Major controversy has struck the manga world this week, as publisher Manga One and its parent company Shogakukan have run into hot water as a result of one author’s past being revealed. The fallout from this incident has, in recent days, seen multiple manga writers and artists state that they are willing to go as far as never work with Manga One again, going so far as to say that their respective series would stop production until a statement was made. In light of this news, the manga publisher has released a statement regarding author Yamamoto Shoichi and the manga Operation Fallen Angel.
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Previous court reporting confirms that Shoichi had been previously arrested and convicted of sexual assault in relation to a high school student he had taught. Before creating Operation Fallen Angel, aka Joujin Kamen, the author had worked as a drawing instructor at a private high school, where the incident had taken place. In light of this news, Shogakukan, has released an official statement confirming that Yamamoto no longer works for the company and their manga has ended, “The Manga One editorial department discontinued the series after Yamamoto Shoichi, the author of “Operation Fallen Angel,” was arrested and summarily indicted for violating the Child Prostitution and Pornography Prohibition Act (production), and was fined. Despite this, they used him under a different pen name, “Ichiro Ichi,” as the original author of the new series “Ordinary Mask.”
This should never have been done.”
The Manga World’s Latest Controversy Explained
Manga One also shared that they are working to make sure such controversy never happens again in the future, “To ensure that this never happens again, we will set up an investigative committee, including lawyers, to quickly clarify the facts and causes, including how the serialization began and the editor’s involvement, including settlement negotiations.
After that, we will report the results of the investigation, take strict disciplinary action, and formulate and implement measures to prevent recurrence.”
The artist of Joujin Kamen, Tsuruyoshi Eri, had stated that she was unaware of the author’s past, with several big names in the manga industry sharing harsh words for Manga One. The creator of One-Punch Man, ONE, stated that if the matter was not handled, he would never work with Shogakukan again, stating, “I can’t team up with people who can’t clearly state their strong condemnation of sexual harm against minors. That’s a given.”
Alongside ONE, the author of COSMOS, Ryuhei Tamura, one of the biggest new manga to release in recent history, stated that they have asked their story be halted, “In light of this incident, I just conveyed to my editor in charge that I would like to halt the serialization of COSMOS on Manga One. I myself am also experiencing a strong shock.” Joining in on the backlash is Zom 100: Bucket List of The Dead creator Haro Aso, who has also asked that their series be halted. No word has been released so far regarding whether these series will continue in Manga One following the firing of Yamamoto Shoichi.
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