After Distasteful Comment, Bushiroad Exec Apologizes [Updated]

Out of nowhere, it was revealed that the character Lisa in the Bang Dream media franchise has a younger brother. Fans who have been playing the app since 2017 are now learning this in the most recent event. Some are not happy. Bushiroad exec Takaaki Kidani addressed the controversy but made things worse.

In the above screenshot from the event, Lisa mentions that she is sewing a sweater for her little brother. The reason some fans were upset was that the addition seemed sudden after the app has been out so long. It seemed like shoddy storytelling and went against the way fans viewed Lisa.

Since the app was released, they had not been told the character had a little brother, so this was quite a surprise. People were so surprised by the revelation that Lisa’s name actually began trending in Japan on Twitter.

During a live stream for another anime, Kidani tried to address the little brother controversy. When discussing the in-game character, he told the women voice actors on the panel to cover their ears and instead of divulging the new sibling’s backstory, he said, “As long as it’s a father and a little brother whose penis can’t get hard that’s okay.” In short, he said that male characters can be added as long as they are fathers or pre-pubescent boys. It was an odd thing to say!

This comment didn’t go over well, and Kidani ended up apologizing on Twitter, saying that he thought the stream wasn’t live and that his inappropriate comment would be bleeped out.

That apology didn’t go over well, either. On Twitter, it was repeatedly pointed out to him that the lack of bleeping wasn’t the issue.

Rather, it was the distasteful and flippant way he addressed the issue, which showed little regard to players, live-stream viewers, and panel participants. Making a comment about male genitalia in front of these voice actors (in a stream for another anime for that matter) was seen as embarrassing and disrespectful.

October 25 - 6:30 AM EST: In an update, Bushiroad has removed mention of Lisa’s younger brother (弟) which previously appeared in the game’s dialogue text.