In September 2017, followers of the samurai manga Rurouni Kenshin have been excited to see manga-ka Nobuhiro Watsuki, who additionally wrote Buso Renkin and Embalming -The Another Tale of Frankenstein-, return to his authentic success story with The Hokkaido Arc. Three months later, publication of the sequence was suspended. When The Hokkaido Arc resumed publication in June 2018, lots of those self same followers have been disgusted that the sequence was persevering with.
What occurred inside that point that modified everybody’s thoughts? In November 2017, Watsuki was arrested on expenses of possession of kid pornography DVDs. He pleaded responsible and confessed to being a pedophile attracted to women in elementary and center college.
Such a heinous crime one way or the other resulted in hardly any penalties. His authorized punishment was a high quality of solely 200,000 yen, equal to $1,780. Watsuki was suspended for under half a yr earlier than he was again to work at Shueisha, the publishing firm behind the Shonen Jump line of magazines, and writing The Hokkaido Arc as ordinary. That he bought off so evenly for a criminal offense that concerned the exploitation and abuse of actual kids when the Japanese authorized system punishes nonviolent drug crimes rather more severely sparked outrage.
Shueisha, nonetheless, has gone about enterprise as ordinary, publishing and selling Kenshin as if none of this ever occurred. Jump Square‘s editorial division claimed, “The author spends his days reflecting and with remorse, and think as though it’s our obligation as a publisher as well as his as an author make a way for us to reply through the work to the various opinions we’ve been getting.” Kenshin and Shishio have been playable within the Jump Force online game, two extra live-action Rurouni Kenshin have been introduced, and Kenshin continues to be closely merchandised and promoted all through Japan.
Viz Media, the American writer of Shonen Jump, has cut up the distinction between holding Kenshin round and canceling it solely. The authentic manga sequence remains to be in print and accessible by means of the Shonen Jump web site and app. However, Viz ceased translating The Hokkaido Arc following Watsuki’s arrest, and determined to not proceed translating when the sequence resumed in Japan.