Nobuhiro Watsuki, the man who created the popular samurai manga Rurouni Kenshin, has been charged with possession of child pornography. According to Yomiuri Shimbun (via Kotaku), the 47-year-old manga artist had several DVDs featuring nude 15-year-old girls in them, all of which were found in his office and home. Watsuki could be facing up to a year prison and fined up to 1 Million Yen.
The artist has already admitted to the charges, saying "I liked girls from the upper grades of elementary school to around the second year of junior high school," to the Japanese authorities. Apparently, there were suspicions about the manga creator owning these illegal DVDs that surfaced during another child pornography case.
Watsuki had been working on a new Rurouni Kenshin arc which started last month on Jump Square magazine. At the time, fans were happy to see the series return after a long hiatus and many had high hopes for this new arc. Now that this has been revealed, Jump Square has decided to stop serializing the series for a while. Their public relations had this to say:
"Receiving the media reports this time, we take this matter very seriously. The author is really reflecting upon himself."
Read:‘Rurouni Kenshin' Makes A Comeback With A Brand New Arc
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!
Fandoms