Popular Manga publisher Shueisha recently announced that Rurouni Kenshin manga is going on hiatus. The creator of the manga Nobuhiro Watsuki is being charged for possession of child pornography and has been placed under arrest by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police.
Possessing child pornography has been banned in Japan since 2014. Criminals found guilty of possessing child pornography face up to a year in prison and fines up to a million yen. This may be the reason for why the manga is taking a break.
According to current investigations, Watsuki is said to have acquired multiple DVDs of child pornography in October whilst working in Tokyo. The report says that the explicit videos all featured teenage minors. The reports also indicate that Watsuki preyed on girls in late elementary and early junior high.
Rurouni Kenshin manga initially appeared in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from April 25, 1994, to November 4, 1999. The complete work consists of 28 tankōbon volumes, while years later it was reprinted into twenty-two kanzenban volumes. Studio Gallop, Studio Deen and SPE Visual Works adapted the manga into an anime series which aired in Japan from January 10, 1996 to September 8, 1998.
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.
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