Dark Bocchi is back and fans explode

Twitter artist @IronicnotSavage has become a trend after sharing an illustration in which he reimagined Hitori "Bocchi" Gotou, the protagonist of the popular anime series "Bocchi the Rock!", as a dark-skinned character. The illustration unleashed a strong wave of critical commentary, mainly focused on the phenomenon known as "blackwashing", a trend in which fictional characters, usually light-skinned, are reinterpreted as people of color. These kinds of actions have sparked heated debates online, particularly about representation and identity in fiction.

Blackwashing has been a sensitive issue within certain communities, who feel that it is a forced appropriation of characters where there is no representation of people of color originally. This has generated both criticism and support in various areas. In the case of Bocchi's reimagining, most of the comments were negative, accusing the artist of having intentionally distorted the image of a character beloved by many.

One of the most viral comments reflected the frustration of the community: "Bocchi, but instead of working to meet the band's quotas, he uses welfare money and steals things from others." Other messages followed the same critical line: "This is absolutely garbage," and "Why did you also make her ugly?" One user even went further by saying, "Delete this and reevaluate your life. How dare you use art to force ugliness on the world?"

Among the comments that directly attack the artist's work were some quite direct ones: "Bocchi the thief," "Daily reminder that this is why gatekeeping exists," and "If you didn't have pronouns in your bio, you might appreciate this as a work of art. But seeing that you have them, I'm disgusted by your opinion disguised as art." Even debates about racial representation in the show's art picked up steam: "Please stop blackwashing, racism is insane," and "You know you don't need to make her ugly just because she's black, right?"

On the other hand, some comments defended the artist's right to experiment with his interpretation, although they also expressed their doubts: "I'm not a fan of race changes, but if you like doing it, keep at it. If you enjoy it, the rest is just opinions. Keep making good art."

An interesting point was the comparison that emerged with "Brazil Miku", a viral phenomenon in which Hatsune Miku was reimagined with Afro-Brazilian features and that, interestingly, was well received by the community. One user questioned, "Why does everyone hate it when they make a black character, but everyone loved Brazil Miku?" This led to debates about why certain characters are better accepted when reinterpreted with characteristics from other cultures.

Reactions of the Japanese

In Japan, the reception was somewhat different. Some comments reflected surprise at the backlash, with one mentioning, "I don't understand why everyone is praising Brazil Miku, isn't that the same?" Others focused on more aesthetic aspects, commenting that the character's design seemed to have lost Bocchi's essence: "It has none of the Bocchi element, it just looks like a cosplay of a person of color." In addition, some users pointed out that the skin change was not enough to bring the character to life, arguing that the reinterpretation looked more like an original character than an adaptation of Bocchi.

Another interesting comment highlighted the following: "If I didn't have the pink jacket, I would be a completely original character." And some wondered, "Why not just create an original character?" Despite the criticism, there were voices that defended artistic freedom, as reflected in the comment: "Isn't this just fanart? It's freedom of expression." However, the debate about the lack of "authenticity" continued: "It's not cute, but it does have some style."

Source: Yaraon!