A pair of lolis attract controversy in Japan

February 25, 2024

Although you may feel uncomfortable just knowing this, lolis are an important genre within the adult manga (hentai doujinshi) industry in Japan. In fact, there is a magazine titled “Comic LO“, what does it mean “Lolis Only“. That is the weight of the genre within the industry, however, although the content is evidently controversial, there is a general idea of “separating reality from fiction” among readers.

You might wonder, how did a loli magazine become controversial even among consumers of the genre in Japan? Well, it all has to do with the following illustration:

It looks like a simple illustration of a couple of elementary school girls, don’t you think? Well obviously everything is in the context. It turns out that this image is based on a controversial advertising campaign by the clothing brand H&M. In a campaign shared in Australia on the occasion of back to school, H&M shared a photograph of two primary school girls posing in front of a pink background. They both wore gray dresses, ruffled socks and Mary Jane shoes, looking over their shoulders at the camera.

The problem arose from the slogan, which wrote: «Turn heads with H&M’s back-to-school fashion». With its allusion to prying eyes and dressing to attract attention, the expression “turn heads” is a strange phrase to associate with a girl. In other words, making girls attract the attention of adults was a terrible decision on the part of H&M’s marketing team. After the intense controversy, the company canceled the advertising campaign and apologized profusely to its consumers.

It’s funny how the mentality of loli consumers works in Japan. Among these fans, the idea of “separating reality from fiction” persists, but when the hentai artist Sabaku Chitai He made the illustration you saw at the beginning and shared it with pride, not many were happy. It turns out that making a parody of completely real girls was not attractive to many of the genre’s consumers.

Precisely for this reason, Comic LO’s editorial department issued a press release acknowledging that there was a controversy with the illustration in question.and stating that “the content of Comic LO is completely fiction” and that “all Comic LO readers should never attempt to replicate what they read in doujinshi.”

This statement, although in defense of the artist, was also a call to his attention, and he acknowledged it on Twitter:

«Statement from the Comic LO editorial team. My private words and actions are my own and the editorial team is not responsible for them. I beg you to understand. I apologize to anyone who has been upset or offended by my behavior. Lastly, I would like to thank all my readers for their continued support», wrote the artist.

However, it took both the magazine and the artist a week to issue a public apology, which was enough time for the controversy to grow out of control. Even other hentai artists were offended by having connected a real-life event with the content of Comic LO. One of them was the popular Nogiwa Kaedewho wrote:

«I just spoke with the publisher and have decided to stop collaborating with Comic LO magazine in the future. I apologize to those who were expecting new content from me in this magazine. Personally, I cannot agree with the publisher’s stance on the matter at hand, which caused a difference in ideals. I mean, I think the magazine as a whole should be more aware of the need to separate fact from fiction, and the response they gave wasn’t enough to demonstrate that.», he wrote on Twitter.

Don’t you think it’s an extremely curious situation? It’s like that meme “I am a decent pig, not a pig“. And, of course, she did not go unnoticed on the comment forums:

«Even among hentai artists there are ethics and common sense».
«This time it’s not about feminists, don’t be confused. This is about not involving real life issues in our loli hobbies.».
«Comic LO’s position is hypocritical and I don’t think so. It’s like they don’t care when real kids get involved.».
«Even Kaede Nogiwa-sensei, whose style is completely extreme to look at, felt offended by this matter.».
«It is often said that even among pigs there are social classes, and this has been completely confirmed».
«It reminds me of when the artist Shouji Dodai said that illustrators who didn’t know how to differentiate reality from fiction were potential sexual offenders. And eventually they arrested him for groping minors in the street.».
«It’s amazing that the Japanese considered the H&M controversy to be “overblown,” but when a lolicon artist used that theme for an illustration, everyone lost their minds.».
«It’s true, I guess that’s why loli designs in anime are unrealistic. But when they refer to something real, readers realize that what they read is morally wrong and they make these controversies».
«These are otakus who clearly know where to draw the line, something that is rare these days. In the past, otakus had decency, but now it seems that they take pride in ridiculing themselves on the Internet and exposing private tastes».