As manga readers and fellow artists are nonetheless reeling from the shock of the latest Shogakukan cover-up (full story right here), it has come to gentle that the Jojin Kamen writer was not the one sexual offender working below a pen identify on the platform, elevating critical questions concerning the integrity of the editorial division at Manga ONE.
Shogakukan launched one more assertion on March 2, 2026, confirming that the writer of Seiso no Shinrishi writing below the pen identify Itsuki Yatsunami is the writer of Act-Age manga Tatsuya Matsuki, who was beforehand convicted for assaulting a minor.
The editorial group admitted they proactively reached out to Matsuki in August 2024, regardless of having full information of his 2020 conviction for committing indecent acts towards a center college lady.
Shogakukan has since issued a public apology, acknowledging that its method to Matsuki’s social rehabilitation might have induced secondary trauma to the unique victims.
Editors Employed Act Age Writer Regardless of Figuring out His Previous
The timeline supplied by the editorial division reveals {that a} Manga ONE editor contacted Matsuki by his former X (previously Twitter) account on Aug. 29, 2024, to request a gathering.
Matsuki knowledgeable the editor the next day that he had been independently writing a novel titled Yusha Ikko no Shinri Counselor on a novel-posting web site, which has since served as the unique draft for the manga Seiso no Shinrishi.
Throughout their first in-person assembly on Sep 6, 2024, the division authorized the difference and agreed to Matsuki’s request to make use of the pen identify Itsuki Yatsunami to distance the work from his legal previous.
Whereas the editorial group claims the pseudonym was supposed to keep away from triggering victims, the dearth of transparency allowed a convicted offender to return to a place of affect with out public oversight.
Shogakukan confirmed that solely a choose few inside the division had been conscious of the writer’s true id through the recruitment section. The collection’ artist, Kaoru Yukihira, was additionally knowledgeable of Tatsuya Matsuki’s id and previous conviction earlier than agreeing to work on the manga.
The writer defended its determination by noting that Matsuki’s three-year suspended sentence had expired and that he had been present process skilled psychological counseling.
The editorial division said they had been moved by Matsuki’s “sturdy emotions of atonement” and decided that his rehabilitation was ample to justify his reintegration into the trade.
Regardless of this inner justification, the writer has introduced the non permanent suspension of Seiso no Shinrishi updates efficient instantly. A 3rd-party committee has been tasked with investigating Shogakukan’s editorial requirements and figuring out whether or not the choice to rent Matsuki was acceptable given the character of his crimes.
Matsuki was arrested in August 2020 after CCTV footage confirmed he had inappropriately touched two feminine center college college students, resulting in the rapid cancellation of his hit collection Act-Age by Shueisha.
Shogakukan is already going through a number of backlash for the duvet up involving Jojin Kamen creator, with fellow artists and authors calling out the writer for its actions and pulling their works from Manga ONE platform.
Nevertheless, these two authors aren’t the primary to be allowed to publish after being convicted of crimes involving minors.
In 2017, Rurouni Kenshin creator Nobuhiro Watsuki was charged with possession of kid pornography, resulting in a quick hiatus earlier than his collection resumed serialization in Bounce SQ, whereas Toriko writer Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro additionally efficiently returned to Weekly Shonen Bounce following a 2002 conviction for violating youngster prostitution legal guidelines.
