Shonen Jump’s New Hit Addresses Controversy Amid Censorship Allegations

Shueisha’s Shonen Jump+ imprint recently serialized Drama Queen, a suspense manga by Kuraku Ichikawa. Jump+ is currently home to a wide range of series such as Astra Lost in Space, Hell’s Paradise: Jigokuraku, Spy × Family, Chained Soldier, Kaiju No. 8, Dandadan, and many more. Outside of Japan, the magazine releases chapters on MangaPlus. However, its new series, Drama Queen, got involved in a major controversy shortly after its debut. The first chapter features Nomamoto, the protagonist, having an unpleasant encounter with a couple, an alien and a human.

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The woman addresses the alien as her “partner.” However, Nomamoto later vents her frustration when she says she hates aliens, just like the women who call their boyfriends their “partners.” The translation sparked major controversy where readers claimed that the line was potentially referring to LGBT+ couples who may use a gender-neutral term for their significant others. It doesn’t take long for fans to misunderstand the situation, which is why Shonen Jump changed the controversial line in the official version.

Drama Queen Changes the Controversial Statement from Chapter 1

While the English version only had a direct translation, global fans didn’t take Naotama’s statement lightly. The word partner is often used as a neutral, inclusive, and versatile word. However, according to some fans, Naotama’s statement comes off as offensive. While Shonen Jump doesn’t make an official statement regarding the controversy, they quietly change the line. Nomamoto’s statement was changed to “Just like I hate women who use pet names for their boyfriends.”

Manga Mogura RE explains the situation on X (previously known as Twitter), “Regarding Drama Queen translation adjustment for the word ‘partner’: there is no censorship.” Manga Mogura explained the linguistic change as the following, “The term used in the Japanese version is ‘相方’ which translates to partner however it has not the same meaning as when the word partner used in English and nothing to do with inclusive language.”

“From what I know, in Japanese, some younger people use the word 相方 to refer to their BF/GF to make it sound more casual/less embarrassing but it is also the word comedic duos to refer to their partner so it’s a bit silly to some.” Mogura stated, analyzing the alteration in a nuanced manner, expanding with, “People misunderstood it in English as the author taking a jab at inclusive LGBT language and that’s probably why it was changed now.”

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It hasn’t even been a month since its debut, but the manga is already getting a lot of bad press because of its premise. Some readers believe that the other lines have perceivably “anti-immigrant” rhetoric remained in place. The debut chapter currently has 1.4k+ comments on MangaPlus with fans expressing their dissatisfaction over the themes explored.

What is Drama Queen about?

Drama Queen is set in modern Japan, nine years after the aliens moved to Earth. They saved the planet from destruction and are now living proudly among humans. However, while the rest of the world worships aliens as their savior, Nomamoto, a factory worker, is the only one who can see them for who they are. Aliens often act arrogantly, and she believes they look down on humans.

It also doesn’t help that her boss, an alien factory owner, is overworking her for low wages. She meets Kitami, whose family was killed by aliens, and the two quickly hit off for sharing something in common – their hatred for aliens. However, their lives turn upside down Kitami commits the most atrocious act and Nomamoto becomes an accomplice to help him out of the bind. The story takes a dark turn from the very first chapter. It was released on December 1s, and has released three chapters so far.

H/T: Manga Mogura on X, MANGA Plus