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The Genshin Impact manga pre-dates the videogame by quite a bit, and as a result of this many minor details were changed in the final product like names (the Knights of Favonius for example were called Ordo Favonius), characters clothes and so on.

So far the manga has been more explicit than the game in showing the nature of certain factions/characters. The Fatui mostly, but not limited just to them.

- Fatui have an underground arena where they conduct experiments on living begins.
- They forcibly enlist people from other nations to be used as guinea pigs.
- based on the plot they seem to be targeting young people specifically (a younger Diluc calls the missing person a "boy") - ties to the "faster aging" effect Delusions seems to cause - Kaeya is probably fully aware of the thing and so are the Knights.
- Venti being told how the Lawrence clan son twisted the Harpestrum rite.
and so on...

Yet, so far the game doesn't seem to have really made any of this very explicit outside some minor details like:

mentioning Dottore's research in Childe's quest and the Delusions effects like faster aging during Inazuma arc.

Sometimes characters seem to omit info that you would think they would mention:

For example at least Diluc and Kaeya are clearly both aware that the Fatui are murdering people "for research" but neither of them tell that to the Traveler even when the opportunity arises. This seems quite out of character. Had the traveler been aware of such info their meeting with Childe would likely have gone quite differently.

At the same time, the game does indeed reference the manga multiple times. For example:

The question is therefore simple. Is there any indication if the lore darker elements are still canon or have been retconned for the game to have a lower age rating?

As a comparison, the original intro to the game used during the initial beta was a lot darker, and some parts of it seems to have been changed in the final release.

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  • I think that in order to prove the non-canonicity of the comic we would need an outright contradiction between comic and game which can not be explained as a simple translation mistake, and not just a couple omissions.
    – Philipp
    Commented Jan 13, 2022 at 13:21

1 Answer 1

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According to Gamer article from 2020, yes it is canon. Going around Genshin Impact sites, I do not see anything that would say the manga is not canon. It if officially licensed work. The lack of darker elements could simply be case of game not showing them due to age restrictions.

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    The manga was made before the game launched. I know that it was canon at the time. My point is that is unclear at the time if it has been dropped and or retconed when the game came out. The game contains references to Collei for example, but no one mentions the Fatui experiments (see question), which in the manga seems a pretty well known fact at least in Mondstadt
    – SPArcheon - on strike
    Commented Jan 13, 2022 at 10:24
  • I think its worth noting the linked article doesn't meaningfully source its own claim the manga is canon. The entire relevant bit goes "It is Canon Yes, the manga is canon and will likely be important to the story of the game". So the manga is canon... according to whom exactly? The person who wrote the article? Do they have the authority to declare what is and isn't canon? Are they affiliated with Mihoyo? Is this sourced from an interview or an official statement from somewhere? Currently the reason the manga is canon is because its canon
    – Gatchwar
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 1:49
  • @Gatchwar to be fair, multiple sources state that the origina manga is officially licensed and produced under Mihoyo supervision, while the recent "Genshin Comic Anthology" while still licensed is intended as a comic relief product. The point here is not establishing the canonicity of the manga - that seems granted given the fact the game references some details. The point is establishing if all of the manga content is still canon or some elements have been toned down.
    – SPArcheon - on strike
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 8:46
  • As far as this reply goes, I agree with the general sentiment but not the specific wording. In my opinion the point is that so far there is no evidence that any specific element has been retconed - the canonicy of the manga as a whole is not under test. This is more similar to the FF7 remake changing the Honey Bee sequence for sake of common decency - the original game is still canon to the remake but that specific part is not.
    – SPArcheon - on strike
    Commented Jan 14, 2022 at 8:49
  • @Ꮢedacted with Sumeru storyline out, and with a lot of things from the manga referenced to from the characters included, I think we can now deduce that it is cannon indeed? oh wait, you made some edits
    – prout
    Commented Nov 18, 2022 at 7:05

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