Sushio, longtime Studio TRIGGER animator most famous for his character design work in Kill La Kill and animation work in Promare, has recently expressed his support for an openly racist far-right wing politician on his social media account, causing backlash from Japanese fans of the studio.
In a series of now deleted X posts, Sushio stated that his favorite candidate for the upcoming July elections in Japan was Uryu Hirano, a non-affiliated politician currently campaigning for a seat in the House of Councillors. Sushio called Hirano’s attitude to life inspiring, sharing one of her speeches on his X account.
Many of his fans reacted negatively to the posts, pointing out the racist beliefs Hirano has endorsed over the past few years – and an excerpt from one of her speeches shows how extreme they actually were. As part of her campaign, she lets one of her major supporters talk about how “equality between races is impossible,” claiming Japanese superiority over white and black people, and calling black people “on the same level of intelligence as dolphins or orca whales.” Furthermore, Hirano has an aggressive anti-Chinese ideology, with some of her key policies including visas and naturalization restrictions for Chinese nationals, abolishment of the business management visa for Chinese nationals and banning of selling Chinese products in Japan.
Users on X also suggest Sushio may be a supporter of the Sanseito, a right-wing populist political party, often referred to as “extremist” and involved in controversies regarding denial of Japanese war crimes. Note that many supporters of Hirano’s policies are also sympathizers of the Sanseito party.
In another post, Sushio likened the political scene of Japan to an anime, referring to the protagonists as a “small team who finally came to save Japan from a state of crisis” – prompting many to believe that he is likening the small team of protagonists to the sympathizers of Hirano and the Sanseito, with the “crisis” being the presence of foreign nationals in Japan. Many Japanese TRIGGER fans voiced their concern over Sushio’s endorsement of far-right politicians on his official profile, expressing that his post could reflect badly on the studio’s reputation.
Amidst announcing a sequel to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, an anime which was notably created in cooperation with a Western studio, the implication that one of their more influential staff supports xenophobic and racist policies does not give the already internationally popular studio a good image. Furthermore, given that Sushio has participated in many major overseas anime conventions, there’s no doubt that, alongside Japanese fans, many western fans would be disappointed that an artist who went overseas for work multiple times would endorse racist politicians or associate himself with anti-foreigner ultranationalist policies.
