Drama Queen has become a contentious manga in the past few weeks, and the increasing spectacle of the series means that fans noticed when a line was altered in chapter one.

The series follows two Japanese young adults who are fed up with the status quo which celebrates a race of alien “saviors” who allegedly saved the planet from a meteor. The aliens have been forcefully integrated into society and apparently receive special privileges as a protected class in society. Fans and critics alike have been quick to infer that the series could be a metaphor for immigration issues facing many developed nations.

One line in particular has the heroine of the series Nomamoto vents her frustration at the aliens after being accidentally shoved on the sidewalk. She goes on to complain about other things that irritate her, such as women who refer to their boyfriends as their partner.

When the chapter first released, critics claimed that the line was potentially referring to LGBT+ couples who may use a gender neutral term for their significant others.

Just seeing some complaining about the Drama Queen manga again. Some suggests that the main character's statement of hating the gender neutral term "partner" or "相方" as anti-LGBTQ. #ドラマクイン #DramaQueen pic.twitter.com/UEhXrqvtr5

— Jayce (@stuckathome711) December 13, 2024

The line in question uses the word 相方 which can be safely translated to “partner”.

Surprisingly other lines which some readers believed to have “anti-immigrant” rhetoric remained in place.

English localizers have been on the receiving end of skepticism from fans, due in part to some in the industry actually admitting to censoring content they don’t consider “acceptable“.

Drama Queen is available to read now as a simulpub release on Shueisha’s official manga reader. You can check out the first chapter here.