TOKYO — Approximately 20,000 people signed a Change.org petition titled "Protect Japanese Manga" protesting the official White House X account for posting videos featuring imagery from the Dragon Ball, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and Naruto series without authorization. The petition was created in March and submitted to the Japanese government.
The petition creators stated that the submission followed a White House post combining footage of U.S. strikes on Iran with anime scenes. The petition also claimed that the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested the U.S. Embassy in Japan address the unauthorized use of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Nintendo game imagery on the White House X account. An image depicting Donald Trump as the character Naruto Uzumaki was posted on Truth Social over a weekend. This prompted supporters to revive the petition on Tuesday and pledge renewed lobbying efforts with the Japanese government.
The film production committee holds the copyright for the anime images used in the post, according to a spokesperson for Shueisha. The spokesperson also stated that the company believed Masashi Kishimoto was not commenting on the matter. Shueisha serialized the original Naruto manga from 1999 to 2014, and the manga has sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. Kishimoto oversaw the production of three Naruto anime films.
The use of the imagery without permission was addressed by an official Yu-Gi-Oh! account, which said: "The original creators and anime staff were not involved in any way, and no permission was given for the use of the intellectual property in question."