aespa member Karina recently apologized for the controversy that arose due to her recommendation of an anime.
On June 27th, Karina sent a message on the fandom platform Bubble, saying “I belatedly found out that there was an issue with the anime I recommended”.
She added, “Since the character’s name was different, I didn’t know about any previous issues. I didn’t recommend the anime with any specific intention, so I hope there is no misunderstanding. I will become a more cautious Karina and share good information with MY (aespa’s fandom)”.
The controversial anime was “My Hero Academia” by Kōhei Horikoshi. Recently, when a fan asked for an anime recommendation, Karina she made a list including “My Hero Academia”.
“My Hero Academia” is an anime about Midoriya Izuku, a boy without superpowers in a world where the majority has superpowers becoming a real hero. The anime was criticized by readers in China and Korea when the real name of the villain Ujuko Daruma was revealed to be Shiga Maruta. This name reminded Chinese and Korean netizens of the human experiment of Unit 731 conducted by the Japanese military during World War II in which Maruta is a term used to refer to human test subjects. Realizing the issue, the publisher of “My Hero Academia” released an apology and changed the character’s name to Garaki Kyudai.
On the other hand, some fans of the anime argued that the author Kōhei Horikoshi intentionally used the word “Maruta” for the villain to expos Unit 731’s human experiment and criticize Japanese authorities. However, this idea received divided responses among fans.
Although the character’s name has been changed, some netizens continued to mention the controversy and left malicious comments on Karina’s SNS account
Seeing Karina’s apology, fans left supportive comments for the female idol who straightforwardly clarified even small misunderstandings. They said, “I have no dissatisfaction against her but I think she’s really cool for not avoiding the issue”, “I don’t think there should be any problem because it’s just an anime recommendation. The way she straightforwardly mentioned and solved it makes fans feel more relieved”, “If you read the anime, the author actually used the anime for a villain”, “Actually, she doesn’t need to apologize because the character’s name was changed even before the release of this anime”, etc.
Meanwhile, Karina’s group aespa will hold their world tour “SYNK: HYPER LINE”, starting in Jakarta, Indonesia on June 24th, then to Tokyo on August 5th – 6th, 8 cities in the U.S., including LA, Dallas, Miami, and Chicago, from August 13th, and Mexico City, Singapore, Berlin, London, Paris, etc., from September.
Source: Wikitree
