(L) Rurouni Kenshin Hokkaido Arc

[Arabesque]

So, after time passing and the initial shock had subsided, all what I am left with is this sickening feeling of betrayal, anger, disappointment and sadness. RK is a series that is tied deeply with my childhood, a series I loved most of my life and had been placing in such high esteem along with its author. For it all to end up like this ...

Why Watsuki, why?

I will say that, for as heart breakin as this news is, it is at least reassuring that he had been caught. I shuddered to think about what other revelations are there about this situation, but so long as a predator is caught, that’s what will matter in the end.

Originally Posted by ellifeedn

Considering his connection to the two, I sure hope Oda hasn't done anything wrong.

Ugh. Oda and Shimabokuro’s connection was already suspect enough (the anniversary chapter he did talking about the past made me raise my eyebrow a few times) but them workin under Watsuki already makes me queasy about what dirt there might be about other mangaka connected to them. A few people I talk to told me that not only did RK read much differently now in light of this revelation, but even stuff like Shaman King feels suspicious as well given Takei’s friendship with this clique.

Then again, Takei left Shueisha and is now with Kodansha along with Shaman King, so who knows.

I hate this so much.

Originally Posted by Hata

caught redhanded, Watsuki had already admitted to police he likes “high elementary to middle jr. high girl” (10-15 years old), so this is a clean cut case that shouldn’t last long, Japanese law for such offense is max one year in prison and/or a fine under one million yens($10,000), which is nothing to Watsuki, the question is would the publisher gives Watsuki another chance? he being a high publicity person it wouldn’t surprise me if they want to make an example out of him for a light offense.

Christ, that honesty D:

I guess him admitting to his guilt would pretty much get him off lightly of any more serious charges, but the point about any publisher giving him a chance again seems close to nil at this stage. Shonen Jump had already removed the series from their sites and issued a statement distancing themselves (cause what company wants to be actively associating with someone admitting openly to liking CP?).

The English publisher (Viz) had also taken steps to remove listing for the original manga, the spin offs and the Hokkaido Arc from not only their website, but also their app. I doubt they can remove the physical books, but any further printing will be unlikely.

On a tangent. bit that hits hardest for Viz is that not only were they really pushing for the Hokkaido Arc each month during its brief run, but a lot of people working there truly loved the series and franchise. Some people on the English side had only joined the company because it was the English distributor of RK. Listening to the Shonen Jump podcast over the years, whenever they talked about the live action films, the spin offs and the franchise as a whole, it came from a place of love rather than duty.

Their twitter isn’t taking questions for this week podcast, so I suspect the next episode will be something like a wake.

Originally Posted by Hata

typical comments from the net? Japanese AV viewing is still much DVD oriented, they should change with time to online viewing or USB storage

I guess the Japanese AV scene is concerned about how easy it is for digital footmarks might make it easy to discover where the filming/production takes place, hence the archaic storage and distribution methods.

Online viewing is pretty much impossible without getting caught, especially for the content that Watsuki was interested in, given how much law enforcement agencies keep a look out for sites that distribute CP. And hopefully it stays that way forever, no need to make it easier to get this stuff.

Originally Posted by Hata

this makes Watsuki's endorsement of Armed Girl's Machiavellism that much more "revealing".

I looked into that, and yeah, a lot of his actions and words now take new meaning after this revelation.

Originally Posted by AntonKutovoi

Most likely manga will be canceled because of that. And any chance of anime remake has now probably died as well. Ugh... Just... why, Watsuki?

To do this right in the middle of his grand revival was something else. The anime return went from being likely next year to being impossible forever because of this.

I will forever ask why did it have to be like this, Watsuki.

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

This is really getting away from the main point, but it's wrong to call Watsuki a one-hit wonder since the vast majority of all mangaka would kill to have one series as successful as Busou Renkin. It sold 3 million volumes and had an anime adaptation, and both the manga and anime were licensed internationally. We could debate the artistic merits of the series but that's not what's being argued here.

In any event, the thing that stands out about RK's success is its longevity - it didn't just make a big splash and disappear. It remains a multi-medium commercial powerhouse (or did until a week ago, anyway) two decades after it appeared on the scene.

I might be more generous and not call him a one hit wonder like kuromitsu did, but I think that when looking at his resume (since I don’t think it isn’t likely he will be adding anything of substance to it going forward) RK stands out as being the one mega success among a collection of respectable to meddling run of stories. Busou Renkin might be the one series that he might have had a close chance for another breakaway hit, but a combination of bad luck and circumstances led to it never managing to do so.

That said, there is no denying that Watsuki’s biggest success is RK. It’s the series that put him on the map, and many years later, he kept on coming back to to add and continue its story. By comparison, every other series he worked on ended up concluding and him moving on either to work on something new and RK.

But that’s the past now. Watsuki’s reputation is in the mud now, along with RK by association. Even in the off chance he does comeback (unlikely) he isn’t going to end up with something bigger than RK in his life again. Maybe the idea that the franchise is able to make a come back is on the table like kuromitsu mentioned, but even then I don’t think it can happen.

Watsuki signed his own death warrant. And for what ...

[Sixth]

Originally Posted by Blueknight78

Yeah, for the most crazy its looks, for what i hear, 2D it's legal in japan, they only consider child porn if using real childrens, anime/novels/manga and others hentais no matter how ugly and disgusting they are, they are considered legal, the only thing which can happen is you being looked as a "disgusting/perv person, but you not gonna be "jailed for "having it or watch or read or whatever, they are just for "adult only".

Thanks for your information. Didn't knew about that. I always thought that possessing loli hentai/doujin/manga/fiction was illegal in Japan but those people were just so good in hiding from the law enforcement.

[Ligerleon89]

It's bad when somebody uses the Why clip from the First Knight movie, and I loved that movie as a kid. I don't even want to get why. Well there goes a manga to series that I would have loved to enjoy, now there's no chance of it hitting home for everyone to read. We've already had plenty of unpleasant news so far, why, OH WHY!? Did we have to get this bad news as well?

[Magin]

Well, the end of 2017 is really sucking. On this side of the ocean, you have all of Hollywood getting destroyed by sexual harassment scandals, and then you have this in Japan. Even worse is that someone I once considered a close friend is in jail because of this same.

Which makes me think... we're dealing with a subject and taboo that is as old as humanity. Here the West, we have the terrible jokes associated with catholic priests and altar boys, and some of you may have heard the phrase "old enough to bleed, old enough to breed". Not to mention that honestly speaking, the traditional views of sex in the East such as japan versus the West are very, very different (think geisha, or more specifically, their predecessors that I forget the name of). Hell, let's be real: back in the days of B.C. and the Roman Empire, this kind of thing was very real, and we simply like to think we've advanced, but it's cases like this that show for all the laws we might create, there are some very dark things that still course through humanity.

[n0m@n]

If Elvis Presley was still alive he would be considered a pedophile or had been called as such. Though he died much before this whole age-thing so he remains as the king of rock.

[Diluc]

Maybe someone need to report Miura Kentaro too, he should has a mountain stack of child porn video too in his secret room.
That way we can free at last from his endless torment of berserk hiatus.
Also Watsuki can happy to has comrade in same boat.

[bakato]

So I take it the charges have been dropped? Chapter 3 is up.

[DragonOsman]

Hadn't we already read that chapter before? I'm having a serious case of deja vu reading it.

[cyberdemon]

Originally Posted by bakato

So I take it the charges have been dropped? Chapter 3 is up.

Chapter 3 raw was out before the charges.

Has anyone heard what is going to happen? Even if he doesn't go to prison there is a chance he could get fired by his publisher so I am curious.

[n0m@n]

Well, last time I checked he's still married to his wife. His wife recently uploaded a picture of her cat and she was still wearing her wedding ring.

Haven't seen or heard anything besides that.

[Hata]

Originally Posted by Hata

Japanese law for such offense is max one year in prison and/or a fine under one million yens($10,000)

verdict: 200,000 yen fine (~<$2,000), no prison term.

no words from publisher, yet.

[DragonOsman]

So it's basically up to publisher's choice now? The author is scot-free aside from the fine?

[Diluc]

Originally Posted by DragonOsman

So it's basically up to publisher's choice now? The author is scot-free aside from the fine?

What do you mean?

[DragonOsman]

Watsuki (if that's his name) doesn't have to serve jail time and only has to pay a fine, if what Hata said is correct. So wouldn't that mean that whether we can still read this series or not is up to publisher? Not the authorities anymore?

[Sixth]

Found it at other forum:

The publisher says that "once we are ready to resume the Hokkaido arc, we will announce it". The source is in Japanese.

[dragon1412]

yeah, i'm pretty sure it can be resumed, how long is another matter though.

[DragonOsman]

One possibility is Watsuki himself deciding to end it soon due to depression from this whole thing.

[Kazu-kun]

He had to paid a fine, meaning he was found guilty. Not sure of the publisher will take him back.

[Nivek von Beldo]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

He had to paid a fine, meaning he was found guilty. Not sure of the publisher will take him back.

They accepted Toriko one even paid jail time, as long the manga sell, WSJ and Shuseia don't give a damn.

[Mad Pierrot]

If the arc is going to continue I'm happy, but I wonder how his wife is dealing with it. I heard that she was even writing a novel about Kenshin's marriage.