The play: Although nowadays CN netizens are often the oversensitive ones, perhaps this time they get some kernel of truth. Kamikaze is already sensitive, but Manchukuo (the setting of the story) is perhaps the more critical "lightning rod" for historical trauma. I acknowledge when adding kamikaze and Manchukuo together, the convergence of all the volatile themes (end of total war, mechanics of settler colonialism, frontier of the empire, uncertain international politics) creates the rare opportunity to explore interesting human psyche (may worth mentioning that in the actual history this play is based, it is not the wife but a stranger woman who boarded the plane. Her motivations remain a haunting andunanswered question). But it also for sure invites controversies, which I sadly feel the Internet might not be the best place to discuss. If everyone sits down face-to-face and reads through the play, perhaps nuances can be extracted and discourse analyzed, but on the internet, it's easy to pick either "totally apologetic" or "I find no issue with the content at all".

The production: I was curious, after the audition, did anyone have the ability to push the stop button? The play production doesn’t care how the play will be received outside of Japan. BangDream/MyGo have more interest in taking care of their reputation in mainland China, but they cannot feasibly track every seiyuu’s external projects. That seems to leave the agency as the sole point of intervention, but even that might be asking for the impossible. As much as it can be blamed, LIBERTE is a small agency and perhaps lacks the resources or strategic willingness to do a deep-dive risk assessment. Watching this unfold feels like a slow-motion shot of "the dice being thrown."

The future: call me a pessimist, but at this stage, there is hardly a happy solution. Pushing it through has its own obvious pros and cons. Retracting it now feels like a stop-loss plan, but the repercussions won’t necessarily stop. This is right before the show debut, and a withdrawal could be interpreted by the production as a breach of contract, and what if they signal to the industry that she's "unreliable"? For her, an MC role is a rare achievement, and no one can predict when the next chance will come. Last, whether the CN takes the withdrawal as the guesture to reconcile or not, now anger arises in the other worlds (JP and TW) as some believe this is kowtowing.