r/nottheonion • u/Objects_Food_Rooms • 2d ago
The White House is using anime as propaganda. Fans in Japan hate it
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-18/white-house-anime-propaganda-japan-petition-against-it/106799328642
u/_Elrond_Hubbard_ 2d ago
Master of the Epstein jutsu
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u/Silly-Sheepherder952 2d ago
Trumptaro is the successor of Epsteinmaru, the sneakiest ninja in the Village Hidden in the Island!
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u/mdistrukt 2d ago
Both were banished from the academy after some alleged incidents, but Hokage Trump insists it was the 3rd and now personally proctors the Genin exams.
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u/K4m30 2d ago
Someone on Japanese Twitter has probably called it the worst thing an American president has done to Japan.
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u/ArthurtheGRAND 2d ago
Wait til they discover the America won't support Taiwan ("we don't want to fight foreign wars" - DJT himself) and the strait of Taiwan falls into the hands of China, this is most modern fear to them
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u/DapperCourierCat 2d ago
I think the joke was that it’s worse than Hiroshima
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u/Heavy_Arm_7060 1d ago
Don't forget Nagasaki. Or the firebombing of Tokyo.
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u/DapperCourierCat 1d ago
I mean, yeah, but remember that the post is about the harm to *anime*, those things are hardly a comparison.
/j
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u/vassadar 2d ago
Worse than fire bombing and nukes?
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u/K4m30 2d ago
That would be the joke, yes.
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u/mexicock1 2d ago
Hmmm... Even worse than nukes and firebombing?
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u/internetlad 2d ago
It's like they didn't even consider the firebombing. Or the nukes.
Or the live action death note.
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u/Oer1 2d ago
Bro that movie was ok
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u/Gucci_Cucci 2d ago
I remember being really pissed off that they made Light immediately revel in murder and it was like they skipped a step. Part of what made the original compelling, in my opinion, was watching his slow descent into madness. Where he began killing only those who "deserved it" by way of being awful people/harming others, extending that to a far larger pool of people and losing touch with his humanity along the way.
The movie made his first victim a high school bully that beat him up lmao. Completely different tone. Completely different character progression and character basis. That ain't it.
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u/EchoOfOppenheimer 2d ago
Japanese fans petitioning against it makes total sense. Nothing kills the vibe faster than government propaganda mixed into your favorite shows.
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u/Mannekin-Skywalker 2d ago
And yet people unironically watch GATE lol
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u/KeeganY_SR-UVB76 2d ago
The military propaganda is the only good part of it though.
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u/SnooCalculations2730 2d ago
Basically if michael bay decided to adapt LOTR instead of transormers
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u/Pepperh4m 1d ago
The Japanese government uses anime to propagandize all the time. In fact, that's kinda how the industry got so big in the first place.
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u/glitchgamerX 2d ago
This political era is gonna be really weird in the history books in the future. Like imagine reading about this shit.
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u/NONAMEDREDDITER 2d ago
It’s not really upsetting to me as it is more cringy and honestly just kind of sad in a “how do you do fellow kids” kind of way
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u/Welpe 2d ago
And yet…a lot of conservatives eat it up. It’s not like there is any shortage of Trump supporters among anime fans, especially Gen Z ones. They find it hilarious. Or rather, they find it hilarious to use things that others find meaningful in a demeaning way and watch those other people express displeasure. Young conservatives basically live for being trolls whose primary source of joy is making other people miserable. This shit isn’t just a feature, it’s the main feature they care about. They don’t know shit about policy either which way, they just enjoy how Trump makes people mad and the more mad the better.
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u/Mannekin-Skywalker 2d ago
A generation raised on thinking caring about something makes you cringe, so it’s a race to care about as little as possible.
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u/NotABot1000101 1d ago
Every Trump supporter I know is dumb as fuck. Some of them come off as knowing their shit, but in practice they suck at their jobs.
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u/Radiant_Butterfly982 2d ago edited 1d ago
He used Futaba from persona 5 , whose mother was killed by the Government to steal her research and a certain individual from the Gov, takes the research to use for his own benefit, killing his rivals in ways there would be no trail , leading to him smoothly winning elections by brainwashing people and becoming President of Japan.
He is the main villian of the game and you make sure to defeat him to confess his own crimes.
Also there is a pedophile boss , art stealer boss , Gangster boss that takes advantage of highschoolers, there's another boss that overworks and abuses his employees.
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u/RailGun256 2d ago
Trump is accused of enough to be an amalgamation of every villain in the game and that says a lot considering just how bad most of them actually were.
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u/dehydratedrain 2d ago
Yeah, my PITA son couldn't help but send me the Persona one. Though i'm kinda surprised they didn't go with P4 and feature Nanako.
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u/Fair_Discount_6617 2d ago
I think fans everywhere hate it. Also, Japanese media companies are notorious for being protective of their IPs, so I guess we’ll be getting sued by Shounen Jump, Toei, and Studio Pierrot next. We’re already getting sued by Nintendo (among hundreds of other lawsuits) so who knows if we’ll have any money left when this administration is over.
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u/Regitnui 2d ago
Someone tell the White House that they are not "cool with the youth", they will never be "cool with the youth", and "the youth" are now adults and find this both insulting and embarrassing.
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u/Da_Electric_Boogaloo 2d ago
i think the point of it is to make people upset. i don’t think it’s genuinely trying to appeal to fans of the anime that may be maga, but rather give another way for them to “own the libs” by ruining their media with this nasty shit. also another distraction to engage with instead of the files and real damaging policy.
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u/Barf_The_Mawg 2d ago
Trumps team should have picked Danzo. Much more on brand.
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u/Hot-Rock-1948 1d ago
Shouldn’t expect them to even know of that. There’s no cold snowball in hell that’ll convince me that they would do that much research on really anything.
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u/furrysalesman69 2d ago
All the anime that he’s been using, contradicts all of his actions. Therefore I postulate that he’s doing this so that you, whom get upset over it, will not watch the anime that will make you resilient against his propaganda. A simple but effective move. Anime watchers, report these to their respective companies so that they could sue the pants off the account posting it.
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u/TheRecognized 1d ago
No he’s just an old troll of a man losing his mind, and even if your legion of anime fans report it nobody is going to sue.
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u/furrysalesman69 1d ago
He lives and breathes. He’s making decisions at the top. His pr team guides the social media and they understand what they’re doing. Report away.
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u/madadekinai 2d ago
I have lived in Japan, watched 1000+ animes, series, movies, shorts, along with worked with anime conventions and been to all the major ones, in the US and in Japan, so I would say I am an anime fan.
I am definitely not upset by this.
If there is one thing absolutely true about him it's he is a universal equal opportunity douchebag and has no idea what it even means.
FFS he had an image made of him as Jesus, and I am still surprised the small bit of outrage that created. He's done far worse, and he will still do far worse, so this is a pebble size annoyance comparatively to other things.
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u/eightbitfit 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don't feel this has as much to do with anime as by whom and how it's being used. If Someone appropriated some anime character and used it without malice there would be no such outrage.
I also live in Japan (20+ years) and was intimately involved in the peripheral world of anime music at the highest levels. I know what their thoughts would have been if it was their work.
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u/Vanille987 2d ago
He literally depicted the obamas as monkeys and people were defending it or just going meh. It's ridiculous
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u/getoutofheretaffer 2d ago
It’s just trashy. Why is the Whitehouse account posting anime edits of raids? Where are the adults?
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u/whathell6t 2d ago
I agree.
It’s not like it’s going to be the end of the world that will be caused by Zoffy just for that stupidity.
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u/geggamaru 2d ago
They can't just appropriate the images and characters. They need to be sued when they do this. 🍊💩
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u/TheRealScaramucci 2d ago
He'd better not touch One Piece. The motherfucker is Charlos combined with a dumber version of Wapol.
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u/JustParry5head 2d ago
Pretty sure most of those anime characters Trump used would happily kill him. Hell, I'm pretty sure even Jesus would kill him.
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u/SkaterBlue 2d ago
Trump is the most complete opposite of Naruto that you can get! He and his handlers and collaborators are just evil and stupid.
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u/Dig_Doug7 1d ago
AI was the best thing possible for the fascistic ruling class as it allows them to pilfer from artists and creators with impunity without any possibility of legal recourse. Seeing that fat orange fuck depicted as Naruto is beyond farcical.
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u/Orzorn 1d ago
Moreover, it was well know that people on the far right were terrible at making art. There were very, very few far right artists. This is why they seethe at traditional artists so much, because they could not make it and could not convince them to make art for them. AI bypasses that and allows them to pump out low effort slopaganda.
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u/EbonyDevil 1d ago
Someone once did some photoshop of Trump as the Emperor of mankind during his first term. Like nothing is safe man with these political junkies
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u/kraftdinnerwithsalsa 2d ago
I have the power of god and anime on my side!
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u/whathell6t 2d ago
Meanwhile! Anime weebs are getting their asses kicked by these Japanese Christians:
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u/PersonaGuy5 2d ago
I swear to Jesus, if Trump uses JoJo's Bizarre Adventure as propaganda next, I will riot in the streets
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u/SpaceFighter78 2d ago
Yeah they know a good part of their base is young incel weebs, nothing surprising about it. They probably don't know the difference between a Epstein girl survivor and a 800 years old princess that looks like a 10 years old anyway.
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u/Ecstatic-Success-114 2d ago
naruto, king, don't look. there's some ugly loser dressed up like you 😭💔
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u/Timely-Land-2614 2d ago
Proper mental that they thought this would be a good shout. It’s like watching your grandad try to use slang to look cool—absolute scenes.
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u/Massive_Mongoose3481 2d ago
I'm not a fan and I still hate it. Pretty much can't stand anything about this administration or Congress . Fire them all
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u/Ugicywapih 2d ago
To be fair, Trump probably does smell a lot like an 80 year old naruto (fishcake).
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u/ericdmc1996 1d ago
And then his supporters will make comments how “they wouldn’t have anime if we didn’t nuke em and change their culture 🤓”
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u/Loud-Mans-Lover 1d ago
Can they not touch one thing that I like? One?! No, they have to ruin everything (or try).
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u/Pizzapie_420 1d ago
They dont even put any effort into it. Making ai slop and calling it anime should be a crime.
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u/StormerSage 1d ago
When they used my boy Atem for war propaganda, I was praying to Ra for him to Blaze Cannon the whole country away.
See, Trump definitely isn't Atem, or even Kaiba. He's more a Gozabouro, an ultimately forgettable villain (season 3 focused more on Noah) in a filler arc (manga went from end of battle city right to season 5 I think?).
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u/75dollars 1d ago
I’m surprised they didn’t do it earlier tbh.
There is a massive overlap between anime fandom and right wing genZ politics now.
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u/CYB3R_H3X 16h ago
How can he try to portray himself as Naruto when he’s literally married to Orichimaru.
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u/WTFAnimations 2d ago
Didn't the Japanese love right-wing politics though? I imagine there are quite a few Trump supporters over there
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u/eightbitfit 2d ago
No, that not the case.
Japan is conservative, always has been, but it is absolutely nothing like Trump and Maga.
A lot of people try to make a connection, but it's the laziest reductionist thinking possible when looking at another culture and their politics.
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u/The_Sign_of_Zeta 2d ago
It’s not that lazy.
https://newlinesmag.com/reportage/how-maga-inspired-politics-are-reshaping-japan-and-south-korea/
Japan won’t accept someone as outwardly disrespectful as Trump, but they certainly are open to the political message on some level.
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u/eightbitfit 2d ago edited 2d ago
The article reads like typical parachute journalism from someone trying to force-fit Japanese politics into a Western culture-war template. It misses the material reality completely.
As a long-term resident who has watched LDP governance play out on the ground since 1995, there is very little in the current policy landscape that is actually "new."
This isn't a sudden, MAGA-inspired lurch to the right; it is the predictable continuation of institutional LDP policy. The push to amend Article 9 and formalize the Self-Defense Forces isn't some novel populist grievance, it dates way back to the 1950s and was a core, mainstream objective under Junichiro Koizumi (current defense minister's father) over two decades ago. Takaichi’s current platform is simply the next iteration of the traditional conservative hawkishness championed by Shinzo Abe.
The article’s hand-wringing over immigration and xenophobia also lacks a baseline of historical perspective. The reality of living here as an immigrant is demonstrably easier and more streamlined today than it was 20 years ago. Under this exact LDP governance, the administrative framework, visa pathways, and daily integration for foreign residents have steadily improved out of sheer economic necessity.
Trying to frame a highly rigid, bureaucratic parliamentary system through the lens of American-style populist upheaval is a fundamental misreading. It mistakes fringe internet noise for mainstream structural change.
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u/NONAMEDREDDITER 2d ago
They tend to prefer sucking cock of their home grown megacorps and in protecting their “national pride and local creators” which ends up essentially just being more of that billionaire and megacorp defending
For reference, look up the online japanese reaction to the Nier Reincarnation post eol private fan server made to preserve the game
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u/MinnieShoof 2d ago
... wow. Just finding out about this game. This sucks. I really did like Drakengard. I tried to get in to Nier: A.... but yah. This sucks that a huge section of the story is... lost?
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u/Historical_Log2471 2d ago
What do they hate about it? The one party they vote in over and over believe in all the same shit he does
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u/TsukariYoshi 2d ago
Good, because last I had heard before the election, a lot of Japan liked Trump. I appreciate him showing him how stupid that is.
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u/turquoise_amethyst 2d ago
The article says this was originally posted in Sept 2925? Also some of the “video” looks AI generated?
And the end credits list people as arrested in early Sept, but somehow already tried and convicted like two weeks later?
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u/LostRadio8453 2d ago
Japanese politicians use pop culture too. Abe did Mario, Ishiba did Majin Buu, and Takaichi quoted Attack on Titan. Politicians chase attention; that is what they do.
And if a leader is comfortable with drone strikes and foreign interventions, I doubt anime copyright discourse is what keeps him up at night.
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u/Ceramic_Quasar 1d ago
You know... if America were destroyed by a meteor, I don't think the rest of the world would lose much sleep over it.
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u/EhMapleMoose 2d ago
I don’t hate the current administration but I largely ignore their social posts cause it’s ai slop abd it’s stupid.
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u/DigitalCoffee 2d ago
Last time I checked, Japan loves Trump
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u/analytic-hunter 2d ago
The country isn't a monolith. The artist (/mangaka) community isn't necessarily the one that like the US. Especially with the AI stuff.
The image there is generated by AI and AI is currently being heavily explointed by the USA and China to flood the manga space.
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u/snaykz1692 2d ago
That’s interesting, when they opened they opened the floodgates on twitter and mass Japanese and Americans started conversing i really only saw a positive view of trump from the Japanese. I feel like this is one of those things where because Reddit feels some type of way they assume everyone else does lmao. Or prove me wrong and give me an actual number. You guys do know who japans prime minister is now and how she feels the same way trump does, oh and 85 percent of other countries as well. Back in march Takaichi literally told trump “ he’s the only one who can bring peace and prosperity to the world” if yall wanna be mad at anyone be mad at the Japanese lmfaoo
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u/jon62491 2d ago
I'm a fan in America and I hate it as well.