Bleach Thousand Year Blood War is one of the most hyped anime in 2023. The Bleach fans have waited almost a decade to watch their favorite anime again. After the initial 366 episodes, Bleach took a long hiatus. The fans thought it was never going to come out again. But it began airing the final arc in October 2022.
Bleach Thousand Year Blood War has several fan-favorite moments. But recently, there was a controversy surrounding the anime. The fans were unhappy due to the animators cutting out a lewd scene of Orihime. It was one of the much-awaited scenes in the anime. Cutting it has made the anime fandom revolt against the Bleach animators.
Bleach: TYBW Animators cut out a lewd Orihime scene
In the Bleach Manga, chapter 589 shows Orihime having an awkward moment with Ichigo. Yoruichi came and put her hand between Orihime’s bosoms. It was a lewd scene. But the animators cut that scene from the anime. It was supposed to be shown during episode 22 of Bleach: TYBW. This made the fans rage over the animators.
They started harassing the animators. Masaki Hiramatsu (scriptwriter), Tomohisa Taguchi (series composition and storyboard artist), and Leo Kawamoto (animation director) were the main people who became the victims of the hate and harassing comments on X (formerly Twitter). The whole animation team also received such hatred.
Reaction Of The Animators To The Hatred
Leo Kawamoto was very respectful with his reply. He said he did not know why it was cut down. Moreover, he works on the episodes that he is assigned to. He wishes the best for every person who appreciates and is sorry for breaking the heart of the Bleach fandom.
He told the fans to calm down and stop all the harassment. Kawamoto does not want the fans to hurt Tomohisa Taguchi and Masaki Hiramatsu. He said this to his Japanese followers as well as abroad followers.
色々落ち着いたんでつらつら〜と書くけど、まず国内外問わずファンの人落ち着いてくれｗ海外ファンに至っては俺のツイート謎の日本語訳されて変な勘違いをみんなしてるから💦脚本の平松さんや監督の田口さん含め他のスタッフに迷惑かけないようにしてください🤦♂️💦
— Zeroking (@yzvpp) September 10, 2023
Leo Kawamoto drew a fanart of the particular lewd scene, thinking it was cute. But it had a completely different reaction. He apologized for it, too. He wrote, “I didn’t mean to stir up any controversy about the cut scenes in the source material of the anime Bleach! I wanted to see that scene from the original story too, so I drew it! It’s cute, right? That’s all. If it affects me in a bad way, I’ll stop drawing fan art and promotional pictures. “
Masaki Hiramatsu was very patient with his reply as well. According to him, the team is open to criticism, but the harassment and targeting of team members have crossed the limit. He exclaimed that it is quite natural to convey one’s feelings. However, it becomes a problem when his team members are targeted personally. Since they do not have any authority, they will not reply to anyone.
毎度毎度でウンザリしますが……
— 平松正樹#51🇷🇸 (@hiramac10) September 9, 2023
SNS上で意見を発することは自由です。
肯定意見も、批判批評も自由です。
ですが、作品への要望をスタッフのSNSに直接コメントするのはやめましょう。
スタッフ個々に、その要望に応えられる権限などないし、答えたら問題になります。→
Hiramatsu added, “Naturally, there are responses and reflections from the creators, and not everything you want to do can be done. Many people are involved in creating [anime], and they do their best to make it as good as they are allowed to. And what is released to the world is the answer. From now on, anyone who comments with such questions or requests will be blocked on the spot without fail. That is all.“
One of the Bleach TYBW animators, who goes by ‘Sakai’ was also very vocal about his thoughts.
まあ不満は言っても良いけど、危害加える予告とか脅迫とかはやめとけとは思う
— sakai (@nextfurther) September 10, 2023
それで嫌気がさした主力スタッフが離れて作品のクオリティ低下を招く事だってあるのだ
Sakai said that there is a difference between constructive criticism and threatening. He wrote that too much of this harassment might cause animators to leave the project, which would be a loss for the Bleach anime and the fandom.
In a separate tweet, he wrote, “People like myself, who are like a monster that lives in the work, don’t leave so easily, but people who take on this work as a legitimate job might make a decision to avoid dangerous situations, and that’s natural.“
Fans React To The Animators’ Reaction
Even though the fans crossed all limits in harassing the animators, a certain section of Bleach fans are thankful to the animators for all their work. They believe these fake criticisms are made by fake fans or fans from other fandom. So they started a new trend on X, ‘#Thank_you_to_all_bleach_Staff’, to show love to the animators.
Renji vs Mask De Masculine is probably the best animated action episode of BLEACH TYBW so far
— RyloKen🦋 (@RyloKen67) September 11, 2023
I know I’m not the only one who thinks this😭
The BLEACH staff absolutely killed it with this episode 🙏🏼#Thank_you_to_all_bleach_Staff pic.twitter.com/KVKwKQjRdv
Bleach fans are so bad they complain that stuff looks like slideshow and then send threat and harass staff , thinking harassing will make it better , brother you are making it worse by harassing them and giving them death threats , they might leave staff and anime will be worser… pic.twitter.com/kcoBl5o4fu
— Viatrent (@Viatrent) September 10, 2023
Thank you for working hard on such a great project like Bleach 🔥 #Thank_you_to_all_bleach_Staff pic.twitter.com/RTLPeLHuCb
— Dani | Bleach 🩸 (@ichigod22) September 11, 2023
Bleach fans are sending hate and threats to Studio Pierrot for removing this scene from the new Bleach episode. The Bleach fanbase is so embarrassing and down bad it’s insane, y’all just love to sexualize minors, weirdos. Thank u Pierrot! #Thank_you_to_all_bleach_Staff #bleach pic.twitter.com/UMeCqgRORi
— Amir (@PEAKFlCTION) September 11, 2023
This series for me is extremely special and to see the TYBW in its glory has truly been a joy to experience. I’m happy & grateful with what we’re getting and with how the staff are able to deliver such a fantastic adaptation. Thank you. #Thank_you_to_all_bleach_Staff pic.twitter.com/EGwE7hc8FL
— 🌗 (@TensaLala) September 11, 2023
In the Bleach TYBW arc, the lewd scene held no major plot. The real Bleach fans are right in standing with the animators. The essence of an anime should never be hurt.
Source: X (Formerly Twitter)
