Danica Davidson
July 6, 2021 
English-language Chinese news outlet Global Times has published an angry article about the manga Kengan Omega. According to the paper, the anger stems from a recent chapter where a Mongolian character remarks to a Taiwanese character, “You do not seem to have freedom,” and the Taiwanese character replies, “Do I? You haven’t been to Taiwan, have you?”
Global Times, which is under the People’s Daily, which in turn is controlled by the Chinese government, reported that these lines angered many Chinese manga fans, who said things like, “the dialogue hints that the Chinese mainland has no freedom and treats the island of Taiwan as a country.”
It further says that Chinese fans are both asking for an apology from the creator, and demanding a boycott of the manga.
“Although a literary and artistic creation is not equivalent to a historical record and it has the right to be fictional art; however, if it involves some historical details related to other countries, creators should respect the basic facts of history and do not shy away from their own country’s history nor deliberately vilify the history and characters of other countries,” the article quotes Xiao Fuqiu, a cultural critic, as saying.
The end of the article sees this controversy as connected to Japan’s invasion of China before and during World War II, and the human rights abuses Chinese people experienced under the Japanese army. It thinks manga makes fun of Chinese people to cover up for what happened then.
“These creators are bewitched by this incorrect consciousness, which is the result of the tampering with historical education and the whitewashing of Japanese actions during World War II by Japanese right-wing forces,” said another culture critic, Shi Wenxue.
An American voice actor previously lost his job in the Chinese video game Mr Love: Queen’s Choice after wading out into politics by stating Taiwan is a country. The Chinese government views Taiwan as part of China.
Source: Global Times
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
