Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes the dissemination of disinformation and conspiracy narratives in popular manga author Kobayashi Yoshinori's series on COVID-19 and situates them within his long-term historical revisionist writing and the global anti-COVID-19 measurement movement.

Paper long abstract:

The initial lack of scientific consensus regarding COVID-19 and public controversies concerning implemented countermeasures have created fertile soil for the circulation of disinformation and conspiracy narratives. Applying a mixed-method discourse analysis, I examine the use of transnational, metapolitical strategies and metaphors of conspiracy narratives and disinformation, and overlaps with discursive strategies of the New Right in Japan. The discourse analysis uses a qualitative and a quantitative approach. The former focuses on bestselling publications of historical revisionist manga author Kobayashi Yoshinori and his propagation of COVID-19-related conspiracy narratives and disinformation. The latter analyzes data collected from Amazon’s review section to explore the narrative reach and reader reception of his views.