Why This Topic Landed in Japan

The TBS Sunday drama VIVANT features a conflict between a Chinese spy organization and Japan's secret intelligence unit "Betsuban," including graphic scenes of torture and rescue. Reporting said a Weibo account with 1.64 million followers singled out the show — citing episode 20's graphic torture-and-rescue scenes — and called it a bid to "thoroughly denigrate China" and "Japanese hate education." In Japan, the reaction was shaped by the asymmetry with China's own long output of "anti-Japan dramas" that cast Japanese as villains, which drove a double-standard backlash. That the show is set in a fictional "Republic of Gorubado" rather than the real China fueled mockery that critics had "assumed it was about them." The criticism came from large accounts, so how widespread it actually was in China is unclear.

Key Reaction Themes

  • Most framed it as a double standard — "after cranking out anti-Japan dramas for years, now you complain?" was the dominant line.
  • Overreaction to fiction — many pointed out the show is set in a fictional country and asked why anyone would take a piece of entertainment so seriously.
  • A smaller, analytical strand — some noted market incentives ("you can't villainize China if you're chasing its market") and censorship ("they can't even speak frankly under it").

What Japanese Netizens Are Saying

The drama's China depiction and Japan's response

After Chinese social media criticized VIVANT's China depiction, Japanese netizens answered with ridicule and rebuttal, pointing to China's own anti-Japan dramas.

Sources: Record China, 2ch

Comments:

  • "After cranking out endless anti-Japan dramas yourselves???"
  • "Even when it was always cast as the villain, the old Soviet Union just shrugged it off — what magnanimity."
  • "Why get so worked up over a bit of comedy like this, lol"
  • "Honestly, I wish Japan would air those anti-Japan dramas in a late-night slot — sounds fun to watch with a drink."
  • "Who cares — you make anti-Japan dramas too. 'Fine for us, not for others' — what are you, Xi-brained?"
  • "The boomerang hits way too hard, lol"
  • "The action is intense, so I think it'll go over well."
  • "Too little virtue to be a great power, too much land and people to be a small one — that's China for you."
  • "China back when it made anti-Japan dramas and Japan now have swapped places. Channeling domestic frustration into hatred of another country won't fundamentally make your own country any better."
  • "Only old folks with outdated minds enjoy that stuff; flaunt hatred toward a neighbor and you'll just get laughed at."
  • "It's basically like your own anti-Japan dramas. Can't they grasp the concept of fiction?"
  • "China actually behaves like Japan's enemy, so it's true to reality — no problem at all, lol"
  • "Well, I did learn one upside of dramas like this: if you're chasing the Chinese market, you can't make China the villain."
  • "Go easy on them — under censorship they can't even make a decent comment."
  • "It's a fictional country, yet they assumed it was theirs — do they figure it's the sort of thing they'd actually do?"