Square Enix's Efforts to Silence Dragon Quest Controversy... An Attempt to Scrub the Eye Opening Interview from the Internet?
The controversy surrounding Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake continues to unravel, and it seems that Square Enix is now determined to try and erase all traces of it from the internet. The focal point of this drama originated at the Tokyo Games Show, in a situation I covered a few days ago.
Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and former Weekly Shonen Jump Editor-in-Chief Kazuhiko Torishima made some specific remarks about the game's 'forced' design changes. The subsequent fallout happening right now suggests that the once Japanese gaming giant may be trying to suppress a discussion they find uncomfortable... or, better stated, where they feel they are forced to bend the knee to the 'woke agenda'.
Of course, the first thing the 'hate mob' starts to do is jump to in with their attacks aligning Yuji Horii with Hitler, because hard-core lefty reasoning...
The interview in question, which was posted and translated by Valute News (@saou0345 on X), contained some ...noteworthy comments. Yuji Horii expressed his discontent about having to cover up characters and remove gender options for the Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake to comply with international regulations, particularly from the United States.
Torishima added to this by making a bold criticism of "Western compliance" as an evil disguised as good—a force compelling Japanese media to alter their content. These blunt statements have since been misinterpreted and caused waves across social media.
In response, Valute News issued an apology, claiming that an error occurred in their English subtitles. Specifically, they mistakenly translated "Puritan" as "sex education." The tweet from Valute News read:
"I would like to sincerely apologize for the incorrect English subtitles created for Mr. Kazuhiko Torishima's statement. In the scene where he mentioned "Puritan," it was mistakenly translated as "sex education." This error was due to my mishearing. I deeply apologize for any inconvenience caused to all parties involved."
Shortly afterward, the video was deleted from Valute News' account, and the original interview, which had been uploaded to YouTube, was made private. Pretty fking sus. Just saying... The timing of these deletions coincided ...suspiciously with mounting backlash from social media, especially from some of the more vocal "woke" commentators who took issue with Yuji Horii's remarks. This led a lot of gamers to speculate on if Square Enix may have pressured Valute News to take down the video to prevent any further association of Dragon Quest with anti-compliance sentiments.
It wouldn't be the first time a major publisher has tried to clean up an inconvenient narrative, but the extent of Square Enix's response in this case has only added to the intrigue. Not only did Valute News remove the video AND issue a subsequent apology (like... why do that?), but other statements have surfaced, seemingly condemning the mistranslations and media coverage. This has fueled even more speculation that a coordinated effort is being made to erase any trace of what might be perceived as unfavorable comments by the creators.
One of the more critical parts of the interview that sparked outrage was Kazuhiko Torishima's remark on compliance:
"Under the name of compliance… It’s like an absolute god… An evil disguised as good. There's no such thing as content that doesn’t make everyone uncomfortable because beauty and ugliness, good and evil, are different for everyone."
The phrase was likely a direct critique of the standards imposed on Japanese creators when adapting content for an international audience, particularly the United States. The mention of American regulations seems to have struck a chord, as Torishima went on to reference the challenges faced when selling manga in America due to age ratings, implying that regulations are way too restrictive and culturally invasive.
The fallout from the comments and their subsequent mistranslation brought additional scrutiny to Horii's earlier remarks about the removal of gender options in Dragon Quest. Horii explained:
"In Dragon Quest, you used to be able to choose between a male and female main character. But now, you can’t choose between a man and a woman anymore. We have to label them as Type 1 and Type 2. I really wonder, who’s even complaining about this?"
How dare he speak the truth in the modern era! The audacity of him! His statement clearly frustrated many Western activists, and it appears that Square Enix didn't appreciate the negative attention it brought on. The game's adjustments—adding clothing to female characters and changing gender options— have been made in an attempt to cater to changing social norms and regulatory demands, but the response from Horii and Torishima shows they were far from happy about these decisions... and moreso, perplexed by it all.
Adding to the sus-ness, Yubo & Masirito’s KosoKoso Broadcasting Station (Thx ThatParkPlace for the find) later claimed that Valute News had "maliciously" misinterpreted and misrepresented Torishima's remarks. They even requested that viewers refrain from sharing any further edits or translations of the original video to avoid spreading incorrect information. The lengths that the station and other involved parties have gone to distance themselves from the initial statements strongly suggests that external pressures—likely from Square Enix—were made aimed at stifling the controversy.
To top it off, the interviewer girl who was asking the questions at TGS to Horii even further solidifies this notion...
She publicly said that the removal of context and spreading of mistranslated information, is not ok:
“Just over two minutes of the nearly 90-minute talk from the live broadcast program he appeared on on September 28th was maliciously cut out without context by a third party, and English subtitles were added by another third party, with an unthinkable mistranslation (!) On top of that, it was spread by a mysterious overseas news site, and Elon, who follows the site, quoted and reposted it, and it has continued to spread in its mistranslated and cut-out state.”
"It may be just a great story for media and users who want to gain impressions, but for the performers, it is nothing but unpleasant to have that part cut out."
The entire situation highlights a concerning trend in the industry: when creators voice dissenting views or criticism of regulatory standards that don’t align with the current accepted social narrative, companies respond by attempting to "scrub" the record for existence. The scrubbing of the video, the issued apologies, and the sudden silence around the interview seem to point to Square Enix trying to save face under pressure from social media and other external forces.
What’s most troubling is that the original, raw content of the interview may never see the light of day again. Despite the apology supposedly only being about a potential mistranslation of a single word, it’s hard to believe that this minor error justifies these extreme measures—deleting videos, issuing statements, and private uploads. It’s more likely that Square Enix is scrambling to control the narrative and prevent the spread of sentiments that could jeopardize their carefully curated, global-friendly image.
Ultimately, this incident raises huge questions about transparency in the gaming industry and the rights of creators to express themselves freely, even when their opinions don’t align with the agendas of global corporations or specific activist groups. For now, it seems Square Enix would rather censor and scrub evidence than allow creators like Yuji Horii to speak honestly about the challenges facing their beloved series. And unfortunately, unless the interview somehow resurfaces... we may never know the full story behind this situation, but the way things have been going, your best guess - is probably accurate...
~Smash
