Danica Davidson
July 21, 2025 
The 2025 Japanese House of Councillors election took place yesterday, and ahead of this some manga creators expressed concerns about language used by political party Sanseito related to anime, manga and games.
Sanseito, a new party with the slogan “Japanese First,” listed its policy measures online. This is the one getting the ire of some creators: “Instead of judging the value of manga, anime, and games based on economic rationality, delegate authority to the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to ensure their healthy development as culture.”
Hikaru Yuzuki, the mangaka behind Amai Seikatsu: 2nd Season, wrote online, “If they carry this out, will they also change the constitution? Can we really allow a political party that doesn’t even seem healthy to judge the healthiness of our work? What does ‘healthy’ mean anyway?”
Hideki Arai, the mangaka behind The World is Mine, wrote, “Hahaha … I can criticize this, right?”
Hiro Arikawa, the novelist behind Library Wars, gave a lengthy statement: “The claims are worse than I expected, and they’re shocking. It’s truly alarming for the government to try to prune and control culture. My humble wish that Library Wars would not become a prophetic story is threatened. It’s a silly story with an implausible premise, which is why it’s a fun read.”
Sanseito put out the statement, “There have been criticisms that this would hand over the rights to creative works to the state, but this is not our intention.” However, it did not seem to clarify what its intentions were.
At the end of the day, Sanseito won 14 spots in Japan’s Upper House. Two opposition parties did better than them: the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDP) and the Democratic Party for the People (DPP). 14 spots means that Sanseito does not have enough numbers to submit budget bills, but it can submit bills unrelated to financial issues. The party, which got its start in 2020 and has been controversial for its “Japanese First” rhetoric, some of its policy positions, and its comparisons with far-right political parties, did better during the weekend’s election than many people expected.
Source: ANN, The Japan Times
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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