 Editors of Kodansha's Morning Two magazine announced on Wednesday that they have suspended the serialization of Akiko Higashimura's manga Himo Zairu due to online criticism surrounding its premise.Kodansha had published two chapters of the manga in the October and November issues of the magazine before suspending it in the December issue at Higashimura's request. The publisher had urged her to continue the series despite the criticism. According to the Asahi Shimbun, Himo Zairu depicts men in training who are searching for girlfriends with good jobs. These men have big dreams but little money and few skills, so they try to make themselves more attractive to working women by becoming adept at things such as housework. Higashimura created the series with her male assistant based on actual experiences of these men, but critics accused her of looking down on her assistant and models. Higashimura intends to continue the series and will re-examine the plot until she feels it is ready for publication once again. Akiko Higashimura was awarded the Manga Taisho in March 2015 for Kakukaku Shikajika. She was previously nominated four times for the award, including for Kuragehime, which was adapted into a TV anime in 2010. Source: Asahi Shimbun Asia & Japan Watch |
NaruleachOct 26, 2015 9:33 PM
| Ha. Too funny. |
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| That actually sounds like a fun read. |
   I envy your delusion; I wish I could live in it  |
| So what where the actual complaints? "Criticism on the depiction of men" could be anything from "this author has a very low opinion of men" to "I don't like the male characters in this manga". Without the specifics this is useless. I have a hunch that she wanted to convey a certain message, or touch upon certain themes, but the reaction wasn't what she expected and people weren't getting it like she intended, so she's rewriting it to make it clearer. I can't imagine a successful mangaka would cave in under a few comments about it being "offensive", especially in Japan where there are literally hundreds of examples of men being "depicted" in terrible ways. |
Red_KeysOct 26, 2015 12:32 AM
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| Sounds like a terrible manga lol |
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Protaku94 said: That actually sounds like a fun read. Yeah it does, would probably get a few laughs out of it. |
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| Good... a manga that degrade Men... Men is the superior gender, we all should band together to prevent this kind of insult To assert our DOMINANCE !!!! |
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MeinKaiser said: Good... a manga that degrade Men... Men is the superior gender, we all should band together to prevent this kind of insult To assert our DOMINANCE !!!! For some reason, Prison School came to mind. |
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Protaku94 said: That actually sounds like a fun read. Interesting to see it come under scrutiny. |
 All credit goes to Sacred. |
| Sounds like people were getting upset about the fact that these men were trying to make themselves attractive by doing housework, whilst the women went off working. If this is what the complaints were about, I will kick some serious ass right now. |
| This makes me want to read it. |
| I need more specifics. I've got a hunch that the complaints aren't very well grounded though. |
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FireEmblemIke24 said: Protaku94 said: That actually sounds like a fun read. Interesting to see it come under scrutiny. As a guy, I'm really not even sure if I'm supposed to like or dislike this manga just off the synopsis. But it does sound like a fresh idea I wouldn't mind checking out sometime. |
I envy your delusion; I wish I could live in it |
| Lol, I was not expecting this news but that's definitely some drama right there. |
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| 8man would definitely approve this manga. |
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| Western "freedom of speech" is going to your town? Red_Keys said: Without the specifics this is useless. True. This is lacking details, especially real citaions. My guess is Japanese NEET outrage. |
| Lel, kinda makes me want to read it, if only to laught at it. Jpn people tend to go crazy of stupid things though, that is a given. |
| Anime and manga makes it seem like Japanese men are all neutered, so it surprises me that something made them (?) actually upset. Though it could be anything given the lack of info here. |
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| Reading just the little blurb in the first post, my initial question is: Is there some other context that I'm missing or is this just further evidence that Japan still has a ways to go in terms of addressing sexism in their society? Whatever the case may be, it's too bad this manga had to be suspended. Sounded like it could've been an interesting read. |
Red_Keys said: I bet people calling it bad (including in this thread) just relate too much and don't like facing reality.So what where the actual complaints? "Criticism on the depiction of men" could be anything from "this author has a very low opinion of men" to "I don't like the male characters in this manga". Without the specifics this is useless. I have a hunch that she wanted to convey a certain message, or touch upon certain themes, but the reaction wasn't what she expected and people weren't getting it like she intended, so she's rewriting it to make it clearer. I can't imagine a successful mangaka would cave in under a few comments about it being "offensive", especially in Japan where there are literally hundreds of examples of men being "depicted" in terrible ways. :) |
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beaunaratau said: Put that salt in their sandwich.Sounds like people were getting upset about the fact that these men were trying to make themselves attractive by doing housework, whilst the women went off working. If this is what the complaints were about, I will kick some serious ass right now. |
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| Companies, authors, comedians, etc should realize internet activists have no power at all already. But as much as I'm against any kind of censoring at all, it's kind of funny to see it happen to the other side for once. |
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| Akiko Higashimura have a certain bold side in her manga for sure . She does also have that little arrogant side (and she is fully aware of it , as she use a lot of self derision and mockery)... But for me it's part of her charm and her style too . So apparently when women are depicted as "filthy otaku" and absolute social failur ( Kuragehime ) it's completely fine , but when it's men it's not ? Or should I say , it's not when it's a female author that do it... I think that nail the point : a male author doing this wouldn't have caused any reaction or problem at all . This manga look interesting and could be funny , I'll had it to my plan to read . |
DullboyOct 26, 2015 3:57 AM
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| Oh dear, poor men. Even their admirable way of holding back emotions and brilliant logic wasn't enough for them to sit back and finish the manga without complaining. |
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| Lol the japanese are a bunch of crazies. How come they never complain about the depiction of women in their manga/anime? And even men arent depicted particularly well, so why now? Oh well, people being pansies and getting offended at every shit again. |
| Any news where manga is being stopped due to some humiliation/bullying are truly bad news, always difficult to read this. It is not how it should be. |
| There's a lot wrong with this, but I've never been a fan of censorship before, so why would I start now. Leave her alone and let her finish/continue writing her manga. If you aren't interested, just don't read it. |
| Jumping in Headfirst - I hear reading it causes immortality. Warning. Reading may not actually cause immortality. |
| Sounds like shit... |
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| #facepalm Yep, Japan still sexist and gender-normative as fuck. |
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| This is a good thing. Gotta kill any seed of feminism before it spreads. |
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| Sounds like she overdid it a good deal Another manga I can't remember the name was suspended due to a few misconceptions on autism and parents complained, but it was brought back pretty quickly and is actually recommended reading in Japan today. I don't think this will come back though because it's more than a few misconceptions or challenging the norm. |
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shounenotaku said: baki502 said: Lol the japanese are a bunch of crazies. How come they never complain about the depiction of women in their manga/anime? And even men arent depicted particularly well, so why now? Oh well, people being pansies and getting offended at every shit again. So.... if the Japanese really are crazies, then what does that make the people outside of Japan who like anime and manga? Last time I check that stuff comes straight from the Japanese people. This has nothing to do with anime and manga but the peoples attitudes that they put forth. But youre not totally wrong considering how bad and shit the content coming from japan partly is we who like it must have a few screws loose too. |
| With all the stuff coming from Japan, thats surprising that something like that gets suspended. |
STOP SLEEPING ON ODD TAXI |
| what an awful society. Japan... |
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| Japan as pathetic as ever. If this was offending, better ban all shoujo (where girls want to be abused) and light novels (where girls' brains are only capable of lusting for dicks). Japanese men are so beta, no wonder the birth rates are dying. Gaijins better move to Japan to show these poor women how actual men look like. |
 "Your sight, my delight. Will you marry me?" |
| I'm glad it's stopped publication what kind of self respecting manga doesn't have lolis in it |
Nickienator said: Companies, authors, comedians, etc should realize internet activists have no power at all already. In Japan manga and anime are alive now mostly thanks to NEET freaks or just freaks. Freaks are freaked out easily. They love to be portrayed like a MMO hero of a 90 level and a harem or just a harem, not pathetic creatures who seek for rich women. Yes, they pay = they have power. |
| It was always apparent that Japan still has ways to go with their gender equality, but this just puts the icing on the cake. Like... it's just manga. Too much salt. Just let her continue, ffs. ōoku has a similar premise although not in a modern setting like Himo Zairu. And that was just fine. What does the title Himo Zairu even mean? |
"Be the change you wish to see in the world." ⛩️  |
| Akiko Higashimura is top notch and it's not as if she doesn't write other self-depreciating works regarding women. Pity that Japan is still so far behind times for gender equality. |
| The fuck why? Is there going to be a menimism movement now? Brb committing sudoku fucking insecure men. |
| The comments in this thread are pretty gross. It would be nice if (ignorant) westerners would stop applying their own country's standards and culture onto Japan, which is very historically different from the west. Japan does not care about western feminism; Japan cares about Japanese society. They are doing just fine with traditional gender roles and their embracing of femininity. Japanese women scarcely complain about their position, and when they do, it's for obvious problems such as sexual harassment which is very much against the law. One could even argue that Japanese women are idolised in their society. Just because they do not conform to western feminist values does not mean the men are sexist losers who hate women. What happened with this manga is just a small, vocal group of otaku freaking out, just like they do with the idol industry, anime, eroge and so on. Acting like they are representative of all Japanese men is absolutely ridiculous. Most Japanese people would shake their head upon hearing about this as well. |
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| controversial reads are always the best |
| LOL, too funny |
| It's time you look inward and begin asking yourself the big question, "Who are you, and what do you want?" - Uncle Iroh |
| This is just weird. I have no idea about this manga or her other works but Prison School is plenty worth of this kind of treatment as per content of it as shown in the anime. |
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| So in the west it's feminism, in japan that was the contrary this time? Also, the author herself choose to listen to the online complaints, so it's not like the editor refused to continue or that it was a scandal in the mass media or something. If authors were to stop writing manga everytime someone complai nabout the way women are sexualized in that work, lots of manga would stop at the end of the first chapter. |
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