The popularity of anime worldwide has led to some anime studios trying to appeal to westerners more. Some have concerns this could get anime censored over western politics.

Popular and notable artist Akiman, whose real name is Akira Yasuda, has expressed concerns over anime trying to appeal to westerners and more specifically progressive or “woke” western culture.

“It’s a bit worrying that the woke movement seems poised to sweep through the anime industry all at once,” Akiman said in a post.

While Akiman professionally got his start as an artist with Capcom in the 1980s, his prolific style quickly got him working on popular anime like the Gundam series, as well as the wildly popular Code Geass and more.

Out of his staggering list of works, his most noteworthy creation is probably fan-favorite Street Fighter character Chun-Li, though (featured above).

Someone replied to Akiman noting he previously designed Turn “A” Gundam protagonist Loran Cehack (shown below), who the user described as a “black femboy.”

The user then added they hope someone as creative as Akiman “rejects the conservative and reactionary mindset” when it comes to progressive politics.

Akiman then responded to the user saying, “I simply follow the work; I never impose my own political views on it.”

While Akiman’s original post isn’t specifically focused on censorship, his follow up post definitely suggests his main concern is the censorship of anime due to western politics.

Western influence has been increasingly pressuring anime and/or artists to censor their works to adhere to westerners. Popular artwork platform Pixiv was even forced to censor users based on international laws.

Lots of anime and manga regularly get censored to cover up sexual themes, while progressive themes like nonbinary genders made it into official localizations and some even rewrote crossdressing men into full trans men.

Another notable example of anime influenced by westerners has been localizers injecting nonsensical lines or themes or even completely rewriting the subtitles or English dub.

An infamous change made to a popular anime was seen in Prison School where now-former FUNimation writer changed an ordinary line to the following:

“Woah, cut the breaks Arthur Fonzarelli. You got a stick up your ass, or are you one of those dumbass GamerGate creepshows?”

When fans pointed out line was changed completely from the original context, the writer laughed at criticism and the show’s western publisher ended up distancing themselves from the writer(s) in question.

Akiman doesn’t seem particularly into politics if you skim through his posts, though a couple years ago he did post the following commentary on modern American politics:

“‘Woke’ and all that—it’s the new ‘American Beauty,’ isn’t it? You Americans need to take it easy—you’re going to wear yourselves out,” Akiman said, likely noting his exhaustion over it all.