Japanese anime and manga fans are urging Donald Trump to stop using their favourite characters in his social media posts. Approximately 20,000 people have signed a petition on Change.org titled "Protect Japanese Manga," protesting the official White House X account's use of imagery from popular series like Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Naruto.
The petition was initially created in March after the White House posted a video combining footage of US strikes with anime scenes. The official Yu-Gi-Oh! account stated that the original creators were not involved and no permission was given. A recent image posted on Truth Social depicting Trump as the ninja Naruto Uzumaki from the Naruto franchise has reignited fan outrage, leading to the petition's revival and renewed lobbying efforts with the Japanese government.
Fans expressed concerns about the use of these characters in political or military contexts, feeling it misrepresents the values these works convey and potentially infringes on creators' intentions. Shueisha, the publisher of Naruto, stated that the copyright for the anime images used in Trump's post is held by the film production committee.
