Danica Davidson
January 3, 2022 
Gunma-chan is the pony mascot of Gunma Prefecture, and also the star of its own anime adaptation. However, an episode meant to come out in December has been permanently pulled because it deals with gambling.
A brief summary of the episode is available. In it, Gunma-chan and a horse named Ojisan go to the boat races. Ojisan gambles at the race, but while at first he’s doing very well, he ends up losing to the point he doesn’t have enough for a train ride home. Ojisan hears a tip on another race, bets again, and this time wins. While going home, Ojisan requests that Gunma-chan not talk about what happened at the race.
Apparently some audience members had already been complaining to the Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization in Japan because of an earlier episode at the bicycle race track. The Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization told Gunma Prefecture about these complaints, so it appears the boat race episode was pulled by Gunma TV executives so as not to attract more controversy.
Ichita Yamamoto, the governor of Gunma Prefecture, thinks the decision not to play the episode is ridiculous. “I was dumbfounded by their weak sensibility,” he said about the Gunma TV executives. “Maybe they’ve never seen anime. They’ve probably never seen Demon Slayer or One Piece and don’t have any idea about the trends in anime.”
Some online responses from Japanese netizens include:
“Capsule toy machines are a much worse gambling influence.”
“They should show it. It’s a good way to show kids how the world really works.”
“I’m dumbfounded that an anime produced by Gunma Prefecture would feature gambling.”
“But they lose their money. How does that make kids want to gamble?”
“Don’t they always show commercials for boat races on TV? That seems much worse and doesn’t show a downside to it.”
Source: SoraNews24
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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.
