This is a very even handed non-judgemental disclosure of information that will allow people to understand how something like this can happen, while allowing them to make their own decision on how to proceed forward. Well done as always.
The only thing that I see wrong in this is that the United States is not a "constructional democracy" (democracy isn't anywhere in the Constitution) it's a constitutional REPUBLIC. There is a big difference between the two... No one knows civics anymore.
It isn’t a non-judgmental disclosure, you can see a bunch of lefty talking points sprinkled throughout it. (Though it’s not necessarily a bad one, aside from the lefty talking points) One such example is the use of atomic weapons. The necessity of dropping atomic bombs over Japan is a highly debated one. He makes it look like we dropped it just to test the bombs. Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire" by Richard B. Frank provides a detailed analysis of the final months of World War II and argues that the atomic bombings were necessary to end the war quickly and save lives on both sides. Historians such as Robert James Maddox have written extensively on the subject and argues that the atomic bombings were justified based on the circumstances of the time. While he does a good job an explaining the nuance of Japanese history, this nuance is often not applied to American intervention/involvement. It usually just chucked up to America Bad. You can also see it in every example of American bad guys it’s always some form of extreme right. Which he is correct they are bad. But he never shows extreme left as bad. I do generally like the video in its totality but it’s not a non-biased/non-judgemental view, on history.
It's frustrating, honestly. It's THE anime that got me into anime. I am glad I was unaware when I watched it, because otherwise, I'd have missed out on a story that truly touched my soul. It's hard to set it apart from the controversy, and I understand both sides.
For me, this whole situation made me understand "separating an artist from its work". It's something I never understood until I felt in my flesh that the good morals and values taught to me by Kenshin's story are completely separate from the despicable actions of his creator. Rurouni Kenshin taught me nothing but good things, so I'll never be ashamed of loving it.
As someone who loved and still does love Toriko and it's characters and world I agree. Its unfortunate that such great enjoyable media are from people who do truly terrible things 😢
@@VectorSpector_Why? I hate to break this to you, but people are flawed. Yes, some flaws are worse than others, but if we put every single artist (no matter what industry) under a microscope and “canceled” every single one for every flaw they have, the list of supportable artists would be very, VERY short. To shame someone for liking something that a flawed person created is the very definition of asinine. Shoot, if you want an entertaining exercise, name some of your favorite works. I’m sure on at least a few of them, you’ll probably be able to find some sort of dirt on its creator. Maybe not child exploitation levels of bad, but still bad.
I wish that there were more people on RUclips who took anime, Japanese, and internet culture as seriously and were as thoughtful about it while still having fun and being passionate like y’all do. I literally don’t know anybody else who could have done this video as well as you did. It take a serious, subtle, deft and honest hand to get through this subject quite so cleanly. Great work guys. Thanks for having the guts to cover this so thoroughly. Sorry about the demonetization, lol
This video is why I watch this channel. Level headed and rational even when disagreeing with people. Not outrage and clickbait and manufactured drama. Just an honest opinion presented calmly.
I wish more content creators would have open minded discussions like this. It feels genuinely refreshing to see videos like these instead of constant close-minded banter I see elsewhere.
It's a very good chanel and this video tackles a very controversial topic in a mature, well researched, and intelligent way. Even if you disagree, you have to admit he did a great job addressing things.
Watching anime at a young age taught me very early on that the entire world does not share the same values and customs. Probably the first time I saw an anime character getting an arranged marriage to their cousin.
thats how i feel bout rick and morty... someone who them selves stated you should be able to get with 13 year olds because it was normal back in the pilgrim days... back when you died around 25-30
What a fascinating deep dive into the context around Nobuhiro Watuski and the culture of Japan at the time and before. I'm an anime old head familiar with his history and even I learned some details I didn't know. Glad you guys took the time to really get into this in a long form situation.
So unfortunately I think if I was to link sources to this video we'd end up with issues, so I can't. that said there's plenty of information out there for people who would like to learn more about Japanese culture. I want to reiterate that this isn't a condemnation of the people of Japan. Everyone is different, none of what I said should be applied to every single person in a country, much of this is referring to the over-all social norms of a country, not the people. People don't make laws or decisions for a nation. I legitimately love Japan, but every civilization has it's issues. I do want to put in an addendum: people are dynamic. Watsuki has a deep dark side to him, obviously, but having experienced his books, it feels as if he put all of his “good” in them. Idk how to better express that and I don’t feel that it changes anything or makes a point, but I suppose it’s nice that it exists🤷 idk
honestly this entire video makes so much sense and you are not alone in your assessment of rurouni kenshin as a work that is a force of good vs the author’s darkness. thank you very much for all your hard work on this. much much appreciated and looking forward to more🫡
@@overanimated626yes it is naive to think that Japanese people have no say in their government, but it is also naive to think they have full control over it. The leading party in japan is re-elected ad infinitum as if it was a social obligation.
You guys deserve more subs. seriously. The theme and art of the thumbnails, videos, and channel as whole; the direct introduction to every series, the detail of its history and future, the edits of the videos- every video I’ve seen I’ve actually watched all the through. Keep going!
Wait, you are wrong in one fact; Japan was a member of the League of Nations. They themselves withdrew from the League of Nations because of their actions in China and the condemnation from the LoN.
It’s important to have these difficult discussions! While I’ve never watched kenshin, and don’t feel inclined to get into it bc of what I know now, I still appreciated hearing the information you provided in this video. You can tell you did your research. Hopefully the comments stay humane for our sanity lol.
I remember watching this on cartoon network as a kid after school. I never knew what it was called and why it stopped airing. Thank you for taking the time to share this and give a well rounded perspective.
It’s stopped airing cause it was done with the TV arcs, as back then there was the OVAs like reflections and Trust and Betrayal and that wasn’t meant for kids at that time watching Toonami
@@cygnusprime6728he made some big biased historical misunderstandings such as the Manchurian genocide and downplayed it pretty hard, it was so much worse than the Nazi holocaust that even the Nazis were horrified with its brutality, let that sink in. Also the atomic bombings weren’t totally unjustified like he claimed if you look at the historical context and might have saved tens of thousands of life’s on both fronts by ending the war in its tracks, Japan was going to fight to the bitter end and the estimated casualties on US side alone had they done just a regular invasion by land was an astounding 800.000 dead at least not to mention the casualties on Japanese side had those bombs not been dropped, Thomas Sowell made a damn good historical content video on it if you don’t believe it.
@@Tidushii He is from MA we are all taught a certain liberalmindset that war is bad no matter what... so i think you should cut him some slack on that. But yes, regarding the nazis views of the japanese you are correct that they were horrified. Germans, despite hating jews at the time, were surprisingly against violating the terms of treatment for POWs.
@@Tidushiinah, the bomb was horrible, even if it ended JP's desire to keep fighting. What the bomb did was horrifying and may have very well doomed humanity.
This has to be one of the most mature, nuanced and helpful video about this subject matter made. The fact that it isn't discussed and usually just memed on, even by politicians, has led to a lot of kids getting hurt. Bonsai Pop rocks
I think videos like this are extremely important because you can't really solve a problem if you don't understand how it becomes a problem in the first place. If anything this can be a way of understanding how to prevent vulnerable people from being harmed in the future, or at least find ways of using empathy and knowledge to discourage or stop bad behavior. Thank you for sharing this.
Of all Watsuki had inside him of dark none of it got into Rurounin Kenshin. It is one of the most wonderful and humane and compassionate stories ever told. What a case... IDK what to say
My partner came in while I was listening to this and we both were just really appreciative of the nuance and breadth of understanding that you brought to this topic. Really impressed with what you did here.
Great video. I appreciate the unique take on the subject instead of the usual "how do I" or "how should you feel about this" type of video that gets put out. I also agree with the part at the end about Watsuki continuing the manga.
I wasn’t even aware of the controversy until I found your video, but I’m so grateful I heard it from you first. Thank you for providing so much context, information, and for making your opinion known without pressuring anyone in any way. This was excellent and heartbreaking, but well worth learning about. Thank you.
The type of crime Watsuki committed is one where I can’t imagine what sufficient recourse looks like because the victims are so numerous and the crime is reliant on both individual perpetrators and the system that hurts people and the social factors that enable it. I think the way we view crime makes it difficult to prevent future crime because we think of it as a thing only truly monstrous people can do. The closest analogous example I can think of is R. Kelley. Obviously R Kelley has a history of predatory behavior that was called out at the time. And there are other dynamics at play that I am not qualified to talk about at length (see Intelexual Media for a good breakdown). At the same time, a lot of his behaviors were enabled or overlooked or written off as preferences. Doesn’t change that it was wrong whether he was picking teens at the mall or taping 13 yo. It’s just that his behavior does not exist in a vacuum. Black teenaged girls are treated like adults and over-sexualized from a young age. His behavior was allowed to escalate for too long and he was only held accountable after people started re-examining how predatory behavior was treated in the last 15-20 yrs. And after he wasn’t profitable anymore. Again, it’s one of the worst crimes someone can commit.
I spent a few years in prison and was absolutely ostracized by a lot of my fellow general population guys because I refused to treat the S.Os as less than human, but I'm not capable of jumping on that fuckin' "shoot these monsters, end them all" bandwagon(also, while the other gen pop guys were buying meds for recreation, the SOs were holding massive magic the gathering tournaments and playing D&D. Which scene would you choose? lol). Yeah, there are people with truly despicable ways of thinking and there's no help for a person that doesn't want to help themselves, but at the end of the day none of these guys ASKED to be what they were. I may not have hurt somebody sexually, but I've dealt with pornography addiction(which is destroying our young men in the modern era in almost every country), and it FUCKED my head up. ruined my relationships, destroyed my ability to make love with a woman. I went towards rougher more violent sex, but some of the guys I knew inside were(unsurprisingly) 4chan dwellers who came across underage pornography for the first time there, and it's been described to me as an "oxy addict finding out pure opium exists". There's no denying the people hurt most by sex crimes are the victims, and they should absolutely be prioritized. But by simply thinking "throw the monsters away and throw away the key" we are denying that the perpetrators are human beings that had to make many leaps to get to the point where they were willing to hurt someone or download underage pornography. You know what I heard most often when I would ask these guys "Why didn't you try to get help"? I heard "I was afraid that it would get out." I heard "I don't think there's any help for us." I heard "I'd rather admit to killing someone than hurting a kid." And that's just it: we're afraid to talk about it because it makes us feel icky. You understand how fucked up that is? We ACTIVELY refuse to look for an effective solution, we actively refuse to prevent people from becoming victims, we actively refuse to help people before they CREATE victims. Because we're afraid to talk about it, and because of the widespread advent of porn addiction, we're about to make the problem worse than it's ever been before. I learned, there's no such thing as good people, no such thing as bad people. We aren't our pasts, and we aren't what we could be in the future. We are what we are now, and that's all that should matter when it comes to judging whether or not a person needs fucking help.
There is literally zero evidence that people above 12 get mental issues 😂😂😂, pedophilia is a paraphila but scientifically it literally refers to prepubescent kids not 12 year olds
it feels very similar to david and leigh eddings. both the belgariad/malloreon series and kenshin were a pretty big part of my childhood and young adult life. yes, somewhat a product of their time and circumstance, but still no excuse for child abuse. and now, my childhood feels somewhat sullied as well.
i dont think it's the same boat....like at all. Vviewing what was once legal pornogrphy and stating its equal to committing the act which was also legal at the time but now ILLEGAL are not the same thing. Under japanese penal code he paid his dues, it is up to YOU to decide if you want to forgive the guy but dont make it out to be like he raped kids, he didn't. Either way RK is a fantastic piece of work so i will continue to enjoy it regardless. I see no need to punish a person who has already been punished anymore than need be, but again that's just me.
I've never watched RK, didn't know anything about this situation, and there are dozens of other videos you have made that could have triggered this, but all the angles and nuance you cover on this video (and the others,) has forced me to sign up for your patreon. You're very appreciated and I hope you keep doing what you're doing for a long time.
Alot of ppl are talking about separate the art from the artist and while I get that…these days you just can’t as so many ppl use that excuse to slide under the radar with there own sick habits. It’s the same with me going these year to Anime Expo in LA as there was an issue this year with a grown man taking inappropriate pictures of children at the event. Luckily a father stepped in, but the excuses of that man was fueled by what some of these Japanese anime’s present when it comes to these situations with adults and kids. These pedos think that just b/c it was taken lightly in the anime that it’s the same in real life. People influenced by these kinds of anime’s think it’s a pass for this kinda mess and often make excuses of separate the art from the artist. The REAL issue is we don’t mentally live in a society where common-sense is welcomed nor intellect anymore. Sadly many people use the excuse of art vs artist to align there own sympathies and sick desires with the artist in question and this excuse is done to death. Mind you before I heard about this I was a big RK fan, and I’m the same age as you so I grew up with this; also a little of his lifestyle is in the work as Karou was 17 and Kenshin 28 when they married I believe. So yeah it hurts me not to support this as I fell in love with the OVAs like Trust and Betrayal and Reflections, but I don’t support the art or the artist.
Thank you for this video. What you said needed to be said, as someone who loves Kenshin but is also upset with what Watsuki did it helped me put alot into perspective
The problem is I find it hard to believe that he won’t continue to feed his paraphelia. I see nothing wrong with consuming Kenshin content, I just ask you to pirate it. There’s two types of people I hold no mercy towards, Nazis and pedos, and it’s a good thing anime consumption is so deeply tied to piracy
The main problem is child porn is being bought via videos. it's not like the writer of Kenshin abused a child or raped him or her ,but child porn is still very disgustingly weird when bought via videos. This implies no one is being harmed ,but that's why there are child porn sympathizers and it's very weird disgusting grey area that most people are aware of.
I think this was a very respectful and nuanced take on the whole situation. I’ve seen other creators wrestle with the subject, but not to the level of depth that you were able to explain. I appreciate how you explained not only Watsuki’s issues but the issues with Japan’s growing pains as a country.
In response to the CP thing being illegal until 2014...I just remembered I had a meeting with the director of the original Fruits Basket in 2004.. it was my first anime convention & I was 11 at the time and went to go get my book autographed by him after what FB panel he was in. I noticed while on the line, he signed my dad's book and couple other people's books before me normally like everyone else, but when he got to me, his face changed. He had a visible cheesy smile on his face and his translator was telling me he "Really liked how I looked and how beautiful I was and wanted to know how old I was" (mind you I wearing a painted spongebob shirt but my physical features didn't match an 11 year old going through really early puberty...more like an older teenager). I told him and he got excited & asked if he could take a picture of me. He didn't take a picture of ANYONE else. I didn't really make any connections like this because I was just happy to see someone in the animation industry was somehow happy to see me and made me want to work with people like him. He also signed my book differently than anyone elses-- with huge blush marks around his face. I didn't think about it then, but I feel extremely uncomfortable thinking about this now....
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I just googled him, Akitaro Daichi, and I found this in his Wikipedia article: "In 2018 and 2019, voice actress Hiroko Konishi alleged that she was propositioned by her manager to enter a mixed bath with Daichi in the nude and was blacklisted from the voice acting industry when she refused." 🙁
This is a very important issue and that you are being very level headed in talking about makes this video a necessary watch. I really hope more people get to watch this. Great work!
Kenshin really helped me out in my teenage years. It was something me and my dad really bonded over. So I have really good memories of it. I will be watching the new one despite what happened with the creator. I don’t condone what he did but I do believe in redemption and I do believe that if you truly want to repent it depends on how you live going forward. I truly hope that what he puts out continues to help other people and he himself can give that back to society to atone for what happened.
3:46 That's uh... that's not Oda... That's Eiji Aonuma, the producer for The Legend of Zelda. For some reason that picture always pops up when you search Eiichiro Oda but it's not him.
I'm glad that y'all made this video. I never really got into Rurouni Kenshin when I was younger, and I don't really feel comfortable getting into it now, but I think this kind of context is necessary. I can tell that certain parts of this made you very uncomfortable, but your level-headed presentation was the best way to present that context. Thank you for doing this.
I rly appreciate this whole video. It helps give context to something I’ve been thinking about a long time. The big moral dilemma of whether to support someone’s work based on their or current self, has been something my friends and I have discussed for a long time. Having the context into japans background and social structure, how crime is seen, felt and handled rly gives insight. To me whether I partake in someone’s product or company or anything is completely a case to case basis. Your reference to Harry Potter and other situations shows this. Some people actively use their money to support things while others recognize their wrongdoings. Again thanks for not forcefully trying to change anyone’s mind. Thanks for leaving it up to each person.
Not saying that you’re conflating Animated Lolicon with actual CP but I do want to make sure ppl aren’t considering them as the same. Theres a huge difference between abusing real children and something that is safe, sane, consentual with all adults. I do think loli (and shouta) should be retired as a trope and that it shouldn’t people something people (especially real children) can just run into in the anime community. Did lolicon become the thing it is because of pedos? Probably, and there are many lolicon who are not pedos because it is just a fantasy. There are also many reasons why someone may partake in this content including irl abuse survivors themsleves. Shaming this kink can also lead to abuse among participants as has happened in kinkster communities. (Not to mention what is considered to be CP can vary based on cultural practices). Needless to say I am applying a general western lens. Bottomline is, legality does not dictate what is ethical. Just cuz it wasn’t illegal in Japan for many years doesn’t mean we have to accept it, especially when it happened to recently. I love kenshin but I can’t justify supporting the author in anyway. edit: the transformative justice piece is tricky, especially considering western culture is very punishment happy and I don’t consider that helpful, I’m ‘fine’ with the mangaka’s punishment as thats not my cultural swim lane and also don’t feel bad boycotting the rest of his work as thats part of the penance and shame involved with his punishment.
I agree with the whole "you don't identify with adult content" because it was a reason I watched loIi stuff, but the bug difference is that I grew out of that phase and now I can't stand the stuff...
"Is this man a monster, or is he the victim of a culture that normalizes and allows this kind of behavior" .......yes. You can't have one without the other. People with this mental illness are created in isolation. The ppl around you, the culture you grow up in, things that happen to you or are done to you. These are all causes of these kind of problems. I do wish he faced more serious punishment regardless of how terrible the social stigma is in Japan but I wish he was required to receive psychological counseling. This is a sickness and a sickness doesn't just go away. And make no mistake, as long as he's out in society and is suffering this kind of mental illness, it's going to negatively affect the people around him in that society. Like I stated above, that's how these problems start in the the first place. Exposure+punishment+counseling=improvement.
This comment literally makes no sense. Cuz if people like Watsuki are “created” by the culture and people around him as it’s normalized how the fuck do explain when it happens in a place like the US? I’ll relent that environment can play a role but it’s in no way significant factor.
@seraph_dalgon_9216 well, as with most things, it starts at childhood. A person that is abused at a young age tend to become abusers. Ppl aren't born pedophiles, any more than they're born alcoholics or emotional abusers. That's how the damage is done. That's why identifying and treating the damage is so important
When you have an entire society in that period seeing this as the norm. Is it really an illness at this point? If that is the case, then society as a whole has an illness and I'm not sure if it works that way.
I learned a lot from this. Thanks for making this video and looking at this from a Birds Eye perspective. Also, love the content .I am inspired to be a video editor to make the lives of RUclipsrs like you easier. Thanks for being you.
wow. you definitely colored the history with some of your own personal bias; between the logic behind dropping the nukes to history book conspiracy(i do not disagree that their is major issues with textbooks and that whole economy, but you took it to a whole new level).
Thanks for making this vid, I really hope it doesn't ultimately need to be taken down due to backlash or whatever. I really think you did your best to present things without condoning what happened, but others may not be patient enough to get that far or accept that as a possibility. This was something I knew of vaguely already, and you filled in my blanks. I think it was a net good to put this out, even if some disagree with some of your opinions/theories. Keep at it.
Before anything else, I wanted to thank you and let you know how much I appreciated this video of yours. As you, Watsuki’s work shaped a part of who I am today. I love the story, the messages of kindness and redemption and how you can grow and try to better yourself after committing horrible crimes. But as you also said nearly at the end, I am one of those who feels now extremely ashamed of myself for supporting this man. For getting the Ovas, for recommending the story and getting the manga. I am si ashamed for the dissonance that the message and the author gave me, and for the trust that was broken after knowing what he had done. It made me rethink and question his choices. Question if Kaoru being 17 to Kenshin’s 28 was an historical take or just a preference of his. It leaves me with a knot in my throat to not being able to enjoy this story anymore. Knowing the social, political and cultural intricacies of Watsuki’s case were eye opening, and I appreciate it a lot. I also will be checking out the podcast you suggested because, for as horrific as history can be, it’s better to know it and confront it. Information is power and all that. I came to this video already having my stance on the matter and I can’t, in good conscience, consume the story anymore without feeling sick and sad and shameful. But I hope that one day i can come back again to this story and enjoy it, see how good it is and was, even if I’ll plan to do it I. Way that it doesn’t support the author. Again, thank you for your hard work ❤️
Lmao 17? Thats not even close to pedophilia, thats 12 and under, the age of consent in the states is even 16, people married even 12 year olds in the states during this time
@@NeostormXLMAX watching it is wrong but then again he was punished but unlike most of hollywood freaks who did worse still on lose lets not forget about Epstein iland
I really appreciate you had the balls to actually talk about this in a nuanced way and providing much needed context. Everyone seems to be either ignoring the existence of the new show or dunking on it either because of a valid bias against Watsuki or because they are blinded by nostalgia and consider que original anime perfect when it wasn't. I love this story, and I hate the fact that Watsuki is what he is, but what can I do? I owe a lot to this story (including meeting my wife). So I'm supporting the new anime, despite the fact the author is a creep. I hope he does atone for real, because his sentence was a joke. I respect people who don't want to watch the series anymore, but I expect people to respect my decision to watch it too.
Ik yall have done some videos about Rurouni Kenshin previously. Love the content yall make mike and I hope this is a great prelude to a beautiful video about the series!
Great video, subscribed. I loved Kenshin, still do, but I'll also be forever heartbroken by Watsuki. You gave me a new perspective on the whole situation and while it won't heal the heartbreak, it puts me more at ease with the discomfort I felt in having such a formative story stained by this whole ordeal. I'm looking forward to your Kenshin videos. It feels good to see someone talk about Kenshin positively while not looking away or dismissing the whole situation.
I was expecting another typical take on this issue, but I was pleasantly surprised. This was very thorough and well thought out, and I think you nailed it. Love the positivity. Thank you! Kenshin was my childhood, and I'm getting emotional with each new episode.
Thank you for tackling this issue in such a mature and respectful manner. I regularly cry during your videos, and if there were a single channel I could never forget about, even if I were reborn a thousand times, it’s Bonsai Pop. I’ve been watching since Treesicle, and my life isn’t put together enough to support financially, but I just have to say thank you again, for the fantastic content. Please stay safe, comrade!
as always, you're very nuanced, and i appreciate it. it's very hard. i've had my own... trauma, you can say, that makes this issue very touchy for me - and i grew up watching kenshin and loving it deeply. normally i am very good at separating art from author but this particular instance is very difficult i think, even though you're right - he wasn't showing it off in his work at all. but this one in particular, is just... it's a particularly vile crime that makes it hard to look past supporting him. i think you have a lot of good points regarding the culture, and how different the views regarding his crimes have been historically, and i do think it's important to consider. but also, i personally wouldn't support a creator who had committed a crime related to homophobia, for example, despite the culture and views surrounding the queer community being what they are historically in the USA. the crimes that watsuki committed are, in no uncertain terms, horrific. participating in that... field is disgusting and abhorrent. and he is still directly profiting off of kenshin, which is where i draw the line. i absolutely refuse to help put money in his pocket, even if he (and the country as a whole) thinks he has been punished enough, though i do not think he was even close to punished enough. i don't believe he's an "evil person", or can't change, but i do not have to be responsible for supporting him in that change or forgiving him, either. which sucks, truly. because rurouni kenshin IS one of the greats. he is an extremely talented creator. his art is gorgeous, and he has such a passion for the story. i will always love that story itself. but i, personally, can't look at kenshin without thinking of all the children he hurt. no doubt he used money he made off his IP to fund that field. obviously he didn't write it for that purpose - kenshin would not even be close to the story that it is, otherwise. but i can't look past it. i still struggle to see how people can, but i know that's due to my own traumas regarding the material. i don't hate anyone for still enjoying the series, but that doesn't mean i'll appreciate them financially supporting it in any way after what happened.
Congratulations on doing this video: It’s BY FAR the most Comprehensive In-Depth explanation of the Situation I have ever seen. It’s really centered-minded and Factual exposition. Quality content. I hope everyone watches this video to get all the facts and views in this matter. 👍
Great take on this particular subject. I dont think this could have been conveyed better. The education on the background and the different views was fantastic. Thanks for this. Continue to be great my friend. You are doing the work of the ppl that is drastically understated by most.
Kenshin is a wonderful hero and Rurouni Kenshin is a great story. Anyone who hasn't experienced it is missing out. Glad you're not ashamed of loving it!
Kenshin is a great character. Wonderful hero, idk about that. You have to remember that he has murdered dozens of people. he helps people out of personal guilt, not because he thinks it’s his vigilant duty. Spider-Man is a wonderful hero, even Goku lol. Kenshin is a great redemption story and a very well written character.
I live in a community where basically Convicts are put into an arts and crafts program as part of their "rehabilitation" within the prison. They do sell their products to visitors going in the facility. And I happen to come across those in part of attending school related activities. So that experience happened early on that the "notion of not buying a product made by criminals" never really occurred to me
It takes a lot of courage to go in depth and explain avenues about the context of the author, society, rapid culture shift,etc. many of us are simply ignorant of. Thank you so much Bonsai Pop!!!
This was an interesting perspective on the whole situation. I had always felt that Watsuki was left off with little more than a slap on the wrist and, while I do still feel his punishment was not nearly harsh enough, I didn't take into account how he will now be viewed through Japanese culture and society. Though I have a lot of nostalgia for Rurouni Kenshin I cannot in good faith partake in the new anime series knowing the man who will benefit from it. That being said, I'm not going to tell other people what they can and cannot watch as I'm not their mother.
I had vaguely heard of this, thank you for the deep dive not just into what happened with the mangaka but with the culture. Learned a lot here. Great video 👌
The fact that I hold Kenshin so near and dear to my heart is why its such an unforgivable act of betrayal. This is one of my all time favorite series, I have all 28 volumes of the original run, all of Buso Renkin and all of Gun Blaze West, I would have bought Embalmed too but i dont think it ever came over. Watsuki was one of my favorites and that is why it hurts so much and why i have a hard time even thinking about watching the new series even though i want to. Great nuanced video, it explains the why but it doesn't make it hurt less.
I really appreciate you talking about this topic with facts and explanations. Many tend to only have a surface level understanding of Japan, it’s what is portrayed in public, while hiding many social and political issues. It’s great to have a video go so in depth about the underlying problems.
Yeah I think the outside perspective of westerners often blinds us to the deeply fucked elements of Japanese society. Like until fairly recently rape and murder had 15 year statute of limitations. So there are dozens if not hundreds of rapists, murderers etc. that just get away with it. Like they could confess and nothing would happen.
This was a well reasoned discussion and I see people in the comments making decisions that work for them. Morally I could no longer support the anime from a literal pedo. If we think he still isn’t that person while still working as a mangaka then we are being woefully naive. To me there is no separating the art and this artist. If at least he did jail time and got a punishment sure I could see it, but he got a slap on the wrist and then went back to work. Anything new going forward is tainted..it really just is
This is one of the most informative videos I have ever watched. I thought I already knew a lot about Japan, being an anime nerd, but the amount of facts, history, society and mindset info packed into such a succinct video.... just wow!
I understand all of the cultural factors you've described, but the bottom line for me is this: I think it's a bad idea to continue to support creations from bad actors, especially if that support continues to financially benefit them in some way. The work and the person are and will forever be intrinsically linked, there is no true separation that can happen. I'm not going to yell about it, just boycott it, or "Cancel" as the preferred term is these days.
I really appreciate people who can discuss difficult issues in a holistic and objective manner. This is extremely rare in the age of the internet, and RUclips in particular, where one is more likely to get opinion presented as fact rather than a complete unskewed picture that allows for people to make informed decisions of their own.
First manga i ever owned. I'm not someone that idolizes authors or any prominent figure. They are just like you and me. But learning about his crimes felt like such a betrayal
Exactly. Nobody sane human being is going to burn their full collection of Kenshin Manga and Collectibles over something like this. If people need to signal virtue this strongly, they should just keep it to themselves and let people enjoy what they want to enjoy.
I wish I could continue to love it the same, but for me personally it will be impossible to watch the anime again without thinking of what he did. I’ll remember it fondly, and I won’t ever hate it because it really is a story about goodness, but I think this is the death of Rurouni Kenshin for me.
Thanks for taking the time and care to tackle such a complicated, upsetting issue the way you have. It offered a great deal of context most people, myself included, in the West either tend to forget or never knew. It's increasingly hard to separate art from artist these days I find, but your approach to it in this video did a great job of laying out the facts.
I am at the point where I have gotten extremely good at separating the art from the artist. Runouni Kenshin was the first anime I truly fell in love with as a child, my first wall scroll was for it, I don't want to stop loving a story that effected me so deeply because the person who wrote it is a piece of work.
@@jtt8237 im conservative we dont reject reality any more than you or anybody else there, champ. The irony of your statement isnt lost on me. Rurouni kenshin is about redemption, ironically it poses a question of if it is right to perpetually punish a man who committed crimes in the past but has changed his ways... the show is rather clear on its stance on this, yet internet hell would see to it that all people who cin should be executed to atone for that sin. Weird. I say "let he who has never sinned cast the first stone" then
Thanks for covering this. I'm not that involved in the anime/manga to follow the artists/authors but Rouroni Kenshin was my 1 full anime I watched and still love to this day at nearly 40, and hearing this about the author definitely affected me. It's def a complicated issue but BonsaiPop as always lays this out unlike any other channel. Thanks for that. And thanks for reminding me that Dan Carlin's Hardcore History exists. Time to dive back in!
I never got into Rurouni Kenshin. And knowing what I know now, I don’t see myself ever getting into it. But I know there’s tons of people out there that love the series, and that’s perfectly fine; you won’t ever see me judging you for it. Great video, btw. Very informative and eye-opening!👍🏾
I just want to say thank you for making this video! You were able to put into words something that I have trouble doing myself constantly. Especially when you got into talking about the victims of said kinds of abuses just creating more victims. This stuff is always hard for me to talk about, but the only way I can move on is if I'm open about it (so let that act as a preface to anyone who doesn't want to read on). I was a victim of sexual abuse and harassment when I was in middle school. At 14, one of my classmates, for about a month, would, almost consistently, repeatedly do things to me while I was at my locker getting stuff for my afternoon classes. At first, nothing was ever shown, and I just went about my day when at the time, I didn't know what was wrong with that. One day, same person doing it decided to expose themself. That finally triggered me to go and get something done about it (this happened twice in the same day by the aforementioned person and another student). I went home, told my grandmother about it and how I desperately wanted to switch schools as I was constantly getting bullied as well, and I wasn't going back. She called the principal, I told them what happened, and eventually both students got kicked out (this didn't sit well with most of my classmates, obviously, but they had no idea what was going on, except for a few that I trusted). That experience left me traumatized. It still affects me to this day with any relationship that I try to establish (no attraction to kids, either, still find that beyond gross). Unknown to me at the time, there were two routes this could have gone: the aforementioned like Mr. Watsuki, or I could take my trauma, and try to do something good with it to try and prevent more victims. I chose the latter. I decided to work in education and become a teacher for that very reason: I want to be able to protect kids from these kinds of abuses that I went through. Any of my colleagues see that I do EVERYTHING I can to build and foster those positive relationships, why I try to be a role model and keep kids on the right path. I always encourage my students to come to me, privately, to discuss any matters that they may not want to talk about with anyone else. I had it happen to me earlier just this week when one two of my friends kept busting my balls and making jokes related to the aforementioned material discussed in your video, Mike. It got to the point where I purposefully kept silent until they were done, and just left the Discord call. Now, I can see some people possibly replying to me and saying that I need to dump those two as friends. But I won't. All because after I left and explained my situation to them and Why I don't tolerate those kinds of jokes being made at me or my career choice, is because of my past experience as I highlighted, they completely understood, apologized, and promised not to make more jokes regarding that, ever. It sickens me whenever I hear anything like what Mr. Watsuki owned. Obviously never created, but just owned in general. It's a vicious cycle that, no matter what's done to end it, will never end. All we can do, sadly, is just try to prevent more victims from becoming the offenders. Thankfully, given my content area is social studies, I understand why you made this video, and why you've been one of my favorite RUclipsrs in recent memory. Please, keep up the good work, and thank you for also letting a fellow 30-something always get to relive the nostalgia that is 90s anime.
At no point is the man defended here. We're given context as to the kind of society Japan has that people, not just Watsuki, _think_ it's ok, and how they'll quietly be shunned for it.
I love Rurouni Kenshin. I've loved it since it used to marketed as Samurai X on toonami. It was initially soul crushing to find out who Watsuki is as a person, however I typically separate the art from the artist in cases when the art and artist aren't intrinsically linked.
I had no clue of what I was walking into when I clicked on this video, but you were very informative and balanced in your approach to the subject. Thank you for what you do.
Watched the whole video and read thru the comments. Finding a lot of apologists taking this as the green light to openly support Watsuki. I understand you’re purpose was to present a case for Watsuki, that fact results in a defense narrative. By no means this is a neutral take on the controversy as many seem to praise this video for. This video takes advantage of people who have little to no know knowledge of Japanese history and culture. History was oversimplified to the point you got it wrong sometimes. Describing Japan as as a feudal as if it were a European civilization from the dark ages is such a bad comparison. I’m not denying it was a strict social system with feudal elements but this label paints a different picture than the “poor Japan got thrown into this alien modern world and suddenly had to compete and adapt” For culture. It would’ve seemed less bias if you researched other cases involving crime/punishment and child pr*dator charges. For example: Hiroki Narimiya, an actor shamed out of the acting business, retired. For drug allegations that ended up false. He left his career just for being involved in a scandal . He was erased from the Yakuza 4 Remaster in which he had a starring role and was replaced entirely with a new actor. Takahiro Sakurai, one of the most well known Japanese voice actors, personally left the company he worked for because he cheated on his wife which turned into a huge scandal. The shame and humiliation from being involved in something in a scandal is enough for the biggest names in the industry to quit the business all together. Which comes into question, Watsuki, a man with far less shame and humility, was insane enough to come back, return, and accept the support of other mangaka who advocated for him. It’s spineless. Writer of Act Age, a manga that was doing extremely well in Weekly Shounen Jump, was arrested for indecent acts on minors. The artist of that manga because this series was co produced by two people, humbly decides to cancel the manga for the victims’ sakes. Hoping they wouldn’t have to be reminded and suffer from seeing the manga Act Age anywhere. Did Watsuki directly hurt anybody? No. But many people as you said were hurt. His fan base. The girls in his porn collection. And I hope there’s no one else despite his proudly stating his preference for 11-15 year old girls. Does this man not think of the people he hurt?. Yet he continues to work as if it had been crime erased or left in the past. Final point. Rurouni Kenshin may not have the authors p*doph*le interests in it. RK will always be a part of Watsuki himself. Art essentially is a reflection of your thoughts, ideas, politics, values, and virtues as a person. You can’t avoid thinking of the writer himself who poured his soul and characteristics into his character and their journeys. It is a personal look into Watsuki himself, you can’t avoid that whenever talking of RK. You can’t erase the artist from their art. I speak from personal and outside experiences of artists. Watsuki hasn’t shown enough shame and action for what he’s done looking at it from a Japanese lens when compared to other cases. The outcome should’ve been more similar to those cases. Like you said, we can’t decide punishment or how to move forward since the sicko is here to stay. Do I think fans should be guilty to enjoy RK? No. But I will be disappointed in those fans hyping up Watsuki return and gassing this series. Enjoy it. Because I too found enjoyment in RK a looooong time ago. So I understand. I just don’t see enough acts of this man wanting to redeem himself. What a shameless vile person
It's sad that everyone is ignoring your comment. Great way of seeing the video, he did make the author look more like a victim of the Japanese society than a criminal, with is obviously wrong. I can get that this opinion is born from a deep love from the series, but this is not an excuse for the way he made this video trying to be a way of making other people view the crime in a more lighter light.
@@votamkrystallo854 There was a lot about the series I enjoyed, both anime and manga. But that’s a crime, in which the author barely faced consequences. The law gave him the lightest punishment for his crime, and completely no social repercussions from society who would usually pressure anyone with allegations to leave their industry completely
No one should feel ashamed about enjoying a song, book, or any other media made by someone with a disgraceful past. Perfect humans are rare, and every else is a sinner. I find it interesting that the most non perfect humans are those that create things the others desire. It’s ok to hate someone if they don’t conform with your views but do not hate yourself or others for enjoying the arts.
Perfect humans are non existent, but you don't get to group every single ''sinner'' together. There is making shameful mistakes, and there is being a straight up disgusting criminal.
There is getting a speeding ticket and there is collecting so much FBI Party Van videos that the police thought you were a distributor AND saying in court that your prefer middle school girls. You shouldn't lump the two together.
i don't understand what you mean her @20:49 by "fictional depiction of this content is still legal"? such fiction is not harmful as it have nobody getting hurt in it, are you supposed to be predator for liking this kinda of content and who are you praying on, fiction?
When you put out your list of "lenses" you were going to view this in and had anthropological listed I had red flags go up all over the place. I'm so glad that didn't turn out the way I was afraid it was going to when I saw that term in this context.
Great, great video. I too and a longtime Ruroken fan and the last few years have been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least. You parsed through a very complicated topic masterfully and I'm so glad this popped up on my feed. Subbed!
He created Rurouni Kenshin but he sold the rights of the anime over a decade ago and thus regardless of what a pervert he was behind close doors I never knew the guy I only knew Kenshin his creation and there has never been anything perverted in Kenshin and it's been one of the most amazing anime's of all times. Just like in hollywood they say a lot of the artist are pedos and evil but people go watch the movies and have nothing to do with their works. I just wanna say I love rurouni kenshin ! and i'm glad the remark is here in 2023!
Appreciated this video and your tone.. it helped calm my nerves. As a woman who read the Rurouni Kenshin manga and followed the anime that news in 2017 broke me. I admired the original Rurouni Kenshin... it got me into being an anime fan in the first place. Knowing Watsuki did such things... It makes my skin crawl. It's been long enough that I personally forgive him, could be that I was born in a religious family and taught to forgive those who've wronged. I did make a choice not to read the new R.K. manga but I am watching 2023's Rurouni Kenshin anime, curiosity and the fandom-side has gotten the best of me. I'll always be a fan of Kenshin ip. definitely helped me during tough times in highschool coping with my alcoholic Father. Last year I got myself an Rurouni Kenshin animation cel, I'm happy to know that funds went to another fan and not directly Watsuki but I serenity wish him and his family peace. Please universe or whomever, give us love over this situation and those hurt by it.
Under US law as long as its can't be confuse with a real photo and no children where used in the making of the art its not CP but it can still found to illegal under US Obscenity laws which compare to CP is a lesser charge
"What makes these books different is that Watsuki's personal issues are not evident at all within them." That's it, that's the reason I still watch Rurouni Kenshin. My question has always been can you separate the artist from his craft and is the craft connected directly to the artist's experiences?
No you can’t as the moral lines of society have become so horrid that all sense is lost. You have people taking conspiracy theories as fact today and folks using anime to be a bunch of pedos so we are far past the intellectual days of those questions. Unfortunately. 😢 just my opinion on it.
For me personally I can’t, because I have trauma related to Watsuki’s crime, and despite loving Rurouni Kenshin as much as I have, I think this is the death of it for me. I just can’t watch it now without being reminded of his crime, and my trauma.
@@hakichan94and that is the ultimate answer "it depends on the viewer and their tolerances" There are some "monsters" whose work I might be able to consume in small doses, but eventually I have to come to terms with passively or actively patronizing them. So I don't pretend to have a universal answer, just "whatever works to get you to tomorrow"
Knowing Japan and their atrocities to us, it was literally Hell according to my grandma so it was a hard pill to swallow learning from her. Times passed, people moved on and do things for the betterment of society. I'm somewhere the same age as you and I've loved RK when I was only on elementary school and was even one of the most beloved anime in the Philippines during the 90s. When the live action movies got announced, many fans lined up to watch em because of its beloved story and characters. I had a Japanese friend told me about that controversy, honestly got disappointed but I understood where he's coming from...society and all but that doesn't mean he's clean from it. I still love his work today because of its messages and story, despite the creator's past. Thanks for sharing your insights on this~
Japan was nuked and many japanese gruesomely perished but South Korea still wants to continue bitching about apologies from Japan when South Korea commited attrocities in Vietnam
This is a very even handed non-judgemental disclosure of information that will allow people to understand how something like this can happen, while allowing them to make their own decision on how to proceed forward.
Well done as always.
100%
The only thing that I see wrong in this is that the United States is not a "constructional democracy" (democracy isn't anywhere in the Constitution) it's a constitutional REPUBLIC. There is a big difference between the two... No one knows civics anymore.
It isn’t a non-judgmental disclosure, you can see a bunch of lefty talking points sprinkled throughout it. (Though it’s not necessarily a bad one, aside from the lefty talking points) One such example is the use of atomic weapons. The necessity of dropping atomic bombs over Japan is a highly debated one. He makes it look like we dropped it just to test the bombs. Downfall: The End of the Imperial Japanese Empire" by Richard B. Frank provides a detailed analysis of the final months of World War II and argues that the atomic bombings were necessary to end the war quickly and save lives on both sides. Historians such as Robert James Maddox have written extensively on the subject and argues that the atomic bombings were justified based on the circumstances of the time. While he does a good job an explaining the nuance of Japanese history, this nuance is often not applied to American intervention/involvement. It usually just chucked up to America Bad. You can also see it in every example of American bad guys it’s always some form of extreme right. Which he is correct they are bad. But he never shows extreme left as bad. I do generally like the video in its totality but it’s not a non-biased/non-judgemental view, on history.
It's frustrating, honestly. It's THE anime that got me into anime. I am glad I was unaware when I watched it, because otherwise, I'd have missed out on a story that truly touched my soul. It's hard to set it apart from the controversy, and I understand both sides.
Regardless, there is no excuse for giving money to this franchise
Agreed it is very frustrating
Same here! I still have all my Rurouni Kenshin merch. I have it all stored away never to be seen again.
Indeed, this was also the anime that got me into the whole anime thing
For me, this whole situation made me understand "separating an artist from its work". It's something I never understood until I felt in my flesh that the good morals and values taught to me by Kenshin's story are completely separate from the despicable actions of his creator. Rurouni Kenshin taught me nothing but good things, so I'll never be ashamed of loving it.
Fully agree!
As someone who loved and still does love Toriko and it's characters and world I agree. Its unfortunate that such great enjoyable media are from people who do truly terrible things 😢
you should be tho
@@VectorSpector_ ashamed for watching Kenshin?
NOPE
@@VectorSpector_Why? I hate to break this to you, but people are flawed. Yes, some flaws are worse than others, but if we put every single artist (no matter what industry) under a microscope and “canceled” every single one for every flaw they have, the list of supportable artists would be very, VERY short.
To shame someone for liking something that a flawed person created is the very definition of asinine. Shoot, if you want an entertaining exercise, name some of your favorite works. I’m sure on at least a few of them, you’ll probably be able to find some sort of dirt on its creator. Maybe not child exploitation levels of bad, but still bad.
I wish that there were more people on RUclips who took anime, Japanese, and internet culture as seriously and were as thoughtful about it while still having fun and being passionate like y’all do.
I literally don’t know anybody else who could have done this video as well as you did. It take a serious, subtle, deft and honest hand to get through this subject quite so cleanly. Great work guys. Thanks for having the guts to cover this so thoroughly. Sorry about the demonetization, lol
This video is why I watch this channel. Level headed and rational even when disagreeing with people. Not outrage and clickbait and manufactured drama. Just an honest opinion presented calmly.
I wish more content creators would have open minded discussions like this. It feels genuinely refreshing to see videos like these instead of constant close-minded banter I see elsewhere.
I choose for Rurouni Kenshin but found out later about Just an honest opinion presented calmly. That i also support
It's a very good chanel and this video tackles a very controversial topic in a mature, well researched, and intelligent way. Even if you disagree, you have to admit he did a great job addressing things.
Oni chan
Watching anime at a young age taught me very early on that the entire world does not share the same values and customs. Probably the first time I saw an anime character getting an arranged marriage to their cousin.
It really is a shame to see such a genuinely great story be forever bogged down by the disgusting acts of its creator.
corny take.
@@ItsOS1Knothing about what he posted was incorrect. So what?
@@ItsOS1K take? lol it's just the fact
@V4Now there's this nifty thing called "separating the art from the artist."
thats how i feel bout rick and morty... someone who them selves stated you should be able to get with 13 year olds because it was normal back in the pilgrim days... back when you died around 25-30
What a fascinating deep dive into the context around Nobuhiro Watuski and the culture of Japan at the time and before. I'm an anime old head familiar with his history and even I learned some details I didn't know. Glad you guys took the time to really get into this in a long form situation.
So unfortunately I think if I was to link sources to this video we'd end up with issues, so I can't. that said there's plenty of information out there for people who would like to learn more about Japanese culture.
I want to reiterate that this isn't a condemnation of the people of Japan. Everyone is different, none of what I said should be applied to every single person in a country, much of this is referring to the over-all social norms of a country, not the people. People don't make laws or decisions for a nation. I legitimately love Japan, but every civilization has it's issues.
I do want to put in an addendum: people are dynamic. Watsuki has a deep dark side to him, obviously, but having experienced his books, it feels as if he put all of his “good” in them. Idk how to better express that and I don’t feel that it changes anything or makes a point, but I suppose it’s nice that it exists🤷 idk
Thank you for getting on a watchlist to bring us this info regardless 🙏
Thanks, Bonsai Pop.
I'm not sure I follow the sentence "People don't make laws or decisions for a nation." Is that not the definition of a government?
honestly this entire video makes so much sense and you are not alone in your assessment of rurouni kenshin as a work that is a force of good vs the author’s darkness. thank you very much for all your hard work on this. much much appreciated and looking forward to more🫡
@@overanimated626yes it is naive to think that Japanese people have no say in their government, but it is also naive to think they have full control over it. The leading party in japan is re-elected ad infinitum as if it was a social obligation.
You guys deserve more subs. seriously. The theme and art of the thumbnails, videos, and channel as whole; the direct introduction to every series, the detail of its history and future, the edits of the videos- every video I’ve seen I’ve actually watched all the through. Keep going!
Wait, you are wrong in one fact; Japan was a member of the League of Nations. They themselves withdrew from the League of Nations because of their actions in China and the condemnation from the LoN.
Yeah don't take what's said about history here correct, there's several things said that are incorrect.
This was a very brave attempt on this subject. I did not know this stuff about the author, but I’m happy you explained it.
It’s important to have these difficult discussions! While I’ve never watched kenshin, and don’t feel inclined to get into it bc of what I know now, I still appreciated hearing the information you provided in this video. You can tell you did your research. Hopefully the comments stay humane for our sanity lol.
I remember watching this on cartoon network as a kid after school. I never knew what it was called and why it stopped airing. Thank you for taking the time to share this and give a well rounded perspective.
It’s stopped airing cause it was done with the TV arcs, as back then there was the OVAs like reflections and Trust and Betrayal and that wasn’t meant for kids at that time watching Toonami
Clicked for Kenshin, and didn't expect social, historical commentary for half an hour. Overall really educational!
Do not get your history from this guy.
@@EyeofValorwhy? A lot of the stuff he mentioned was accurate and I had looked it up beforehand.
@@cygnusprime6728he made some big biased historical misunderstandings such as the Manchurian genocide and downplayed it pretty hard, it was so much worse than the Nazi holocaust that even the Nazis were horrified with its brutality, let that sink in. Also the atomic bombings weren’t totally unjustified like he claimed if you look at the historical context and might have saved tens of thousands of life’s on both fronts by ending the war in its tracks, Japan was going to fight to the bitter end and the estimated casualties on US side alone had they done just a regular invasion by land was an astounding 800.000 dead at least not to mention the casualties on Japanese side had those bombs not been dropped, Thomas Sowell made a damn good historical content video on it if you don’t believe it.
@@Tidushii He is from MA we are all taught a certain liberalmindset that war is bad no matter what... so i think you should cut him some slack on that. But yes, regarding the nazis views of the japanese you are correct that they were horrified. Germans, despite hating jews at the time, were surprisingly against violating the terms of treatment for POWs.
@@Tidushiinah, the bomb was horrible, even if it ended JP's desire to keep fighting. What the bomb did was horrifying and may have very well doomed humanity.
This has to be one of the most mature, nuanced and helpful video about this subject matter made. The fact that it isn't discussed and usually just memed on, even by politicians, has led to a lot of kids getting hurt. Bonsai Pop rocks
I’m just glad I got to enjoy the story before all this happened. I love this series so much I had my mom calling me Battosai as a kid 😂
I hope she didn't know the exact context of that name 😅
My beagle name battoisai
I still enjoy the story. *shrug*
@@Krystalmyth more power to ur girl. I love the story , be damn the author
"Battosai! Did you take out the trash?"
"No mom! I'm busy fighting a war!"
LOL
I think videos like this are extremely important because you can't really solve a problem if you don't understand how it becomes a problem in the first place. If anything this can be a way of understanding how to prevent vulnerable people from being harmed in the future, or at least find ways of using empathy and knowledge to discourage or stop bad behavior. Thank you for sharing this.
Of all Watsuki had inside him of dark none of it got into Rurounin Kenshin. It is one of the most wonderful and humane and compassionate stories ever told. What a case... IDK what to say
Human are contradictory and multifaceted. What the author poured of goodness in Rurouni Kenshin exists in him alongside the dark.
My partner came in while I was listening to this and we both were just really appreciative of the nuance and breadth of understanding that you brought to this topic. Really impressed with what you did here.
Great video. I appreciate the unique take on the subject instead of the usual "how do I" or "how should you feel about this" type of video that gets put out. I also agree with the part at the end about Watsuki continuing the manga.
I wasn’t even aware of the controversy until I found your video, but I’m so grateful I heard it from you first. Thank you for providing so much context, information, and for making your opinion known without pressuring anyone in any way. This was excellent and heartbreaking, but well worth learning about. Thank you.
The type of crime Watsuki committed is one where I can’t imagine what sufficient recourse looks like because the victims are so numerous and the crime is reliant on both individual perpetrators and the system that hurts people and the social factors that enable it. I think the way we view crime makes it difficult to prevent future crime because we think of it as a thing only truly monstrous people can do.
The closest analogous example I can think of is R. Kelley. Obviously R Kelley has a history of predatory behavior that was called out at the time. And there are other dynamics at play that I am not qualified to talk about at length (see Intelexual Media for a good breakdown). At the same time, a lot of his behaviors were enabled or overlooked or written off as preferences. Doesn’t change that it was wrong whether he was picking teens at the mall or taping 13 yo. It’s just that his behavior does not exist in a vacuum. Black teenaged girls are treated like adults and over-sexualized from a young age. His behavior was allowed to escalate for too long and he was only held accountable after people started re-examining how predatory behavior was treated in the last 15-20 yrs. And after he wasn’t profitable anymore. Again, it’s one of the worst crimes someone can commit.
I spent a few years in prison and was absolutely ostracized by a lot of my fellow general population guys because I refused to treat the S.Os as less than human, but I'm not capable of jumping on that fuckin' "shoot these monsters, end them all" bandwagon(also, while the other gen pop guys were buying meds for recreation, the SOs were holding massive magic the gathering tournaments and playing D&D. Which scene would you choose? lol). Yeah, there are people with truly despicable ways of thinking and there's no help for a person that doesn't want to help themselves, but at the end of the day none of these guys ASKED to be what they were. I may not have hurt somebody sexually, but I've dealt with pornography addiction(which is destroying our young men in the modern era in almost every country), and it FUCKED my head up. ruined my relationships, destroyed my ability to make love with a woman. I went towards rougher more violent sex, but some of the guys I knew inside were(unsurprisingly) 4chan dwellers who came across underage pornography for the first time there, and it's been described to me as an "oxy addict finding out pure opium exists".
There's no denying the people hurt most by sex crimes are the victims, and they should absolutely be prioritized. But by simply thinking "throw the monsters away and throw away the key" we are denying that the perpetrators are human beings that had to make many leaps to get to the point where they were willing to hurt someone or download underage pornography. You know what I heard most often when I would ask these guys "Why didn't you try to get help"? I heard "I was afraid that it would get out." I heard "I don't think there's any help for us." I heard "I'd rather admit to killing someone than hurting a kid." And that's just it: we're afraid to talk about it because it makes us feel icky. You understand how fucked up that is? We ACTIVELY refuse to look for an effective solution, we actively refuse to prevent people from becoming victims, we actively refuse to help people before they CREATE victims. Because we're afraid to talk about it, and because of the widespread advent of porn addiction, we're about to make the problem worse than it's ever been before.
I learned, there's no such thing as good people, no such thing as bad people. We aren't our pasts, and we aren't what we could be in the future. We are what we are now, and that's all that should matter when it comes to judging whether or not a person needs fucking help.
IF YOU HAVE POWER OVER SOMEONE, MOST WILL EXPLOIT THEM.
There is literally zero evidence that people above 12 get mental issues 😂😂😂, pedophilia is a paraphila but scientifically it literally refers to prepubescent kids not 12 year olds
it feels very similar to david and leigh eddings. both the belgariad/malloreon series and kenshin were a pretty big part of my childhood and young adult life. yes, somewhat a product of their time and circumstance, but still no excuse for child abuse. and now, my childhood feels somewhat sullied as well.
i dont think it's the same boat....like at all. Vviewing what was once legal pornogrphy and stating its equal to committing the act which was also legal at the time but now ILLEGAL are not the same thing.
Under japanese penal code he paid his dues, it is up to YOU to decide if you want to forgive the guy but dont make it out to be like he raped kids, he didn't.
Either way RK is a fantastic piece of work so i will continue to enjoy it regardless. I see no need to punish a person who has already been punished anymore than need be, but again that's just me.
I've never watched RK, didn't know anything about this situation, and there are dozens of other videos you have made that could have triggered this, but all the angles and nuance you cover on this video (and the others,) has forced me to sign up for your patreon. You're very appreciated and I hope you keep doing what you're doing for a long time.
Alot of ppl are talking about separate the art from the artist and while I get that…these days you just can’t as so many ppl use that excuse to slide under the radar with there own sick habits. It’s the same with me going these year to Anime Expo in LA as there was an issue this year with a grown man taking inappropriate pictures of children at the event. Luckily a father stepped in, but the excuses of that man was fueled by what some of these Japanese anime’s present when it comes to these situations with adults and kids. These pedos think that just b/c it was taken lightly in the anime that it’s the same in real life. People influenced by these kinds of anime’s think it’s a pass for this kinda mess and often make excuses of separate the art from the artist. The REAL issue is we don’t mentally live in a society where common-sense is welcomed nor intellect anymore. Sadly many people use the excuse of art vs artist to align there own sympathies and sick desires with the artist in question and this excuse is done to death. Mind you before I heard about this I was a big RK fan, and I’m the same age as you so I grew up with this; also a little of his lifestyle is in the work as Karou was 17 and Kenshin 28 when they married I believe. So yeah it hurts me not to support this as I fell in love with the OVAs like Trust and Betrayal and Reflections, but I don’t support the art or the artist.
Thank you for this video. What you said needed to be said, as someone who loves Kenshin but is also upset with what Watsuki did it helped me put alot into perspective
Very mature and level-headed take as usual. Ruroni Kenshin kicks ass. Your videos kick ass. Appreciate you guys.
And Watsuki does not.
I appreciate how open you feel about the subject and thanks for not bogging down the actual video with the subject.
The problem is I find it hard to believe that he won’t continue to feed his paraphelia.
I see nothing wrong with consuming Kenshin content, I just ask you to pirate it. There’s two types of people I hold no mercy towards, Nazis and pedos, and it’s a good thing anime consumption is so deeply tied to piracy
The main problem is child porn is being bought via videos. it's not like the writer of Kenshin abused a child or raped him or her ,but child porn is still very disgustingly weird when bought via videos. This implies no one is being harmed ,but that's why there are child porn sympathizers and it's very weird disgusting grey area that most people are aware of.
I think this was a very respectful and nuanced take on the whole situation. I’ve seen other creators wrestle with the subject, but not to the level of depth that you were able to explain. I appreciate how you explained not only Watsuki’s issues but the issues with Japan’s growing pains as a country.
In response to the CP thing being illegal until 2014...I just remembered I had a meeting with the director of the original Fruits Basket in 2004.. it was my first anime convention & I was 11 at the time and went to go get my book autographed by him after what FB panel he was in. I noticed while on the line, he signed my dad's book and couple other people's books before me normally like everyone else, but when he got to me, his face changed. He had a visible cheesy smile on his face and his translator was telling me he "Really liked how I looked and how beautiful I was and wanted to know how old I was" (mind you I wearing a painted spongebob shirt but my physical features didn't match an 11 year old going through really early puberty...more like an older teenager). I told him and he got excited & asked if he could take a picture of me. He didn't take a picture of ANYONE else. I didn't really make any connections like this because I was just happy to see someone in the animation industry was somehow happy to see me and made me want to work with people like him. He also signed my book differently than anyone elses-- with huge blush marks around his face. I didn't think about it then, but I feel extremely uncomfortable thinking about this now....
I really hope he was just being nice and not something else
I'm sorry to hear about your experience. I just googled him, Akitaro Daichi, and I found this in his Wikipedia article: "In 2018 and 2019, voice actress Hiroko Konishi alleged that she was propositioned by her manager to enter a mixed bath with Daichi in the nude and was blacklisted from the voice acting industry when she refused." 🙁
@@minako134 oh wow big Yikes that’s terrible 😞😩
Really sad, but not surprising, to hear this.
This is a very important issue and that you are being very level headed in talking about makes this video a necessary watch. I really hope more people get to watch this. Great work!
Kenshin really helped me out in my teenage years. It was something me and my dad really bonded over. So I have really good memories of it. I will be watching the new one despite what happened with the creator. I don’t condone what he did but I do believe in redemption and I do believe that if you truly want to repent it depends on how you live going forward. I truly hope that what he puts out continues to help other people and he himself can give that back to society to atone for what happened.
3:46 That's uh... that's not Oda... That's Eiji Aonuma, the producer for The Legend of Zelda. For some reason that picture always pops up when you search Eiichiro Oda but it's not him.
Ikr lmao
I'm glad that y'all made this video. I never really got into Rurouni Kenshin when I was younger, and I don't really feel comfortable getting into it now, but I think this kind of context is necessary. I can tell that certain parts of this made you very uncomfortable, but your level-headed presentation was the best way to present that context. Thank you for doing this.
Picked up kenshin after this, based author😂😂😂
I rly appreciate this whole video. It helps give context to something I’ve been thinking about a long time. The big moral dilemma of whether to support someone’s work based on their or current self, has been something my friends and I have discussed for a long time. Having the context into japans background and social structure, how crime is seen, felt and handled rly gives insight. To me whether I partake in someone’s product or company or anything is completely a case to case basis. Your reference to Harry Potter and other situations shows this. Some people actively use their money to support things while others recognize their wrongdoings. Again thanks for not forcefully trying to change anyone’s mind. Thanks for leaving it up to each person.
Not saying that you’re conflating Animated Lolicon with actual CP but I do want to make sure ppl aren’t considering them as the same. Theres a huge difference between abusing real children and something that is safe, sane, consentual with all adults.
I do think loli (and shouta) should be retired as a trope and that it shouldn’t people something people (especially real children) can just run into in the anime community.
Did lolicon become the thing it is because of pedos? Probably, and there are many lolicon who are not pedos because it is just a fantasy. There are also many reasons why someone may partake in this content including irl abuse survivors themsleves. Shaming this kink can also lead to abuse among participants as has happened in kinkster communities. (Not to mention what is considered to be CP can vary based on cultural practices). Needless to say I am applying a general western lens.
Bottomline is, legality does not dictate what is ethical. Just cuz it wasn’t illegal in Japan for many years doesn’t mean we have to accept it, especially when it happened to recently. I love kenshin but I can’t justify supporting the author in anyway.
edit: the transformative justice piece is tricky, especially considering western culture is very punishment happy and I don’t consider that helpful, I’m ‘fine’ with the mangaka’s punishment as thats not my cultural swim lane and also don’t feel bad boycotting the rest of his work as thats part of the penance and shame involved with his punishment.
I doubt the Loli trope will retire
@@murderman8578it never will because content like this tend to openly sell in Japan
@@Icarus975 most Asian countries I don't really care about it just say they smell people or something
I agree with the whole "you don't identify with adult content" because it was a reason I watched loIi stuff, but the bug difference is that I grew out of that phase and now I can't stand the stuff...
I ended the opposite way, at first I couldn't handle it but years later I can enjoy it ❤
"Is this man a monster, or is he the victim of a culture that normalizes and allows this kind of behavior"
.......yes. You can't have one without the other. People with this mental illness are created in isolation. The ppl around you, the culture you grow up in, things that happen to you or are done to you. These are all causes of these kind of problems.
I do wish he faced more serious punishment regardless of how terrible the social stigma is in Japan but I wish he was required to receive psychological counseling. This is a sickness and a sickness doesn't just go away. And make no mistake, as long as he's out in society and is suffering this kind of mental illness, it's going to negatively affect the people around him in that society. Like I stated above, that's how these problems start in the the first place.
Exposure+punishment+counseling=improvement.
The society accepts it and normalizes it so it is prevalent
This comment literally makes no sense. Cuz if people like Watsuki are “created” by the culture and people around him as it’s normalized how the fuck do explain when it happens in a place like the US? I’ll relent that environment can play a role but it’s in no way significant factor.
@@seraph_dalgon_9216 molestation, child predators were once victims who got imprinted on
@seraph_dalgon_9216 well, as with most things, it starts at childhood. A person that is abused at a young age tend to become abusers. Ppl aren't born pedophiles, any more than they're born alcoholics or emotional abusers. That's how the damage is done. That's why identifying and treating the damage is so important
When you have an entire society in that period seeing this as the norm. Is it really an illness at this point? If that is the case, then society as a whole has an illness and I'm not sure if it works that way.
I learned a lot from this. Thanks for making this video and looking at this from a Birds Eye perspective.
Also, love the content .I am inspired to be a video editor to make the lives of RUclipsrs like you easier.
Thanks for being you.
wow. you definitely colored the history with some of your own personal bias; between the logic behind dropping the nukes to history book conspiracy(i do not disagree that their is major issues with textbooks and that whole economy, but you took it to a whole new level).
You will never be Japanese
3:45 That picture is of Eiji Aonuma, director of quite a few Zelda games - not Eiichiro Oda XD
Thanks for making this vid, I really hope it doesn't ultimately need to be taken down due to backlash or whatever. I really think you did your best to present things without condoning what happened, but others may not be patient enough to get that far or accept that as a possibility.
This was something I knew of vaguely already, and you filled in my blanks. I think it was a net good to put this out, even if some disagree with some of your opinions/theories. Keep at it.
Before anything else, I wanted to thank you and let you know how much I appreciated this video of yours. As you, Watsuki’s work shaped a part of who I am today. I love the story, the messages of kindness and redemption and how you can grow and try to better yourself after committing horrible crimes. But as you also said nearly at the end, I am one of those who feels now extremely ashamed of myself for supporting this man. For getting the Ovas, for recommending the story and getting the manga. I am si ashamed for the dissonance that the message and the author gave me, and for the trust that was broken after knowing what he had done.
It made me rethink and question his choices. Question if Kaoru being 17 to Kenshin’s 28 was an historical take or just a preference of his. It leaves me with a knot in my throat to not being able to enjoy this story anymore.
Knowing the social, political and cultural intricacies of Watsuki’s case were eye opening, and I appreciate it a lot. I also will be checking out the podcast you suggested because, for as horrific as history can be, it’s better to know it and confront it. Information is power and all that.
I came to this video already having my stance on the matter and I can’t, in good conscience, consume the story anymore without feeling sick and sad and shameful. But I hope that one day i can come back again to this story and enjoy it, see how good it is and was, even if I’ll plan to do it I. Way that it doesn’t support the author.
Again, thank you for your hard work ❤️
Yeah that’s what I said Karou was a whole 17 and Kenny Boy was 28
I've also had a new perspective on Misao as a whole character and the implied dynamic with her and Aoshi, with this in mind too.
He didnt do anything wrong 😂😂😂😊
Lmao 17? Thats not even close to pedophilia, thats 12 and under, the age of consent in the states is even 16, people married even 12 year olds in the states during this time
@@NeostormXLMAX watching it is wrong but then again he was punished but unlike most of hollywood freaks who did worse still on lose lets not forget about Epstein iland
I really appreciate you had the balls to actually talk about this in a nuanced way and providing much needed context. Everyone seems to be either ignoring the existence of the new show or dunking on it either because of a valid bias against Watsuki or because they are blinded by nostalgia and consider que original anime perfect when it wasn't. I love this story, and I hate the fact that Watsuki is what he is, but what can I do? I owe a lot to this story (including meeting my wife). So I'm supporting the new anime, despite the fact the author is a creep. I hope he does atone for real, because his sentence was a joke. I respect people who don't want to watch the series anymore, but I expect people to respect my decision to watch it too.
Ik yall have done some videos about Rurouni Kenshin previously. Love the content yall make mike and I hope this is a great prelude to a beautiful video about the series!
Great video, subscribed. I loved Kenshin, still do, but I'll also be forever heartbroken by Watsuki. You gave me a new perspective on the whole situation and while it won't heal the heartbreak, it puts me more at ease with the discomfort I felt in having such a formative story stained by this whole ordeal. I'm looking forward to your Kenshin videos. It feels good to see someone talk about Kenshin positively while not looking away or dismissing the whole situation.
I was expecting another typical take on this issue, but I was pleasantly surprised. This was very thorough and well thought out, and I think you nailed it.
Love the positivity. Thank you!
Kenshin was my childhood, and I'm getting emotional with each new episode.
Thank you for tackling this issue in such a mature and respectful manner. I regularly cry during your videos, and if there were a single channel I could never forget about, even if I were reborn a thousand times, it’s Bonsai Pop. I’ve been watching since Treesicle, and my life isn’t put together enough to support financially, but I just have to say thank you again, for the fantastic content. Please stay safe, comrade!
as always, you're very nuanced, and i appreciate it. it's very hard. i've had my own... trauma, you can say, that makes this issue very touchy for me - and i grew up watching kenshin and loving it deeply. normally i am very good at separating art from author but this particular instance is very difficult i think, even though you're right - he wasn't showing it off in his work at all. but this one in particular, is just... it's a particularly vile crime that makes it hard to look past supporting him.
i think you have a lot of good points regarding the culture, and how different the views regarding his crimes have been historically, and i do think it's important to consider. but also, i personally wouldn't support a creator who had committed a crime related to homophobia, for example, despite the culture and views surrounding the queer community being what they are historically in the USA. the crimes that watsuki committed are, in no uncertain terms, horrific. participating in that... field is disgusting and abhorrent. and he is still directly profiting off of kenshin, which is where i draw the line. i absolutely refuse to help put money in his pocket, even if he (and the country as a whole) thinks he has been punished enough, though i do not think he was even close to punished enough. i don't believe he's an "evil person", or can't change, but i do not have to be responsible for supporting him in that change or forgiving him, either.
which sucks, truly. because rurouni kenshin IS one of the greats. he is an extremely talented creator. his art is gorgeous, and he has such a passion for the story. i will always love that story itself. but i, personally, can't look at kenshin without thinking of all the children he hurt. no doubt he used money he made off his IP to fund that field. obviously he didn't write it for that purpose - kenshin would not even be close to the story that it is, otherwise. but i can't look past it. i still struggle to see how people can, but i know that's due to my own traumas regarding the material. i don't hate anyone for still enjoying the series, but that doesn't mean i'll appreciate them financially supporting it in any way after what happened.
Congratulations on doing this video: It’s BY FAR the most Comprehensive In-Depth explanation of the Situation I have ever seen.
It’s really centered-minded and Factual exposition. Quality content.
I hope everyone watches this video to get all the facts and views in this matter. 👍
All your 40 minutes of explanation could be summed up with this:
"Japan still uses FAX"
Great take on this particular subject. I dont think this could have been conveyed better. The education on the background and the different views was fantastic. Thanks for this. Continue to be great my friend. You are doing the work of the ppl that is drastically understated by most.
Kenshin is a wonderful hero and Rurouni Kenshin is a great story. Anyone who hasn't experienced it is missing out. Glad you're not ashamed of loving it!
Kenshin is a great character. Wonderful hero, idk about that. You have to remember that he has murdered dozens of people. he helps people out of personal guilt, not because he thinks it’s his vigilant duty. Spider-Man is a wonderful hero, even Goku lol. Kenshin is a great redemption story and a very well written character.
@@topbackpodcast2615 Kenshin = wonderful hero // Hitokiri Battousai = merciless killer
@@edpistemic can’t have one without the other. They are one in the same
@@topbackpodcast2615Comparing Kenshin to Spider-Man and Goku makes me think you misunderstand the material...or you're being intentionally obtuse.
@@topbackpodcast2615 So Guts isn't a hero because he's killed hundreds of people, got it.
"Another crime he did, was betraying... his readers" - I get how apprehensive people can be about the stuff he did, but how is this a crime?
I don't believe he was being literal
I can't get a single friend to give it a chance because of what happened. Bummer. Kenshin is the best ever katana swordsman in anime
Yes this anime is awesome
Good.
I live in a community where basically Convicts are put into an arts and crafts program as part of their "rehabilitation" within the prison.
They do sell their products to visitors going in the facility.
And I happen to come across those in part of attending school related activities.
So that experience happened early on that the "notion of not buying a product made by criminals" never really occurred to me
Tell them to pirate it if they don't want to support him lol
It takes a lot of courage to go in depth and explain avenues about the context of the author, society, rapid culture shift,etc. many of us are simply ignorant of.
Thank you so much Bonsai Pop!!!
This was an interesting perspective on the whole situation. I had always felt that Watsuki was left off with little more than a slap on the wrist and, while I do still feel his punishment was not nearly harsh enough, I didn't take into account how he will now be viewed through Japanese culture and society. Though I have a lot of nostalgia for Rurouni Kenshin I cannot in good faith partake in the new anime series knowing the man who will benefit from it. That being said, I'm not going to tell other people what they can and cannot watch as I'm not their mother.
I had vaguely heard of this, thank you for the deep dive not just into what happened with the mangaka but with the culture. Learned a lot here. Great video 👌
Correction: At 3:46, that picture you are showing is not Eiichiro Oda, it was actually Eiji Aonuma.
The fact that I hold Kenshin so near and dear to my heart is why its such an unforgivable act of betrayal. This is one of my all time favorite series, I have all 28 volumes of the original run, all of Buso Renkin and all of Gun Blaze West, I would have bought Embalmed too but i dont think it ever came over. Watsuki was one of my favorites and that is why it hurts so much and why i have a hard time even thinking about watching the new series even though i want to. Great nuanced video, it explains the why but it doesn't make it hurt less.
I really appreciate you talking about this topic with facts and explanations. Many tend to only have a surface level understanding of Japan, it’s what is portrayed in public, while hiding many social and political issues. It’s great to have a video go so in depth about the underlying problems.
Yeah I think the outside perspective of westerners often blinds us to the deeply fucked elements of Japanese society. Like until fairly recently rape and murder had 15 year statute of limitations. So there are dozens if not hundreds of rapists, murderers etc. that just get away with it. Like they could confess and nothing would happen.
You did an incredible amount of research for this video. Great job overall!
This was a well reasoned discussion and I see people in the comments making decisions that work for them. Morally I could no longer support the anime from a literal pedo. If we think he still isn’t that person while still working as a mangaka then we are being woefully naive. To me there is no separating the art and this artist. If at least he did jail time and got a punishment sure I could see it, but he got a slap on the wrist and then went back to work. Anything new going forward is tainted..it really just is
Always appreciate vids that you guys make to explain something, regardless of the content. Always stoked for the next vid
This is one of the most informative videos I have ever watched. I thought I already knew a lot about Japan, being an anime nerd, but the amount of facts, history, society and mindset info packed into such a succinct video.... just wow!
Incredibly comprehensive range of topics covered. Well done
I understand all of the cultural factors you've described, but the bottom line for me is this: I think it's a bad idea to continue to support creations from bad actors, especially if that support continues to financially benefit them in some way. The work and the person are and will forever be intrinsically linked, there is no true separation that can happen. I'm not going to yell about it, just boycott it, or "Cancel" as the preferred term is these days.
Damn, this is the most well-rounded take I've seen. You have a new fan.
I really appreciate people who can discuss difficult issues in a holistic and objective manner.
This is extremely rare in the age of the internet, and RUclips in particular, where one is more likely to get opinion presented as fact rather than a complete unskewed picture that allows for people to make informed decisions of their own.
"seppuku levels of shame" is a sentence I need to use more often.
First manga i ever owned. I'm not someone that idolizes authors or any prominent figure. They are just like you and me. But learning about his crimes felt like such a betrayal
Excellent, insightful, and well reasoned discourse. This is why I love this channel.
Despite the controversy about the creator that doesn’t mean I hate Rurouni Kenshin it will always be one of my all-time favorite shonen’s.
same dude
Exactly. Nobody sane human being is going to burn their full collection of Kenshin Manga and Collectibles over something like this. If people need to signal virtue this strongly, they should just keep it to themselves and let people enjoy what they want to enjoy.
@@Krystalmyth exactly 👍🏾
I wish I could continue to love it the same, but for me personally it will be impossible to watch the anime again without thinking of what he did.
I’ll remember it fondly, and I won’t ever hate it because it really is a story about goodness, but I think this is the death of Rurouni Kenshin for me.
@@hakichan94 I completely understand
Thanks for taking the time and care to tackle such a complicated, upsetting issue the way you have. It offered a great deal of context most people, myself included, in the West either tend to forget or never knew. It's increasingly hard to separate art from artist these days I find, but your approach to it in this video did a great job of laying out the facts.
I am at the point where I have gotten extremely good at separating the art from the artist. Runouni Kenshin was the first anime I truly fell in love with as a child, my first wall scroll was for it, I don't want to stop loving a story that effected me so deeply because the person who wrote it is a piece of work.
I think they also call this cognitive dissonance
@@EMOJIHEAPcognitive dissonance is when your beliefs conflict reality so you reject reality. Ex. Conservatives.
@@jtt8237 im conservative we dont reject reality any more than you or anybody else there, champ. The irony of your statement isnt lost on me.
Rurouni kenshin is about redemption, ironically it poses a question of if it is right to perpetually punish a man who committed crimes in the past but has changed his ways... the show is rather clear on its stance on this, yet internet hell would see to it that all people who cin should be executed to atone for that sin. Weird.
I say "let he who has never sinned cast the first stone" then
@@MrEvldreamrimagine defending a man who had so much CP that the police that he was distributing it. my god you people are strange
Thanks for covering this. I'm not that involved in the anime/manga to follow the artists/authors but Rouroni Kenshin was my 1 full anime I watched and still love to this day at nearly 40, and hearing this about the author definitely affected me. It's def a complicated issue but BonsaiPop as always lays this out unlike any other channel. Thanks for that. And thanks for reminding me that Dan Carlin's Hardcore History exists. Time to dive back in!
I just learned so much about the origin of Japanese cultural views (including very controversial) in just 40 min. Great video!
I can't believe I watched 40 minutes.
I never got into Rurouni Kenshin. And knowing what I know now, I don’t see myself ever getting into it. But I know there’s tons of people out there that love the series, and that’s perfectly fine; you won’t ever see me judging you for it. Great video, btw. Very informative and eye-opening!👍🏾
I just want to say thank you for making this video! You were able to put into words something that I have trouble doing myself constantly. Especially when you got into talking about the victims of said kinds of abuses just creating more victims. This stuff is always hard for me to talk about, but the only way I can move on is if I'm open about it (so let that act as a preface to anyone who doesn't want to read on).
I was a victim of sexual abuse and harassment when I was in middle school. At 14, one of my classmates, for about a month, would, almost consistently, repeatedly do things to me while I was at my locker getting stuff for my afternoon classes. At first, nothing was ever shown, and I just went about my day when at the time, I didn't know what was wrong with that. One day, same person doing it decided to expose themself. That finally triggered me to go and get something done about it (this happened twice in the same day by the aforementioned person and another student). I went home, told my grandmother about it and how I desperately wanted to switch schools as I was constantly getting bullied as well, and I wasn't going back. She called the principal, I told them what happened, and eventually both students got kicked out (this didn't sit well with most of my classmates, obviously, but they had no idea what was going on, except for a few that I trusted).
That experience left me traumatized. It still affects me to this day with any relationship that I try to establish (no attraction to kids, either, still find that beyond gross). Unknown to me at the time, there were two routes this could have gone: the aforementioned like Mr. Watsuki, or I could take my trauma, and try to do something good with it to try and prevent more victims. I chose the latter. I decided to work in education and become a teacher for that very reason: I want to be able to protect kids from these kinds of abuses that I went through. Any of my colleagues see that I do EVERYTHING I can to build and foster those positive relationships, why I try to be a role model and keep kids on the right path. I always encourage my students to come to me, privately, to discuss any matters that they may not want to talk about with anyone else.
I had it happen to me earlier just this week when one two of my friends kept busting my balls and making jokes related to the aforementioned material discussed in your video, Mike. It got to the point where I purposefully kept silent until they were done, and just left the Discord call. Now, I can see some people possibly replying to me and saying that I need to dump those two as friends. But I won't. All because after I left and explained my situation to them and Why I don't tolerate those kinds of jokes being made at me or my career choice, is because of my past experience as I highlighted, they completely understood, apologized, and promised not to make more jokes regarding that, ever.
It sickens me whenever I hear anything like what Mr. Watsuki owned. Obviously never created, but just owned in general. It's a vicious cycle that, no matter what's done to end it, will never end. All we can do, sadly, is just try to prevent more victims from becoming the offenders. Thankfully, given my content area is social studies, I understand why you made this video, and why you've been one of my favorite RUclipsrs in recent memory. Please, keep up the good work, and thank you for also letting a fellow 30-something always get to relive the nostalgia that is 90s anime.
Bonsai Pop: Is Watsuki a monster-
Me screaming at my phone: YES!!!
At no point is the man defended here. We're given context as to the kind of society Japan has that people, not just Watsuki, _think_ it's ok, and how they'll quietly be shunned for it.
I love Rurouni Kenshin. I've loved it since it used to marketed as Samurai X on toonami. It was initially soul crushing to find out who Watsuki is as a person, however I typically separate the art from the artist in cases when the art and artist aren't intrinsically linked.
He was based
I had no clue of what I was walking into when I clicked on this video, but you were very informative and balanced in your approach to the subject. Thank you for what you do.
Watched the whole video and read thru the comments. Finding a lot of apologists taking this as the green light to openly support Watsuki. I understand you’re purpose was to present a case for Watsuki, that fact results in a defense narrative. By no means this is a neutral take on the controversy as many seem to praise this video for. This video takes advantage of people who have little to no know knowledge of Japanese history and culture.
History was oversimplified to the point you got it wrong sometimes. Describing Japan as as a feudal as if it were a European civilization from the dark ages is such a bad comparison. I’m not denying it was a strict social system with feudal elements but this label paints a different picture than the “poor Japan got thrown into this alien modern world and suddenly had to compete and adapt”
For culture. It would’ve seemed less bias if you researched other cases involving crime/punishment and child pr*dator charges. For example: Hiroki Narimiya, an actor shamed out of the acting business, retired. For drug allegations that ended up false. He left his career just for being involved in a scandal . He was erased from the Yakuza 4 Remaster in which he had a starring role and was replaced entirely with a new actor. Takahiro Sakurai, one of the most well known Japanese voice actors, personally left the company he worked for because he cheated on his wife which turned into a huge scandal. The shame and humiliation from being involved in something in a scandal is enough for the biggest names in the industry to quit the business all together.
Which comes into question, Watsuki, a man with far less shame and humility, was insane enough to come back, return, and accept the support of other mangaka who advocated for him. It’s spineless.
Writer of Act Age, a manga that was doing extremely well in Weekly Shounen Jump, was arrested for indecent acts on minors. The artist of that manga because this series was co produced by two people, humbly decides to cancel the manga for the victims’ sakes. Hoping they wouldn’t have to be reminded and suffer from seeing the manga Act Age anywhere. Did Watsuki directly hurt anybody? No. But many people as you said were hurt. His fan base. The girls in his porn collection. And I hope there’s no one else despite his proudly stating his preference for 11-15 year old girls. Does this man not think of the people he hurt?. Yet he continues to work as if it had been crime erased or left in the past.
Final point. Rurouni Kenshin may not have the authors p*doph*le interests in it. RK will always be a part of Watsuki himself. Art essentially is a reflection of your thoughts, ideas, politics, values, and virtues as a person. You can’t avoid thinking of the writer himself who poured his soul and characteristics into his character and their journeys. It is a personal look into Watsuki himself, you can’t avoid that whenever talking of RK. You can’t erase the artist from their art. I speak from personal and outside experiences of artists.
Watsuki hasn’t shown enough shame and action for what he’s done looking at it from a Japanese lens when compared to other cases. The outcome should’ve been more similar to those cases. Like you said, we can’t decide punishment or how to move forward since the sicko is here to stay.
Do I think fans should be guilty to enjoy RK? No. But I will be disappointed in those fans hyping up Watsuki return and gassing this series. Enjoy it. Because I too found enjoyment in RK a looooong time ago. So I understand. I just don’t see enough acts of this man wanting to redeem himself. What a shameless vile person
It's sad that everyone is ignoring your comment. Great way of seeing the video, he did make the author look more like a victim of the Japanese society than a criminal, with is obviously wrong. I can get that this opinion is born from a deep love from the series, but this is not an excuse for the way he made this video trying to be a way of making other people view the crime in a more lighter light.
@@votamkrystallo854 There was a lot about the series I enjoyed, both anime and manga. But that’s a crime, in which the author barely faced consequences. The law gave him the lightest punishment for his crime, and completely no social repercussions from society who would usually pressure anyone with allegations to leave their industry completely
No one should feel ashamed about enjoying a song, book, or any other media made by someone with a disgraceful past. Perfect humans are rare, and every else is a sinner. I find it interesting that the most non perfect humans are those that create things the others desire. It’s ok to hate someone if they don’t conform with your views but do not hate yourself or others for enjoying the arts.
Dude he bought and hoarded child porn. Most people I know havent done that shit. Stop making excuses.
Perfect humans are non existent, but you don't get to group every single ''sinner'' together. There is making shameful mistakes, and there is being a straight up disgusting criminal.
There is getting a speeding ticket and there is collecting so much FBI Party Van videos that the police thought you were a distributor AND saying in court that your prefer middle school girls. You shouldn't lump the two together.
i don't understand what you mean her @20:49 by "fictional depiction of this content is still legal"? such fiction is not harmful as it have nobody getting hurt in it, are you supposed to be predator for liking this kinda of content and who are you praying on, fiction?
hard pass will never touch the persons work again
Nice shout out to Dan Carlin, his work with his series Super Nova of the East was super interesting and well researched I highly recommend it.
Indeed. Also his Logical Insanity episode is great for learning how we ever got to the point of dropping atomics on people.
When you put out your list of "lenses" you were going to view this in and had anthropological listed I had red flags go up all over the place. I'm so glad that didn't turn out the way I was afraid it was going to when I saw that term in this context.
This is the ultimate test of being able to separate the art from the artist.
Some can, some cannot.
Great, great video. I too and a longtime Ruroken fan and the last few years have been an emotional rollercoaster to say the least. You parsed through a very complicated topic masterfully and I'm so glad this popped up on my feed. Subbed!
He created Rurouni Kenshin but he sold the rights of the anime over a decade ago and thus regardless of what a pervert he was behind close doors I never knew the guy I only knew Kenshin his creation and there has never been anything perverted in Kenshin and it's been one of the most amazing anime's of all times. Just like in hollywood they say a lot of the artist are pedos and evil but people go watch the movies and have nothing to do with their works. I just wanna say I love rurouni kenshin ! and i'm glad the remark is here in 2023!
Appreciated this video and your tone.. it helped calm my nerves. As a woman who read the Rurouni Kenshin manga and followed the anime that news in 2017 broke me. I admired the original Rurouni Kenshin... it got me into being an anime fan in the first place. Knowing Watsuki did such things... It makes my skin crawl.
It's been long enough that I personally forgive him, could be that I was born in a religious family and taught to forgive those who've wronged. I did make a choice not to read the new R.K. manga but I am watching 2023's Rurouni Kenshin anime, curiosity and the fandom-side has gotten the best of me. I'll always be a fan of Kenshin ip. definitely helped me during tough times in highschool coping with my alcoholic Father. Last year I got myself an Rurouni Kenshin animation cel, I'm happy to know that funds went to another fan and not directly Watsuki but I serenity wish him and his family peace. Please universe or whomever, give us love over this situation and those hurt by it.
“Kenshin was made to be an assassin” wtf? He literally abandoned his training to become one. His master even shits on him for it lol
Fun fact, fictional depictions of the "that stuff" is legal in the US too. Only if it involves a real kid is it illegal in the US.
Under US law as long as its can't be confuse with a real photo and no children where used in the making of the art its not CP but it can still found to illegal under US Obscenity laws which compare to CP is a lesser charge
Japan was one of the founding members of the League of Nations, they departed in 1931 over the condemnation of their invasion of Manchuria.
"What makes these books different is that Watsuki's personal issues are not evident at all within them."
That's it, that's the reason I still watch Rurouni Kenshin.
My question has always been can you separate the artist from his craft and is the craft connected directly to the artist's experiences?
No you can’t as the moral lines of society have become so horrid that all sense is lost. You have people taking conspiracy theories as fact today and folks using anime to be a bunch of pedos so we are far past the intellectual days of those questions. Unfortunately. 😢 just my opinion on it.
For me personally I can’t, because I have trauma related to Watsuki’s crime, and despite loving Rurouni Kenshin as much as I have, I think this is the death of it for me. I just can’t watch it now without being reminded of his crime, and my trauma.
@@hakichan94and that is the ultimate answer "it depends on the viewer and their tolerances"
There are some "monsters" whose work I might be able to consume in small doses, but eventually I have to come to terms with passively or actively patronizing them.
So I don't pretend to have a universal answer, just "whatever works to get you to tomorrow"
I really appreciate your anthropological approach and think you framed things really well.
Trust & Betrayal is one of the best anime OVAs ever produced. Kenshin will always have a special place in my heart.
Knowing Japan and their atrocities to us, it was literally Hell according to my grandma so it was a hard pill to swallow learning from her. Times passed, people moved on and do things for the betterment of society.
I'm somewhere the same age as you and I've loved RK when I was only on elementary school and was even one of the most beloved anime in the Philippines during the 90s. When the live action movies got announced, many fans lined up to watch em because of its beloved story and characters. I had a Japanese friend told me about that controversy, honestly got disappointed but I understood where he's coming from...society and all but that doesn't mean he's clean from it. I still love his work today because of its messages and story, despite the creator's past.
Thanks for sharing your insights on this~
Japan was nuked and many japanese gruesomely perished but South Korea still wants to continue bitching about apologies from Japan when South Korea commited attrocities in Vietnam