Shogakukan Scandal Widens as Second Convicted Creator Found on MangaOne
The revelation that Shogakukan's MangaOne platform harbored a second convicted sex offender under a pseudonym, after already apologizing for the first case, suggests a systemic failure in editorial oversight rather than an isolated incident.
Reporting from 1 sources: TheOASG.
TheOASG Podcast reports that Shogakukan's MangaOne editorial department admitted it allowed manga creator Shoichi Yamamoto to publish under a pen name after his 2020 arrest and conviction for a sex crime. The department also hid his past from the artist drawing the series. Shogakukan later revealed that Tatsuya Matsuki, the act-age writer convicted in 2020, was also working on the service under a pen name. An investigative committee with lawyers has been formed.
The Shogakukan scandal deepened over the weekend as the publisher confirmed that not one but two manga creators convicted of sex crimes had been working on its MangaOne platform under pen names. The editorial department first apologized on Friday for allowing Shoichi Yamamoto, arrested and convicted in 2020, to write the series Joujin Kamen under the name Hajime Ichiro starting in 2022. The editor involved allegedly tried to strike a deal with the victim and kept the artist, Eri Tsuruyoshi, unaware of Yamamoto's past. Multiple manga artists, including some working for Shogakukan, demanded their works be removed from MangaOne in protest. The following day, Shogakukan announced an investigative committee including lawyers. Then, while continuing its internal investigation, the publisher revealed that Tatsuya Matsuki, the act-age writer convicted in 2020 and dismissed from Shonen Jump with the cancellation of that manga, had been working on Seisō no Shinri-shi under the pen name Miki Yatsunami.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.