Screenshot from WEGO official website

Japanese fashion brand WEGO has come under mounting criticism from Chinese netizens after announcing a collaboration with controversial Japanese anime My Hero Academia, which had previously been removed from major Chinese video platforms for using names from the history of Japan's militarist invasion of China.

Worse still, WEGO's collaboration this time was announced to launch promotional window display on September 18, the anniversary of the September 18 Incident in 1931, which marked Japan's invasion of China.

According to a screenshot of WEGO's X account circulating on Chinese social media platform, the brand announced recently that the collaboration would feature newly illustrated visuals of six My Hero Academia characters, with products ranging from character-inspired apparel and accessories to T-shirts featuring images from the anime. The post also noted that window-display would be staged at selected store from September 18.

Although the original post could no longer be found on WEGO's X account on Friday, it had triggered strong reactions on Chinese social media regarding its choice of September 18 for window-display.   

On September 18, 1931, Japanese troops blew up a section of railway under their control near Shenyang in Northeast China and accused Chinese troops of sabotage as a pretext for their attack later that night against barracks near Shenyang, starting the premeditated invasion of China.

Many Chinese netizens criticized WEGO for choosing the date for the launch of a collaboration involving an anime that had already sparked controversy in China. Some accused the company of showing insensitivity toward Japanese militarist history, while others called for a boycott of WEGO products and said they would no longer purchase from the brand.

Comments circulating on Chinese social media included remarks such as, the brand deliberately chose September 18 for the collaboration, and it is hard to believe there was no hidden message behind choosing this date. The hashtag concerning the WEGO-My Hero Academia collaboration attracted discussion on Chinese social media, with some users saying they had previously bought WEGO products but would now stop purchasing from the brand.

The controversy has been further fueled by My Hero Academia's previous dispute involving wartime history. The Japanese manga series once had a large fan base in China, but was boycotted by Chinese netizens and removed from major Chinese video platforms in 2020 over content widely viewed as insulting to Chinese and people of other Asian countries.

The controversy centered on a villain named "Maruta Shiga," who conducts human experiments in the manga series. However, during Japan's invasion of China, "Maruta" was a derogatory term used by Japanese troops to call the victims of Japan's Unit 731, while "Shiga" was linked to Japanese bacteriologist Kiyoshi Shiga. Unit 731 carried out inhumane bacterial warfare and human experimentation during Japan's invasion of China, killing more than 3,000 Chinese, Korean, Soviet and Western prisoners of war.

This is not the first time a collaboration involving My Hero Academia has sparked criticism. A commemorative visual collaboration between Japanese anime Detective Conan, and My Hero Academia, also drew backlash in February. 

Against that background, many consumers see the latest WEGO collaboration as knowingly touching the same historical nerve.

Neither WEGO's official announcement nor the anime's official website explains why September 18 was selected as the launch date. 

The Beijing News said in a commentary that the controversy had escalated on Thursday, with critical comments appearing under WEGO's overseas social media posts about the collaboration. Users also repeatedly raised questions and criticism during a livestream on the brand's Taobao store that day.
According to the Beijing News, WEGO removed the original collaboration post from its overseas social media account on Thursday evening.

The brand may argue that the My Hero Academia collaboration is being sold only in Japan. But for a company that operates across both the Japanese and Chinese markets — through its Japanese website, Chinese e-commerce channels and an expanding physical retail presence in Shanghai — public collaborations cannot simply be viewed as confined to one isolated market, particularly when the brand is actively tapping into anime culture, ita-bag consumption and the emotional engagement of young consumers to grow its business.

For a multinational brand, "localization" should go beyond translating product pages into Chinese. Genuine localization also requires respect for consumers' historical memory and a basic sensitivity to issues that could cross deeply felt red lines, read the commentary.