuine debate on this issue and troll, defined later. As for a genuine debate on this issue, they discussed the difference in each historical perspective between Korean and Japanese fans. Most of the Korean fans argued criticisms that can be summarized as Akiyama is a war criminal, I feel sad that you chose the war criminal as the model of the character, the author is pro-war because he respects the war criminal, Korean fans are angry, and the author is right-wing [18]. Meanwhile, in Japan, the term senpan generally refers to war criminals who are defendants at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal after World War II; however, Akiyama Yoshifuru died in 1930, before the beginning of World War II. Therefore, most of the Japanese fans argued against the Korean fans’ claim because Akiyama is not a war criminal and criticized the Korean fans for misunderstanding history [18]. In line with these discussions, one Korean fan described what can be summarized as some Korean fan’s post, including a little wrong because Akiyama is not a war criminal in the dictionary. However, he also visited Korea as the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Expeditionary Army in Korea, which was the occupying army of the colony in 1916. Therefore, he actually supported the colonialism as an army [18].

These arguments were caused by the difference in historical perspective, especially the concept of senpan. For most Japanese fans, Akiyama Yoshifuru is not senpan; therefore, they see the Korean fans’ criticism of the author as wrong. Meanwhile, for most Korean fans, although he is not a war criminal, Akiyama is seen as one of the armies who supported the colonization of the Koreans in their eyes; therefore, they see the author’s creation as wrong. The Korean and Japanese fans have different points of view in this conflict, just as the points of view from different places are never the same, and it is impossible to say which of the different points of view is correct. However, it can be said that their dialogs also have the potential to allow Korean and Japanese fans to find their different historical perspectives and lead to mutual understanding.

Meanwhile, as for a troll, their comments make the conflict more active and create a new stereotype. Trolling is described as “triggering disruption and conflict for one’s own amusement, is a malicious online behavior that causes substantial, negative consequences for its victims [19].” In Japan, this behavior is called arashi (depredating) and is recognized as similar to this definition.

As for a genuine debate on this issue, at least both fans tried to make the discussion on this issue; however, troll’s comment devoted all its attention to inflaming the situation by abusive online slander. A troll’s comments included offensive terms and did not try to focus on the cause of this conflict; therefore, the fans’ thought process stopped, and they concluded that if you hate it, you should not read it [18]. Most of these types of comments seem to be posted by Japanese people, which include not only innocent fans but also perpetrators for pleasure, who knew about this conflict online and gathered on the blog.

In addition, these Japanese posts also reinforced the dubious stereotype that Korean people read or watch this title by pirates. They argued that we should ignore the comments of Koreans and not criticize the author because they enjoy the title of pirates [18]. However, as one of the Japanese comments indicated that Koreans can watch this title without pirates, it is not always true that all Koreans enjoy this title of pirates [18]. Actually, Japanese media also said that “since first aired in Korea in 2013, this title became more popular, which called social phenomenon through the ground wave and other several media in Korea [20].” In short, Korean fans could also enjoy this title in a legitimate way. Nevertheless, Japanese comments argue that Koreans repeatedly use pirates [18]. It can be said that they did not pay attention to whether it was true or not and only wanted to abuse the other side.

In addition, some trolls were suspected of posting aggressive comments pretending to be fans of other countries, such as Japanese pretending to be Korean and posting comments that incite Japanese [18]. By doing so, they unnecessarily inflamed the fans of both countries, and the situation became more complicated and harmful. Eventually, the active posting continued for about a week; there were no outward signs of an official response from the author and rights holder of this title, and the conflict gradually lost substance.

5.2 Case 2. Hetalia – Axis Powers and One Piece Wano Country Arc: the old feud with the other country

Some manga titles lead to global conflicts caused by the old feud with the other countries. Hetalia – Axis Powers is a web manga title featuring anthropomorphic nations. In this title, the characters comically reflect the stereotypical images of the people of each country. For example, the protagonist of this manga Italia (Italy), is depicted as a cheerful and crying guy who also loves pasta, pizza, siesta, and women. Meanwhile, one of the characters Doitsu (Germany), is characterized as a martinetish and serious person, Nihon (Japan) is depicted as a person who is good at being shy and reading the situation. Their character mainly reflects the image of the characteristics of the people of each country by Internet users. With these anthropomorphic characters, this title depicts original stories and historical events such as the American War of Independence. As a characteristic of this title, the anthropomorphic nation’s characters are not portrayed as discriminatory but as a person who also has a weak point but is lovable. Therefore, this manga and its characters get global fans enough to be held a fan meeting called Hetalia Day all over the world on or about October 24, the United Nations Day.¹

However, in 2009. this manga sparked a transnational conflict in Asia over the cancelation of on air of the anime version of this manga. The broadcasting station of this anime did not say why they canceled on air; however, the cause of this problem could be seen in some Korean’s criticism. Japanese web media reported as follows: some Korean netizens criticized that the story and setting of this manga slandered Korea. They also wanted to cancel the broadcast of the anime. The criticism from Korean netizens was that the character of Kankoku (Korea)’s setting, which tends to say that everything comes from Korea, is insulting, and other characters praise the war criminal nations. In this situation, some Koreans collected signatures to stop the broadcast, and the promotion of this Korean was discussed in the Korean parliament [21, 22]. This uproar spread across the border and was also reported by the Japanese media. As a result, the broadcaster announced that it would stop broadcasting this anime.

Interestingly, this problem did not end as just a conflict in Asia. After the cancelation of the broadcast, fans of this manga worldwide reacted and sent an encouraging message to the author of this manga. The author of this manga, Hidekazu Himaruya, said in his blog, “Thank you for your encouraging mail. It is unexpected that I could get encouragement from the closest Taiwan to the farthest Argentina [23].”

The English-language anime news site, Anime News Network, reported on this conflict, and many comments from English-speaking users gathered in their forum. One of the users expressed understanding of the Korean anger and this issue with both historical backgrounds, saying that it can be summarized as because the world wars were tense and painful, so there are people who are not happy about a humorous parody of these historical events [24]. Another user disagreed and had potential anger with the Korean criticism; however, they also made an appeal to Koreans to get over themselves, describing that Hetaria has a potential insult to everyone, not only Korean, and if you cere it is a joke, you will enjoy it [24]. As you can see from these comments, this issue has also led to a dialog that seeks to find mutual understanding and a peaceful solution among global manga fans with different cultures, histories, languages, and political situations.

A case of Hetalia could be seen that it was caused by the old feud between Korea and Japan. After World War II, Korea and Japan often came into conflict not only over manga but also over political, cultural, and industrial issues. However, these issues should not be viewed as simple, traditional binary oppositions, with Koreans one-sidedly blaming Japan and Japan only criticizing Korean behavior and attitudes. Another case of conflict shows that there are multiple points of view, even among Koreans.

One Piece Wano Country Arc also led to the hatred of some Koreans because this arc included a strong Japanese taste, and it can be seen that Japanism in One Piece did not have a specific national taste before this arc. A Korean fan posted on a bulletin board network site with a title such as I am a patriotic person, so I can no longer read One Piece [25]. This fan said, I learned about Japan’s atrocities when I was a student, so I cannot read One Piece Wano Country Arc [25]. It could be seen that their aversion to Japan was rooted in their historical perspective; therefore, they had difficulty seeing some depictions that included Japanese tastes. This post reinforces the stereotypical image that all Koreans hate the depiction that includes Japanese flavor because of the historical background.

Meanwhile, from the comments of this thread, it can be seen that not all Korean fans have only anti-Japanese feelings, and there are many kinds of opinions about this stereotypical image that Koreans hate the depiction including Japanese taste caused by the historical background. One of the users pointed out that the thread starter has extreme anti-Japanese feelings [25]. Some users criticized the thread starter’s “optional anti-Japanese sentiment (선택적 반일) [25]”. They found it paradoxical that the thread starter has an anti-Japanese sentiment but reads One Piece, which is a Japanese manga, and one of the users advised the thread starter to stop consuming Japanese culture if one has that optional anti-Japanese sentiment. Another user said, I am not going to praise Japan unconditionally, but this problem never ends when we put something down just because it is Japan, like you [25]. As can be seen from this discussion, not all Koreans have an anti-Japanese sentiment such as the stereotypical image that all Koreans hate the depiction including Japanese taste because of the historical background. Even Korean fans also have several different opinions and often create conflict and dialog, such as Japanese and Koreans.

5.3 Case 3. My Hero Academia, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Tokyo Revengers: the image of the war memories

Some motifs in manga often lead to global fan conflicts because they evoke the image of war memories. My Hero Academia, a Japanese manga that depicts the battles between heroes and villains, caused conflict among some Asian readers in 2020. The source of the conflict was the name of one of the characters, Maruta Shiga. Maruta is the name used by the Imperial Japanese Army’s Unit 731 during World War II to refer to human subjects used in human experimentation; therefore, some Chinese fans criticized the character’s name for evoking horrific memories of the war [26]. In response, Shueisha, the publisher of the manga, stated that there were some who pointed out that Maruta Shiga was reminiscent of past historical evidence. The author and editors did not name this character with that intention. However, we never want this manga to be seen over historical facts; therefore, the name of this character will be changed to another name [27].

In the case of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, a manga that depicts the battle between humans and oni (demons), the anime adaptation of the title drew criticism from Korean fans. The pattern of the piercings worn by the protagonist is similar to the Rising Sun flag; therefore, some Koreans demanded that Netflix change the design of the main visual [28]. Not only this manga but especially designs that evoke war memories, such as the Rising Sun flag, have often been criticized by some Asian people, excluding the Japanese. In fact, because these designs were also used during wars, some Asian people may associate some designs with imperialism and the colonial period.

As a result, Netflix responded to some Korean claims and changed the design of the main visual. Meanwhile, most Japanese people differentiate between reality and fiction and consider it to be more of a design, and since they do not intend to associate the design with war memories, they consider the Korean criticism to be an exaggerated reaction rooted in anti-Japanese tastes. However, this case does not indicate that all Koreans are nervous about such issues. Some Koreans felt anger about this issue, and a part of Koreans combined this manga and anti-Japanese [29]. In addition, web media reported that some Korean voices who want to read manga and watch anime as the original, which were released in Japan, are getting bigger [28].

This kind of discussion, rooted in the memory of the war, occurs not only in Asia but also in Europe. Tokyo Revengers, a Japanese Yankee, a term meaning a Japanese gang composed of boys or girls, manga that depicts science fiction stories and clashes between yang gangs, become the trigger of conflict by Western fans. The original Japanese title of this manga is written as 東京卍リベンジャーズ (Tokyo 卍 Revengers), which includes the manji (key) pattern. In addition, this pattern plays an important role in this manga, as it is used as the motif of the yang gang team, to which the protagonist belongs, and is further developed on something like the young gang’s uniforms and flags.

The manji pattern is the Buddhist sign, the auspicious omen motif, used as a map icon of temples in Japan in the past; therefore, most Japanese do not see it as a problematic depiction. However, because this pattern is similar to the Nazi symbol, the hakenkreuz, this manga and anime require special attention when distributed, especially in Europe. In fact, the manji pattern is just the hakenkreuz reversed, and when people who do not know the manji look at this pattern, most people might mistake it for the hakenkreuz.

While this was worrying, this manga got huge popularity in the West, and according to the official X account of this title, excluding Japan, the country with the most sales of this manga is France [30]. The background of this popularity was some careful localization and conflict. For example, the French version of this manga removed the manji pattern from the title, and the anime version also erased or hid the manji in a somewhat unnatural way [31, 32].

Even with this localization, some web media reported that there was criticism of this manga from some people who saw some cosplayers wearing the young gang uniform with the manji and equating the manji with the Hakenkreuz [33]. Meanwhile, some Western people also had discussions and tried to address and understand this issue. One of the web articles agreed that “[f]or most Western viewers, the swastika will be forever linked to Nazism. Unfortunately, because of how historically and culturally rooted the symbol is in Nazism in the past and present, it may be difficult for viewers to overcome the connection [34].” However, the author of this article also introduced the true meaning of the manji pattern and how it differs from the hakenkreuz and tried to promote multi-understanding between Japanese culture and the historical background of Europe. The author also said, quoting a Japanese Buddhist priest, that “starting a conversation about the symbol ‘is already a victory’ and that having both sides talk about the symbol and their understanding of it is opening a path to reconciliation and reclamation [34].”

Meanwhile, on other web forums, it can be seen that this discussion about the pattern of the manji also evokes another stereotypical image of the people of certain countries. On the web forum of My Anime List, one of the participants asked the question, which can be summarized: because this manga uses this symbol, is the creator of this manga a secret Nazi [35]? Faced with such a question, some participants corrected the misunderstanding because this manga uses the manji and it is not the hakenkreuz, and someone also tried to tell the difference between the manji and the Hakenkreuz [35]. However, some thought that the questioner was an American, and others saw this question as an attack by Americans [35]. As one might guess, the reason for these comments is that there is a stereotypical image among some Western users that the kind of people who criticize Nazi taste are Americans.

6. Conclusion

These cases show that the transnational consumption of manga, which has been enhanced by the development of technology and changes in society, does not only have positive effects that break down cultural, industrial, and geographical barriers between global manga fans in different countries but also has rather because people around the world can read the same manga at the same time and share their feedback through social media, it reveals the different ways of reading that are rooted in different cultural backgrounds and sometimes reinforce stereotypical images of other countries. While the Internet removes geographical barriers and encourages transnational consumption, “[t]he basic conclusion that can be drawn is that the observations indicate diverse fan cultures worldwide and not a single common one [12].”

However, this situation does not only have negative effects on the international society. The transnational consumption of manga around the world provides an opportunity to create dialogs among global manga fans. As the comment in [34] quoted above, in today’s international society, global manga fans have started a conversation, trying to express their own opinions rooted in different cultural backgrounds and trying to understand each other. “No matter how imperfect, there is a long-running, ongoing dialog between these cultural spheres [36].”

In this situation, in which “‘Japan’ and ‘the West’ do not encounter each other as isolated units that are mutually incomprehensible [36]”, this dialog (even if it includes conflicts) plays an important role in revealing and understanding the different ways of reading and the different cultural backgrounds. Previous studies in media studies tended to discuss the globalization of specific media content in the context of media imperialism. However, this situation, in which Japanese manga is spread and consumed all over the world with the different ways of reading in each country, can be said: “that contemporary global consumption is less a matter of cultural opposition than a process of coexistence of differences [37].” In this situation, the more important key is what dialogs are generated that have the potential to promote mutual understanding in today’s international society.