 |
|
12/8/00 No, nobody's died. Thank God. But Trigun, always something of a cult series, is now getting the kind of publicity in Japan no one ever could have dreamed of--clips from the manga and anime on the evening news. And that's not a good thing. In the latest outbreak of juvenile crime in Japan, a seventeen-year-old boy, ostensibly motivated by a desire to take human life, threw a homemade bomb into a randomly-selected Tokyo video shop. Luckily, no one was injured, and he turned himself in to police custody minutes afterwards. However, in the frenzy for details on the case, the mass media latched onto a certain love-and-peace promoting action series the troubled boy had quoted in his junior high school yearbook. Yes, today's television news was sprinkled with "Youth Bombing Influenced by Anime/Manga?" stories, all zeroing in on Trigun. All mentioned the publisher's official statement that Trigun's message was of the importance of human life, and those that showed video footage showed both the scene quoted and Rem's "No one has the right to take another's life" line, but in most cases, the overall impression was a negative one. As of this evening, the media seemed to have dropped Trigun in favor of reporting more significant details, such as the boy's long history of antisocial behavior, shooting animals with air guns, and building explosives. I'm sure Trigun will be cleared of all blame, since the crime bears no resemblance to anything in the manga and runs counter to the very message of Trigun, but I worry about the damage done to Trigun's reputation by the negative publicity. Nightow-sensei wouldn't stop drawing Trigun Maximum, would he? Shounen Gahousha wouldn't stop publishing Trigun Maximum, would they? 12/9/00 Nightow-sensei has placed the following statement on his website: The works I have drawn to date are my answer. Please read them. In an interesting development, today a message was posted on Nightow-sensei's BBS by a user named "cout" who claims to be a friend of the bomber. Selected quotes from his post: I don't know how he's been recently, but I can't help but feel pained by his actions and words. Because I love Trigun, and I know he did, too. When I think that perhaps [of the two of us], only I understood [Trigun], it tears me up inside... ...Undoubtedly, he is the one at fault. That is definite. But this is not the end of his life. It will go on. I am sure that someday, he will truly be able to move on. I believe that the fact that there were no fatalities was not just coincidence, it was because he was the perpetrator. "cout" also points to the warmth and humanity the fan community has displayed during this incident as exemplifying the spirit of Trigun, and asks us to find it in our hearts not to hate his friend, but to watch over him as Vash would. ---- I missed the full-length news today, but the Shinjuku bombing incident hasn't been in any of the news featurettes. Hopefully the focus on Trigun has died down for good. I'll keep this page updated as I hear more. 12/12/00 I'm assuming no news is good news, as far as the Shinjuku incident is concerned. And I'm in no position to preach, but I'd like to take this little gray soapbox and suggest: If something is
troubling you, talk to someone. |