Last November, a quiet little town in Mie Prefecture asked locals to name their newest anime mascot character, a cute shellfish diver that represented the industry the town of Shima was famous for. The name with the most votes was Aoshima Megu and thus Shima City had its brand new, super popular city mascot.
End of story, right? No quite. Unfortunately for the city, concerned citizens are now publicly airing their issues with the 2D mascot, and the criticism is originating from the women on whom the mascot is based – the female freediving experts themselves.
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