In a sad turn of events, the animators and staff working on the anime Bleach TYBW currently on air has spoken out and expressed concerns to X (formerly Twitter) over the threats and harassment they have been facing from a section of fans on the platform.
There was a flurry of tweets from anime fans Bleach dissatisfied, directed at the staff working on the anime, including scriptwriter Masaki Hiramatsu, series composition and scenario artist Tomohisa Taguchi, animation director Leo Kawamoto, and other animators currently working on the anime. work for anime Bleach TYBW.
The disagreement partly stemmed from a slightly suggestive scene in the manga involving Orihime, which was cut from the anime adaptation.
The illustration of this scene was revealed by Kawamoto, however, the sequence itself was not adapted.
This led to disgruntled viewers demanding an explanation and harassing staff, to the point where they were forced to come out and express their concerns about this behavior. In addition to tagging these employees, the harassment also extended to the replies in their posts on X.
Kawamoto was one of the staff members who was inundated with questions from fans asking for explanations after he made the decision to illustrate the Orihime scene in question, asking why it was omitted from the series. Bleach TYBW episode 22.
“Why was it cut? I do not know! I do not know! I’m not the main employee and I don’t know anything. I can only try my best to complete the episodes that I am in charge of. Also, I usually respond to all replies and RTs, but there are too many for me to handle so I’ll send ♡ to the speaker’thanks for drawing it for me’. Sorry,” Kawamoto wrote in his post.
The animation director added that he only drew the illustration of that particular cutscene because he found it cute and said that he may not draw fanart and illustrations in the future if it reflects badly on him. .
“I didn’t mean to stir up any controversy about the cutscenes in the original Bleach anime! I also wanted to see that scene in the original story so I drew it! Isn’t it cute? That is all. If it affects me negatively, I will stop doing fan art and advertising.“
The staff, especially writer Masaki Hiramatsu, repeatedly pointed out that they were open to criticism from fans, however, the extreme behavior of a portion of the fans was the cause of they are disappointed.
“I’m sick of this every time…You are free to express your opinion on social media sites. You are free to give positive as well as critical opinions. However, please do not comment directly on the employee’s social media page about your job requirements. Individual employees do not have the authority to respond to such requests and if they did, it would cause problems,” Hiramatsu said in their post on X.
“Of course there is feedback and reflection from creators, and not everything you want can be done.
There are many people involved in the creation [anime] and they try their best to do the best they can.
And what is put out into the world is the answer. From now on, anyone commenting with such questions or requests will be blocked on the spot. That’s it,” the scriptwriter added.
In addition to the disagreement over the omitted scene, complaints about the quality of the animation were also inappropriately raised. Although these complaints are said to have originated from “fake Bleach fans,” the discomfort in these criticisms appears to have been noticed by the staff.
One of the animators is working on Bleach TYBWwho goes by the nickname “sakai” on the social media platform, did not point fingers at anyone, but they asked the perpetrators to stop with threats and warnings.
According to them, if the threats and harassment continue, the anime’s core staff may leave the project, which would eventually lead to a decline in quality.
“Well, it’s okay to complain, but I think you should stop making threats or threats of harm. If you do that, the main staff might get tired and leave, which could lead to a decline in the quality of the work,” the animator said.
“People like me, like a monster living in the works, don’t leave so easily, but those who take this job as a legitimate job can make decisions to avoid dangerous situations and that’s natural,” the animator wrote in a separate tweet.
However, the controversy did not stop here, some people also tried to add fuel to the fire, by criticizing the employees who came forward to express their concerns.
A fandom war has also occurred over this scenario, with some pointing out that fans of other anime are unnecessarily trying to stir up more controversy by blaming the production team and animation quality.
Anime fans abroad are also blamed to a certain extent for making matters worse and taking things out of context.
However, before the controversy erupted too much, loyalists with Bleach gathered together to show solidarity between animators and staff.
They created a new hashtag on X, ‘#Thank_you_to_all_bleach_Staff’. Within a day, countless posts flooded this hashtag, with fans praising the work of the staff and asking them to ignore the negativity put forth by the minority.
“Thank you for all your work, it is truly appreciated! Please try to ignore the negative comments that are small compared to the love and support you all give us,” one user wrote.
Anime and manga creators and staff always find themselves in a difficult position on social media platforms when it comes to meeting fan expectations. While they try their best to achieve the best, there is always a section of fans who are disillusioned by the final product.
However, instead of constructive criticism, the majority of these disgruntled fans chose to lash out. This has created controversy in the past and sometimes resulted in employees stopping work altogether.
Most prominent recently Director of Attack on Titan Terayuki Omine locked his X account after fans harassed him for not including their favorite soundtracks in the episode.
Source: X (formerly Twitter)
