Shogakukan’s Manga ONE editorial department issued a statement and an apology on Friday regarding manga creator Shōichi Yamamoto, after the editorial department had allowed Yamamoto to publish a new manga on the service under a penname after he had been arrested and convicted of a sex crime. ……
The sad thing is, the author became writer of a manga with an artist drawing it, and the artist was not informed of the writer’s past offence. Now this manga is pulled from distribution and the artist is caught in this mess through no fault of their own.
Multiple mangakas has halted or pulled their works from the Manga One app in protest.
Shogakukan further addressed the case of Tatsuki Matsuki, who previously wrote the original story for Act-Age serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump, and who has been writing The Counselor Through Years and Stars (JP: 星霜の心理士, Seisou no Shinrishi) for Manga ONE under the different pen name Miki Yatsunami. ……
The company stated that before making the appointment, it confirmed that the verdict had been finalized and that the suspended sentence period had expired. It also reviewed his expressions of remorse regarding the incident, efforts toward preventing recurrence, and the status of professional support for social reintegration. These factors were discussed internally before the decision was made.
Fucking gross. Why is this guy not in prison?