Weekly Shonen Jump's Editorial Department has emitted an official apology regarding My Hero Academia's controversy in Issue #10.
Regarding the character name 'Maruta' that appeared in Chapter 259 of 'My Hero Academia' published in Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #10 2020 (released on February 3rd), many readers from overseas, including China, have pointed out that this name brings up historical events.
The character that appeared in this chapter was named 'Maruta', but it was never intended for its name to overlap with past historical events. However, the combination of the name and the setting of the character as the doctor of an evil organization has been...
...irritating, especially in China. The editorial department should have done a deep examination of the name before its publication, so we deeply apologize. We'll take this issue seriously and change the character's name when physical and digital volumes are printed and released.
In the future, we will continue our efforts to deepen our understanding of various histories and cultures to not ever cause again such situations, and we will deliver manga that will be liked and appreciated by everyone while understanding everyone's feelings.
This is the comment from the editorial department. Now comes the comment directly from Kohei Horikoshi, mangaka of My Hero Academia:
I'm really sorry many people felt uncomfortable and irritated about the name 'Maruta' in My Hero Academia's Chapter 259. The character's ambition by the former 'All For One' and the Villain Alliance made him want to get closer to its existence, so his name came from...
...the name 'Shigaraki', taking 'Shiga', and 'Maruta', as in meaning 'chubby and fat'. Everything was accidental and had no intent to hurt any reader. I really apologize from the bottom of my heart, and I will do my best to not repeat this situation ever again.
Official Apology in English:
The apology has been written also in Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean to address the whole reach of the situation. It's also in PDF. shueisha.co.jp/info/20200207.…
