Detective Conan & China: Maruta Controversy Explained

Chinese distributor’s “friendly exchange” evolves… Controversy following Pokemon Yasukuni event

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(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwon Sook-hee = The famous Japanese animation ‘Detective Conan’ aroused strong opposition in China after promoting a collaboration event with a Japanese cartoon that had historical controversies in the past.

According to China’s local media, Shangguan Shimbun, and Singapore’s Chinese language media, Yonhap News Agency, on the 2nd, ‘Detective Conan’ promoted a collaboration with ‘My Hero Academia‘ (written by Kohei Horikoshi) to mark the 30th anniversary of its broadcast.

News of collaboration, such as the production of a special video linking the two works, highlighted the controversy that arose during the past ‘My Hero Academia’ series.

‘My Hero Academia’, which was serialized in the Japanese comic magazine ‘Weekly Shonen Jump’, became controversial in 2020 by introducing a villain doctor who performed human experiments under the name ‘Shiga Maruta’ (志賀丸太).

Maruta, meaning ‘log’, is the name given to biological experiment subjects by Unit 731, a research and development unit for various infectious diseases of the former Japanese military stationed in China. There was also suspicion that ‘Shiga’ was named after Kiyoshi Shiga, a Japanese bacteriologist.

As controversy grew among Chinese netizens, the company representing the copyright of ‘Detective Conan’ in mainland China urgently took action to extinguish it.

In a statement released on the social media Weibo on the 31st of last month, the distributor emphasized, “The original purpose of this event is nothing more than friendly exchange between works,” and “there are no other implications.”

He added, “We will continue to support peace, respect and love Chinese culture,” and added, “We will deliver content that is more in line with the expectations of Chinese fans and social consensus.”

This is not the only case where controversy over Japanese content has arisen amid the ongoing conflict between China and Japan over Taiwan.

At the end of last month, a notice of an event to be held at Yasukuni Shrine was posted on the website of the popular Japanese animation and game character ‘Pokemon’ (Pokemon), but was deleted due to strong opposition from Chinese netizens.

When it was announced that an event for children to experience Pokemon cards would be held at Yasukuni Shrine on the 31st of last month, criticism continued on Chinese social media that Pokemon was supporting militarism.

Due to protests from Chinese netizens, the notice regarding the event was deleted.

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