MiHoYo have removed the bunny girl costumes and event from Honkai Impact 3rd, for being “out of character and inappropriate.”
As part of the game’s third anniversary, the game’s characters- Valkyries- had access to casino-style bunny girl costumes and special story mission, complete with an MMD promoting it (MikuMiku Dance, 3D model dancing video). You can find them via third party uploads below.
However, miHoYo later announced on Twitter that the story event and promotional video had been taken down. This was due to the designs and dance moves being “out of character and inappropriate.” It should be noted the characters have dressed in swimsuits, bikinis, and similarly revealing clothing before.
You can find the full statement below.
“We recently received feedback on the GLB 3rd-anniversary story event and promotional videos featuring bunny girl designs and dance moves that were out of character and inappropriate. We sincerely apologize for these issues!
We will remove any content related to the 3rd-anniversary bunny girls and cancel the view count event. The art of in-game stigma Yae Sakura: Peaches (B) will also be adjusted accordingly afterward. We are deeply sorry for the negative experience, and we will compensate every Captain of Lv.9 or higher on the GLB server with 500 Crystals. The Crystals will be handed out at 12:00, April 23 via in-game mail and will expire at 12:00, May 7.
As we reflect on our decisions, we promise to safeguard the quality of our content with higher standards to ensure this kind of issues never occur again. In the future, we will dedicate more effort to improving your gaming experience with more exciting and diverse content, and creating a healthy environment where everyone can have fun.”
In reply to miHoYo and in the comment sections of the re-uploaded videos, users accused miHoYo of bowing down to Chinese censorship laws (as they had done in the game’s Chinese servers, with less revealing costumes), or outcry from social media.
MiHoYo had also been accused of censorship with the character Rosaria in Genshin Impact. Fans were quick to notice her bust size had been reduced from her first appearance, and feared this was the result of censorship (again, fearing either the Chinese government or outcry from social media). Due to reusing animation assets however, there is a chance miHoYo reduced her bust to prevent clipping with her pole-arm.
In earlier news, Manjuu Games removed 18 ship girls from the Chinese servers of Azur Lane; with suspicion it was prompted by the government’s policies on lewd content.
