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The Tokyo Metropolitan Police has charged 47-year-old manga creator Nobuhiro Watsuki (real name Nobuhiro Nishiwaki) with simple possession of child pornography on Tuesday. According to the authorities, Watsuki possessed numerous DVDs with nude footage of young girls in their early teens, and stored them at an office in Tokyo at least as recently as October.
In his deposition, Watsuki allegedly said that he "liked girls in late elementary school to around the second year of middle school."
Authorities searched Watsuki's home as part of a different investigation, which linked him to the purchase of DVDs with child pornography.
The charge against Watsuki alleges that he possessed the pornographic videos from July 2015. Possession of child pornography entails imprisonment for up to one year and a fine of up to 1 million yen (about US$8,800), if found guilty.
Watsuki is best known as the creator of the Rurouni Kenshinmanga. The manga ran from 1994 to 1999 in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and Shueisha published over 60 million copies of the manga's compiled book volumes. The manga inspired an anime series that ran from 1996 to 1998, as well as films and original video anime projects.
The manga also inspired a live-action film trilogy from 2012 to 2014, with a new film reportedly in the works. A new arc of the manga by Watsuki and his novelist wife Kaoru Kurosaki debuted in September, and Viz is simultaneously publishing it in English.
Rurouni Kenshin Creator Nobuhiro Watsuki Charged With Child Pornography Possession
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/ne...atus-due-to-creator-child-porn-charge/.124313.
Japanese publisher Shueisha announced on Tuesday that Nobuhiro Watsuki's Rurouni Kenshin manga is going on hiatus, due to Watsuki being charged for possession of child pornography. The manga will not run in Shueisha's Jump SQ. Magazine as of the January 2018 issue, which will ship on December 4. Shueishacommented that it is taking this news seriously, and that Watsuki expresses deep regret. The publisher added that it has not decided what to do with Watsuki's manga volumes already in print, because the matter is still under discussion.
Watsuki first launched his 28-volume Rurouni Kenshin manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 1994. The manga has more than 60 million copies in print. The manga centers around Kenshin Himura, once a deadly assassin during the Meiji Restoration, who is trying to find a new life beyond violence. The manga has since been adapted into a 95-episode TV anime series, an anime film, three original video anime projects, three live-action films, and a stage musical by the all-female musical theater troupe Takarazuka Revue. The Daily Sports newspaper reported that a new live-action film in the works
Most recently, Watsuki and his novelist wife/story collaborator Kaoru Kurosaki launched the Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc(Rurouni Kenshin: Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Hokkaido-hen) in Shueisha's Jump SQ. magazine in September. Viz is simultaneously publishing it in English.