In 2019, in the fifth volume of the manga "Fallen Angel Operation", the author wrote a sentence with unclear meaning:
Should women be forgiven?
Should youth be forgiven?
Should beauty be forgiven?
Hmph, I'll let you off this time.
In the same yearIn August, author Shoichi Yamamoto wassufferedinvestigation, and later returned after simple civil handling. However, untilAfter the court judgment was made public in March 2026, people understood the meaning of that passage—at that time, Shoichi Yamamoto sent a message to Ms. A telling her that he had found another "slave", so in order to prevent other victims, she chose to call the police.
Therefore, that passage was interpreted as a pervert's remote threat, but was openly published on the manga platformon MangaOne. But people soon discovered that MangaOne, which published "Fallen Angel Operation", was also implicated in that sexual crime.
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On February 20, 2026, the Sapporo District Court made a judgment on the prosecution of a 20-year-old woman. The defendant, over a period of three years,to the plaintiffabused, controlled, and sexually assaulted Ms. A multiple times, even serving his scatophilia. Finally, the defendant was convicted of "illegal possession of child pornography" and sentenced to pay 11 million yen in compensation to the plaintiff.
A few days later, a rumor began to spread in a small range: "Fallen Angel Operation" had beenwas suspended for several months in 2020 due to "the author's poor health", but this was actually a lie between Shoichi Yamamoto and the platform, because the "sexual assault" defendant was Shoichi Yamamoto himself.
WhenMangaOne manga artist "Akemi Eno" to verify with the scriptwriting department, but the news obtained was even more chilling. The editorial department actuallyknew about Shoichi Yamamoto's behavior, not only sent people to participate inin the "settlement negotiations", and alsolater allowed criminals to use new names"Yi Lu Yi" resurrected on the spot, and serialized a new manga "Commoner Mask" on the platform.
Shoichi Yamamoto isMs. A's high school teacher, but at first, he lured Ms. A as the author of "Fallen Angel Operation": "Let me tell you about manga" "Tell you some behind-the-scenes rumors". Therefore, when Ms. A decided to report Shoichi Yamamoto to avoid more victimstime, one of her requestswas hoping that the latter would no longer continue manga serialization, so she also contactedMangaOne.
According to interviews and investigations by "Shukan Bunshun", it can be known that inIn May 2021, MangaOne sent people to Shoichi Yamamoto and Ms. A,and her friends to establish aLine group to jointly discuss whether the manga "Fallen Angel Operation"continue serialization issue. But at that time, Ms. A was optimistic about the progress of the matter, because behind the MangaOne platform is Shogakukan.
Shogakukan is one of Japan's important publishers. It owns "DoraemonA Dream", "Detective Conan", "Inuyasha" and other popular manga IPs. But what overseas readers are unfamiliar with is,The reason why Shogakukan is called Shogakukan is because its main business is in the field of youth education, mainly publishing elementary school textbooks, dictionaries and learning materials.but it betrayed with actionsMs. A's trust,reflects the complexity of a large company.
The representative of MangaOne said in Line: "Shogakukan's legal department learned about this matter from Mr. Yamamoto in February and March last year... Whether the series can resume serialization will be jointly decided by the editorial department, legal department and president's office."
In other words, not only the platform, includingShogakukan behind MangaOne,also knew about Shoichi Yamamoto's problem.Even, Shogakukan provided legal resource support, inemphasized in the Line conversation: "If the manga cannot be created, Mr. Yamamoto will be unable to continuepay monthlycompensation settlement money."
Therefore,MangaOneside proposedby paying150million yen compensation, restoreconditions for continuing the manga serialization, and required the victim to remain silent about Everythinggj.Ms. Aexpressed partial acceptance, but MangaOne must give a real explanation for the reason for the manga's discontinuation. The final negotiation broke down, and the platform announced that "Fallen Angel Operation" would be suspended, but gave the operation rights to Shoichi Yamamoto, allowing the latter to continue updating on his own social media.
In other words, Shogakukan not only knew about it, but also sent people to participate innegotiations, generously gave up the manga operation rights, and later allowed Shoichi Yamamoto to change to a new pen name"Yi Lu Yi", serializing the manga "Ordinary Mask". All thisbehavior, it is hard not to be interpreted as"cover-up".
The representative of MangaOne expressed "unwillingness" regarding the suspension at that time
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However, different from the evidence released by "Shukan Bunshun", Shogakukan inThe response released on March 4 was to cut ties. Although Shogakukan admitted that Shoichi Yamamoto's editor representative had come for legal consultation, they denied participating insettlement agreement, stating that they were fully aware of Everythinggj only after the court's public result.
But by this point, Shogakukan had already completely lost public trust.
First, their dark history was dug up. They had caused tragedy due to chaotic internal management—manga artist Hinako Ashihara. When her work "SEXY Tanaka-san" was bought by a TV station for adaptation into a drama, Shogakukan promised her that the production team would respect the original plot. However, after the live-action drama aired, the content presented shocked the original author.
Therefore, Hinako Ashihara chose to forcibly intervene and personally wrote the scripts for the last two episodes. The result led to a split in the style of the drama version and triggered multi-party骂war, directing the spearhead of cyber violence towards herself. Ultimately, Shogakukan's negligence led the event to tragedy, and Hinako Ashihara ended her life at home after deleting all her tweets.
afterwards was forced byunder the pressure of the "Shoichi Yamamoto case" self-inspection, Shogakukan was considered lacking sincerity—MangaOne announced on March 2 that it discovered that the author of "Star Frost Psychological Affairs" had also committed indecency. It seemed like a proactive confession and determination to rectify, but "Shukan Bunshun" immediatelyslapped their face that night, posting that they mastered the facts first and went to findAfter MangaOne editorial department verified, the latter chose to cut off the arm to survive.
Tatsuya Matsuki, the author of "Star Frost Psychological Affairs", was once"Actress Kage Yagi act-age》 original author. He was arrested and prosecuted for forcible indecency in August 2020, and was later kicked out by the original publisher. As a result, MangaOne editors later actively contacted via TwitterTatsuya Matsuki, helping him change his pen name and providing a place to stay.
When old and new accounts are settled together, Shogakukan's public relations appear pale and powerless. Including "Frieren: Beyond Journey's End" author Kanato Yamada,The author of "One Punch Man" and "Mob Psycho 100"One,"Inuyasha" "Ranma1/2》 author Rumiko Takahashi and others,used to start fromMangaOne platform's way of removing manga, expressed their attitude. So far,already more than100 manga artists announced the suspension of serialization, and some even called on readers to boycott the MangaOne platform.
All this, whetherto the brand credibility of the century-old enterprise Shogakukan, or to one of Japan's largest online manga platformsMangaOne's resources, are devastating blows.
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However, the attitude of manga artists this time was not unified.
Because, people's distrust of Shogakukan quickly spread to the entire manga publishing industry. At first, people targeted those who mightBecause of economic reasons, they did not activelyMangaOne removing works by manga artists later began to evolve into acriminal investigation against all authors, searching for criminal records one by one.
The author of "Toriko"Kouji Torishima,serialized the manga "Century End Leader Legend" in "Weekly Shonen Jump" in 2002.During this period, he was arrested for having relations with awas arrested for having relations with a 16-year-old girl, and the manga was forced to end. And he returned to the editorial department immediately after being released on probation and began serializing his popular new work.
The author of "Rurouni Kenshin"Nobuhiro Watsuki inwas arrested in 2017. Japanese police found a large amount of child pornography in his home. The quantity was so large that the police suspected him of trafficking. But Nobuhiro Watsuki shamelessly confessed: "I like girls from elementary school graduation to the second year of high school." In the same year,He was released and paid200,000 yen fine, and the manga "Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc" serialized due to arrest, also resumed updates later without being affected.
Neil Gaiman, author of 'American Gods' and 'The Sandman',man, who was onceaccused of sexual assault by multiple women during the MeToo movement. Even though he considered himself a victim of a 'smear campaign', this creator from across the ocean became a target of judgment. The publisher responsible for importing his works was Shogakukan, which was further consideredcomplicit.
Faced with this situation,79-year-old veteran manga artist Yumizuki Tsuki stated:"First, I cannot obtain internal information from other companies, so I cannot make any statements. If something goes wrong, this will be a replay of the Kusatsu incident."
A female councilor in Kusatsu Town published an e-book claiming the mayor had sexually assaulted her. However, after causing a huge social impact, the councilor, who had never reported to the police, admitted to fabricating facts following a lawsuit by the mayor. Ultimately,She was sentenced to two years by the local court—the Kusatsu incident they mentioned,is aa typical case of 'false accusation'.
Morikawa Joji, author of 'Hajime no Ippo', expressed agreement with his views, but these statements made them all targets of public criticism.
Regarding this, Fujiie Michi, author of 'The Last Restaurant', described it as follows:
If you speak up, you will suffer severe insults that almost deny your personality. If you remain silent, you will becriticized for 'saying nothing'. Regardless, too many people exist solely to vent their anger. They are merely a group of thrill-seeking addicts.
Supporters of these individuals mentioned the 'Kamimiba' case,Japanese drama 'Episode 5 of Season 2 of '99.9: Criminal Specialist Lawyer',specifically adapted this case. At the time, the protagonist was also15 years old, accused 10 acquaintances of molesting her. She was frequently forced to revise her testimony by lawyers in court, but ultimately managed to send 4 of the 10 suspects to prison.
Perhaps becauseThese precedents, inIn the 'Yamamoto Shoichi' case, we didn't actually see overwhelming support for the victim; instead, there was aan even more divided state, with even a few controversial bloggers standing on Shogakukan's side in support.
But in the voices of another group, including the manga artists and bloggers mentioned above, this constitutes severe'secondary victimization'.
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You reap what you sow. The Japanese judicial system's rough handling of sexual assault cases has led to collectiveDistrust. This distrust objectively fueledthe brazenness of people like 'Yamamoto Shoichi' gave him more confidence when convincing publishers to stand with him by claiming he was 'being blackmailed'.
But a bigger reason might lie inMangaOne doesn't care at all about what happened to 'Yamamoto Shoichi'.Ishibashi Kazuaki was the founding editor-in-chief of MangaOne. In an article in June 2024, he revealed the original intention behind establishing MangaOne: "The original intention behind founding this company was to provide financial rewards to editors who deliver results."
"For those driven by profit, being an editor is tough. No matter how hard they work, creating bestsellers or launching new platforms, it makes no difference. But in fact, many manga artistsalso draws manga for money. This rule is natural in the capitalist world, so I don't think it's wrong for editors to work for money."
"So, if the mindset of editors working with manga artists deviates from capitalist rules, their relationship will inevitably become tense... Those established publishers should also re-examine their operational models."
Those who have read 'Bakuman' should understand that the relationship between editors and manga artists is akin to that between producers and directors. One provides topics, suggestions, and directions for revision based on the market, while the other is responsible for creative execution. However, in the traditional print media era, most publishers' editors received fixed salaries. Therefore, MangaOne's biggest innovation was tying editors' income to the profits generated by the works of the manga artists under their supervision.
To a large extent, this can explainMangaOne would send someone to participate in Yamamoto Shoichi's settlement negotiations. Because, the person sent to negotiate was Narita Takuya, Yamamoto Shoichi's editor, whose interests were tied together. So, just one week after the court debate ended last year, Narita Takuya posted a photo on Twitter showing him having dinner with Yamamoto Shoichi, looking quite intimate.
But ironically, the victim in this case chose to forgive Shogakukan.
Just as we were revising the manuscript onMarchOn the 8th,Ms. A released a statement through her lawyer from 'Tokyo Kyodo Law Office'. She denied the claim in the headline of Bunshun Weekly's article on March 4, emphasizing that she said she felt 'helpless' during the interview, not that she 'could not forgive Shogakukan'.
According to the announcement, Shogakukansent someone to communicate with the victim on March 5, and the latter eventually accepted the former's apology. Therefore, she told everyone that herShogakukan did not harbor any strong anger or resentment, especially hoping not to see them shut downMangaOne, and even hopes the platform can continue to bring excellent manga works to the world.
In contrastThe provocation in Volume 5 of 'Fallen Angel Operation' on MangaOne—'Should women be forgiven? Should youth be forgiven? Should beauty be forgiven?'—makes this statement so magnanimous it's infuriating.
Perhaps, to some extent, she could prevent people's anger from spreading unjustifiably to other manga artists. But one thing is certain: people will not forget what Shogakukan has done. As for MangaOne,whether they can continue to live out theiroriginal intention of 'changing the industry',has become a mystery.