The Apothecary Diaries Artist Speaks Out on Tax Evasion Sentencing

The Apothecary Diaries' manga artist shared a public apology after tax evasion sentencing

By Nick Valdez

The artist behind The Apothecary Diaries' manga has shared a public statement with fans following their tax evasion sentencing. The Apothecary Diaries has been gaining major traction with fans in the last year thanks to the anime adaptation of Natsu Hyuga and Touko Shino's original light novels. The anime's debut season has been such a massive hit that it was quickly confirmed to have a second season in the works, and it's driven more attention to the manga adaptations of the releases as well. But unfortunately, some negative attention has been drawn to the manga due to the artist behind it all. 

Artist Nekokurage has been adapting The Apothecary Diaries into a manga release for Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan magazine since 2017, and has since gone on to 13 full volumes as of the time of this publication. But the artist recently came under fire after The Fukuoka District Court handed the artist a suspended sentence of ten months in prison (and a 11 million yen fine) for tax evasion. Taking to social media, Nekokurage has shared a response to the sentencing with fans and revealed they are in the process of working with a tax account to prevent future mistakes. 

The Apothecary Diaries Artist Apologizes for Tax Evasion

Nekokurage (real name Erika Ikeda) shared an apology message with fans for the tax evasion troubles, and reflecting on the sentencing. Thanking fans for their support and urged that they will continue to illustrate the manga, Nekokurage has noted that they are now working with a tax accountant to prevent further mistakes of this caliber in the future.. The artist was indicted on suspicion on tax evasion charges earlier this year by The Fukuoka District Court where the artist was accused of not declaring around 260 million yen (which equates about $1.6 million USD) in income, and thus evading around 47 million yen (nearly $299,000 USD) in taxes from 2019 to 2021. 

The artist then plead guilty to the charges, and noted that they had no intentions of evading their taxes and planned to pay it off at a later date. Also noting during all of this to fans that this was in no way related to work on The Apothecary Diaries itself, and publisher Square Enix also revealed they had no plans on slowing down the release of the manga during the sentencing process. 

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(Photo:

Cover art for The Apothecary Diaries Volume 1

- Square Enix)

What Happens to The Apothecary Diaries Now? 

Prosecution in the case was aiming for a sentence of ten months in prison with a 14 million yen fine, and ultimately the artist was handed a suspended sentence of ten months in prison with a fine of 11 million yen (about $70,600 USD). The sentence has been suspended for three years, and if Nekokurage is on good behavior during that time, they will avoid serving time in prison. With the statement shared with fans on X, it's clear that Nekokurage is ready to get back to work on The Apothecary Diaries manga following the sentencing. 

With The Apothecary Diaries manga still continuing, it's still a great time to catch up with the anime adaptation as well. The Apothecary Diaries Season 2 is currently in the works for a release some time in 2025. A more concrete release date has not been announced for the new episodes as of the time of this publication, but you can currently catch up with everything that has happened in the story between Maomao and Jinshi now streaming with Crunchyroll. It's been picking up steam this year, so anime fans should check it out if they can.

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