Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 

Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 

According to Anime News Network, Recovery of an MMO Junkie anime director Kazuyoshi Yaginuma has been retweeting and liking antisemitic tweets for years, but recently, he’s started making his views known in English.

[Image via Funimation]

Kotaku‘s Cecilia D’Anastasio called Recovery of an MMO Junkie her favourite anime of last spring.

[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2017/11/my-favourite-anime-this-fall-is-about-an-mmorpg-obsessed-woman/” thumb=”https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/t_ku-large/g0dlj5e8ujmonzm67qac.png” title=”My Favourite Anime This Spring Is About An MMORPG-Obsessed Woman” excerpt=”I was not expecting my favourite anime so far this season to be about an unemployed, 30-year-old MMORPG addict with an unhealthy drinking habit, but here we are.”]

Besides Recovery of an MMO Junkie, Yaginuma has worked on a variety of anime shows and movies, including doing key animation on three Naruto flicks and directing several Pokemon Generations episodes.

Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 

Besides conspiracies, he’s asked his followers why it was necessary for Nazis to kill mass numbers of Jewish people, questioned whether that atrocity really happened, and questioned the accuracy of Anne Frank’s diary and whether or not it’s fake. (The Dutch Government proved its authenticity decades ago.)

Yaginuma also appeared to doubt Nazi gas chambers on the grounds that there are no images of how they worked.

Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 

The parent company of Crunchyroll, which streams Recovery of an MMO Junkie, issued the following statement:

Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 

To which Yaginuma replied:

Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 

Signal MD, the animation studio that made Recovery of an MMO Junkie, recently issued a statement on February 16 denouncing Yaginuma’s tweets and saying the director was no longer employed by the studio. He had been brought on to direct the anime, which finished its run. Signal MD’s statement can be read below:

Statement by SIGNAL MD concerning Tweets under the name of whom the director of “Recovery of an MMO Junkie”

It has come to our attention that a series of Tweets under the handle, @yaginuma_san, apparently made by Mr. Kazuyoshi Yaginuma have included anti-Semitic comments. SIGNAL MD wishes to make it clear that it is strongly opposed to and deprecates anti-Semitism and all forms of racism or discrimination.

Mr. Yaginuma was director of the anime “Recovery of an MMO Junkie” produced by SIGNAL MD, has never been our company member and is no longer employed by us.

Assuming the comments which appear under the Twitter handle @yaginuma_san, were indeed made by Mr. Yaginuma, they are not linked to his role as director of “Recovery of an MMO Junkie” and are not supported by SIGNAL MD.

We will continue to create works that are moving and enjoyable, with the philosophy of giving excitement to many viewers and working to create works that satisfy our clients.

Thank you for your support and understanding.

SIGNAL.MD, Inc.

On February 17, Yaginuma tweeted this:

Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 

And this, among other tweets:

Anime Director Causes Controversy With Antisemitic Tweets 


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