Furano City in Hokkaido announced today that the Furano City Council’s Special Committee for the Examination of Settlement of Accounts has not approved the general account settlement concerning the Furusato Nozei system for the first time in the program’s history, deciding not to hand over the production money raised for the third season of Dropkick on My Devil! as the committee deemed the content of the special episode “inappropriate.”

Dropkick on My Devil! is one of those special TV anime series that is funded not through the usual production committee system but instead through donations from individuals and fans across Japan via a few different methods, one of those being the Furusato Nozei system.

The Furusato Nozei (which can be translated as Hometown Tax) system in Japan allows taxpayers who live in urban areas to contribute to rural areas with subtraction from their income tax and residence tax. The cities send their local products to donors in return for their donations/tax write-offs. In addition to their own hometown, residents can donate anywhere they like. Cities such as Toyosato in Shiga prefecture have given away K-ON! anime goods to those who donate, with Furano teaming up with Dropkick on My Devil! to aid in production.

Poster for the Furano City campaign

Back in December 2021, Fusano confirmed that it had raised 38 million yen (US$332,767) to help in the production of the third TV anime season of Dropkick on My Devil! and for the city to get its own special episode set in Fusano. This was on top of the 23,177,374 yen collected by direct crowdfunding for the series back in 2020.

The special Furano City episode aired on August 30 as the 9th episode of Dropkick on My Devil! X “Lavender-Colored Eyes Misting Over in Furano.” Though it may have aired, the Special Committee for the Examination of Settlement of Accounts was split over the episode with one member calling it “socially unacceptable” due to one of the characters proposing the selling of organs to pay off debt which “could harm Furano’s image.” Another member who supported the episode retorted that it was “only a story in the anime” and that it’s “not great to single out just one part.”

The committee voted 7 to 7 on whether to hand over the funds with the chairman having the deciding vote, deciding to decline to hand over the 33 million yen (US$236,116) in funds to the production team. 

Furano mayor Taketoshi Kita expressed his disappointment with the results, saying “the decision not to approve is a very unfortunate outcome. To intervene and criticize freedom of expression is a regrettable thing to do.“

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Dropkick on My Devil!‘s first season premiered in 2018, with its second season, Dropkick on My Devil!! Dash, airing in the spring of 2020 and was streaming on Crunchyroll. The third season began on July 6, 2022, and ran until September 21, 2022. The popular series features a variety of demons, angels, and otherworldly creatures, led by human witch Yurine and the tsundere hell-serpent she summoned. Crunchyroll describes the series as such:

Jashin-chan looks back on the day Hanazono Yurine summoned her. So long as Yurine lives, Jashin-chan can’t return to Hell. So Jashin-chan writes Yurine’s name in her “Death NOT” and swears that she’s finally going to land that dropkick on Yurine. Meanwhile, a former subordinate of Pekola and Poporon, Pino, shows up. Pekola is overjoyed believing God has finally sent someone to bring her home; however, in Pino’s hand is a weapon…

Source: Hokkaido Shimbun

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Daryl Harding is a Senior Japan Correspondent for Crunchyroll News. He also runs a YouTube channel about Japan stuff called TheDoctorDazza, tweets at @DoctorDazza, and posts photos of his travels on Instagram.