Theorizes that otaku are more likely to meet blood drive requirements than more mainstream members of society.
Over the last couple years, the Japanese Red Cross Society has been periodically partnering with various anime and other otaku-oriented franchises to promote its blood donation drives, and the organization’s newest anime endorser is Uzaki Hana, from manga series Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out. Uzaki is an outgoing college student who went to high school with the series’ introverted male lead Shinichi, and volunteers who donate blood at participating Red Cross blood drive facilities during the month of October can receive a file with Uzaki on the front and both characters on the back.
▼ “Senpai, you’ve never donated blood before?” asks Uzaki. “Could that be because…you’re afraid of needles?”
献血して貰った宇崎ちゃんのクリアファイル(*´꒳`*)かわいい！！ https://t.co/ke4yBITtrj
—
ドM社畜野郎（✿社会貢献男✿） (@tc103103) October 15, 2019
However, while Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out’s ostensible narrative selling point is the interplay between the college pair’s contrasting personalities, it’s likely the series gets a sales bump from another pair, as Uzaki is particularly pectorally prodigious, so much so that she often appears wearing a T-shirt with “sugoi dekai,” Japanese for “incredibly huge,” written across the chest.
『宇崎ちゃんは遊びたい！』より、宇崎花ちゃん(過去絵) https://t.co/noVRNL94YC
—
ただのまに(移行先) (@mani_mk2D) October 14, 2019
Uzaki’s clothing and posing in her Red Cross illustration, which is also used in posters promoting the blood drive, have caused a bit of a controversy, primarily in English-language Twitter posts, over whether or not the artwork is appropriate for a respectable, mainstream organization to be using to publicize its activities.
▼ Though it’s arguably less provocative than when the organization partnered with Aokana: Four Rhythm Across the Blue, a franchise that started as an eroge (erotic romance game).
宇崎ちゃんの献血ポスター問題になってるけど 過去に赤十字社は献血キャンペーンでエロゲとコラボしたことがあるんやぞ？ https://t.co/e3ZDG0prRg
—
ラムパールド (@LAMU7826) October 16, 2019
Whether or not one feels personally offended by the use of such artwork, it’s definitely an attempt to cater to otaku tastes. However, Japanese Twitter user @and_you5 sifted through the Red Cross’ blood donation requirements, and thinks he may have found a compelling reason for continuing with otaku-oriented advertising.
献血ポスターにオタク向けの絵が多い件、オタクは献血に必要な条件である 「過去6ヶ月間に新たな相手と性交渉をしていない」 を満たしやすいからなのだと気づいた時に、日本赤十字社の残虐性を感じてしまったな
—
噛む噛む (@and_you5) October 15, 2019
“There are a lot of blood drive ads that are oriented towards otaku, and that’s because they satisfy a condition for blood donors:
‘Donor has not had sex with a new partner within the past six months.’”
Sure enough, a look at the Japanese Red Cross Society’s official website lists those who have had sex with a new partner in the last half year as one of the types of people they don’t accept blood donations from (along with a number of other presumably at-risk demographics). And while the stereotype of hard-core anime fans as having no love life at all is steadily fading in Japan, it’s still not generally considered a hobby that leads to a steady stream of new casual sex partners, and @and_you5 feels that this reputation for loneliness and/or extended monogamy is a factor in the Red Cross specifically appealing to otaku in its blood drives.
A number of other Twitter users nodded their heads in agreement with @and_you5’s deduction, leaving comments like:
“Otaku saving those in need!”
“Helping others is just something that’s in otaku’s blood.”
“Heading to Akihabara to donate blood tomorrow. It’s going to be my 100th time to make a donation.”
“I get a new anime wife every three months when the new TV season starts, but that’s still OK!”
The above-pictured Uzaki files will be provided until October 31, but the Red Cross has already announced a second collaboration with the franchise that will take place in February, though its promotional artwork is yet to be shown.
Sources: Twitter/@and_you5 via Hachima Kiko, Japanese Red Cross Society (1, 2)
Top image: Japanese Red Cross Society
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