The ongoing Dandadan anime has been mired by yet another controversy. Past episodes triggered strong reactions from audiences due to the sexualization and partial nudity of underage characters. The hit anime, based on the manga by Yukinobu Tatsu, follows Momo and Okarun as they battle aliens and yokai on a mission to recover the latterâs family jewels, and discover their true feelings for each other. If one controversy wasnât enough, the fan base has turned on one of the showâs voice actors.
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Social media has been ablaze over the last week after a young Dandadan fan posted a piece of fan art online. 16-year-old artist @Lynn6Thorex (Lynn) posted an original artwork of Momo and Okarun on social media with the characters re-designed to look American. Okarun was redrawn as African-American, while Momo was given darker skin. The art ignited an online war, with upset fans calling out Lynn for âblackwashingâ the characters. Many flocked to Lynnâs defense, including Dandadanâs English dub voice actor, A.J. Beckles.
A.J. Beckles voices Okarun in Dandadanâs English dub. Beckles is a renowned voice actor, best known for the English dubs of Tokyo Revengers, Bungo Stray Dogs, Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War, and many more. It is unclear if A.J. Beckles was aware of the controversy, but the actor shared the art on X (formerly Twitter) with the caption â#NewProfilePic this is [fire emoji] thank you [Lynn].â
While some supported the artwork, many fans immediately turned on A.J. Beckles. The voice actor has since deleted his X account, most likely in response to the overwhelming and aggressively hateful comments under the post. As his account is gone, so too are the comments. However, Lynn has kept her original post live, and the comments are a painful sight to behold.
[RELATED: Dandadan Episode 11 Preview Introduces Okarunâs New Adversary]
Unfortunately, this is far from the first time a voice actor has felt the need to delete social media after intense and unwarranted backlash from fans. In February of this year, Cristina Vee (Uzumaki) deleted her X account after being falsely accused of holding Zionist beliefs. Despite debunking the claims, the misguided backlash was too intense, and the acclaimed voice actress has yet to reinstate her account.
In 2023, Persona 5âs English dub actress, Erica Lindbeck, also abandoned X (weâre starting to see a pattern emerging with X) after responding to an AI video on YouTube. The video used Lindbeckâs Persona 5 performance to sing songs without the actressâ consent. While the owner of the video obliged her request for it to be taken down, social media users werenât as kind and bombarded her account with reposts and hateful messages.
H/T: Lynn on X
