Yuji Horri via 電ファミ公式チャンネル YouTube

Yuji Horii, the creator of Dragon Quest, is being maligned as a “Nazi” and “chud” for questioning gender ideology being forced upon Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake.

A screenshot from Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, (2024), Square Enix

During an interview at Tokyo Game Show alongside former Weekly Shonen Jump Editor-in-Chief Kazuhiko Torishima, Horii was asked about the changes made to the character designs in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake and specifically why more clothing was added to Jenna Sharpe, the female hero in the game.

As translated by Valute News, Horii responded, “Yeah, there were various regulations in place. Apparently, it’s not allowed to show too much skin.”

He added, “Hmm, I really don’t understand that either. … If there’s too much exposure, the age rating goes up. It means we won’t be able to sell it as an all-ages product.”

A screenshot from Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, (2024), Square Enix

When asked about complying with various country’s regulations Torishima chimed in, “Under the name of compliance… It’s like an absolute god… An evil disguised as good. There’s not such thing as content that doesn’t make everyone uncomfortable because beauty and ugliness, good and evil, are different for everyone.”

“There are a few things that absolutely must not be done. As long as you follow those, you’re free to do the rest,” he added.

Next, he stated, “There’s a religious concept from the West, especially in America, that influences their approach to sex education, right? Their approach to compliance is really narrow-minded. When selling manga in America, everything had to be categorized by age groups. For Shonen Jump manga, they couldn’t be sold unless they were rated for ages 13 and up because there’s a risk of lawsuits, the company also has to get insurance. Doing business with such a ridiculous country is really frustrating. Because of that, Japan gets negatively influenced.”

A screenshot from Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, (2024), Square Enix

Horii then addressed the removal of the choice to choose between male and female, “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,” he added. “I really wonder, who’s even complaining about this?”

A screenshot from Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, (2024), Square Enix

This questioning of the insertion of gender ideology into the character select for the game has brought the ire of activists who are labeling Horii a Nazi.

X user FrostedYukio wrote, “Yuji Horii going nazi was not on my bingo sheet.”

FrostedYukio on X

The user explained his reasoning in subsequent posts. First, he wrote, “pretty much welcoming culture war tourists who tend to be nazis.”

FrostedYukio on X

In another post he added, “it was censored because of CERO, and thats been consistent for over a decade the TypeA and TypeB stuff is not censorship.”

FrostedYukio on X

Interestingly, the user would later admit he did not actually watch the interview.

FrostedYukio on X

One user on the Gamingcirclejerk subreddit described both Horii and Torishima as “douchebags.”

He wrote, “To be fair, I don’t think creatives should have to do something they don’t want to because of outside forces telling them to do so. And just slapping “Body Type A/B” labels on what was obviously designed as a ‘Male/Female’ choice is one of the most annoyingly performative things I’ve seen in games lately.”

Nevertheless, he then added, “That said these two still sound like douchebags and I won’t be buying their games because of that. I just think they should have the right to make it the way they want.”

“Also, it’s ridiculous that Gamers are acting like the opinion of two old men is representative of every creator in Japan and somehow proves the west is forcing their beliefs upon Japan. You can’t even say that these two are representative of their whole team,” the user concluded.

Screenshot of a Reddit user on the Gamingcirclejerk subreddit

Another user in the subreddit wrote, “No surprise people associated with Toriyama would be this chuddy.”

SuperJyls on Reddit

Namyk5 described Horii as a dinosaur. He wrote, “Every time I see something new from the dinosaurs in charge of DQ, I get happy that I don’t like DQ. Easily the worst of the remaining JRPG franchises to me.”

Namyk5 on Reddit

To be clear changing the option from male and female to Type A and Type B is clearly part of transgender ideology that is attempting to remove the distinctions between males and females and leads people down the path of self-mutilation.

Archbishop Alexander Sample of the Archdiocese of Portland explains how adopting so-called “preferred pronouns” is the first step in the path to destruction, “To some, supporting aspects of social transition may seem benign, even humane, such as using someone’s preferred pronouns and actively affirming his or her perceived gender. However, while well-intentioned, this kind of endorsement may help shepherd a young person on a path of unnecessary medicalization.”

His Excellency continues, “Social transition is often the first step towards hormones and surgery. A 2020 survey of transgender and nonbinary youth found that 64% of respondents were either already receiving cross-sex hormones or desired to do so. Danish researchers who first used puberty blockers on gender dysphoric children found that social transition increased the likelihood that dysphoria would persist and result in medicalization.”

“Social transition can also include practices such as breast-binding and genital tucking, both of which have been shown to have averse effects on physical health, like testicular torsion and reduced fertility in males, and abnormal lung function and back pain in females,” he notes. “Moreover, a 2020 study on the effects of social transition found that family and peer relations, but not social transition status, predicted psychological functioning.”

A screenshot from Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age (2018), Square Enix

What do you make of these people bashing Yuji Horii for questioning the mandatory inclusion of gender ideology into Dragon Quest?