AnimeGate

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Overview

AnimeGate refers to various controversies within online anime fandom communities, similar to the GamerGate movement. While many of the controversies stemmed from content in various anime series, the #AnimeGate hashtag was popularized in the wake of the sexual harassment allegations against anime voice actor Vic Mignogna.

Background

According to Redditor Monchete99,^[1] one of the first AnimeGate-related controversies surrounded the release of the first episode of the anime Goblin Slayer in February 2018, which featured a graphic scene in of a character being sexually assaulted by a group of goblins. The scene drew backlash online for the imagery, with some accusing it of promoting misogyny and rape culture, leading others to defend the anime against what they claimed was unfair criticism.

Developments

Zombie Land Saga Crunchyroll Subbing Controversy

On November 22nd, 2018, the eighth episode of Zombie Land Saga was broadcast; in the episode, it is revealed that the character Lily Hoshikawa is a trans girl originally named Masao Gō before she died. Following the release of the episode on Crunchyroll, several Internet users claimed that the episode's subtitles may have been changed in order to push a pro-LGBT message which was not present in the original. This claim spurred a movement in support of the character, including posts by the show's official English social media accounts. The claims have since been disproved by fans comparing the original Japanese audio to the Crunchyroll subtitles, revealing that no specific details were fabricated by the translation, as well as by comments from the series' staff.

Rising of The Shield Hero

On January 9th, 2019, an anime adaptation of the series The Rising of the Shield Hero premiered, which sparked online debate over its inclusion of a false rape allegation in the show's plot.

Vic Mignogna Sexual Harassment Allegations

In mid-January 2019, allegations about voice actor Vic Mignogna, best known for voicing the character Edward Elric from the English dub of the anime series Fullmetal Alchemist, were widely circulated in a Twitter thread, though rumors about the actor had appeared years prior on the site PrettyUglyLittleLiar.

#AnimeGate

On January 22nd, 2019, the Clownfish TV YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "Has Crunchyroll Triggered ANIMEGATE?! Goblin Slayer BLOCKED from Awards!" (shown below).

On March 29th, 2019, the site CBR^[2] published an article titled "Trolls Want #AnimeGate to Be a Thing; It Won't Be," which cited the Mignogna scandal along with the Goblin Slayer, The Rising of a Shield Hero, Zombie Land Saga and High Guardian Spice controversies as "issues trolls have tried to use to provoke #AnimeGate." The following day, the site One Angry Gamer^[3] published an article titled "CBR Targets #AnimeGate, Calls Anime Fans Trolls For Rejecting SJW Propaganda," which referred to the accusations against Mignogna as "unproven and unsubstantiated."