On Wednesday, November 9, a 34-year-old Japanese woman in Tokyo's Shibuya Wardon was arrested on charges of violating copyright laws, according to a report by the Metropolitan Police Department of Japan (via Yahoo News).
The Japanese woman was arrested to making cakes with illustration of the popular Demon Slayer anime series, and according to the police, the woman was selling the cakes through her Instagram account. Obviously, selling cakes without permission from the copyright holders of the popular anime is an illegal violation. Each cake was being sold between 13,500 to 15,000 yen (roughly $120 USD). According to the investigators' estimates, she made a profit of roughly $57,000 US in 2 years, since July 2019.
The woman admitted to the allegations, the police reported. “I thought it would sell more if I made it with a popular anime character. I knew it was a crime“, the woman admitted during the questioning. She would design the cakes based with Demon Slayer illustrations based on customers' request, and used chocolate-decorating pens to draw the characters.
Related: Founder of Anime Studio Behind Demon Slayer and Fate Franchise to Face 20-month Prison Sentence Over Tax Evasion
Ufotable, the production company behind the anime franchise based on the manga series by Koyoharu Gotouge, became aware of this illegal business, and notified the police in February.
The massive popularity of Demon Slayer also sparked a 5-hour queue in Universal Studios Japan when the theme park launched a popcorn bucket inspired by the anime.
Demon Slayer Mugen Train Arc is currently airing on Crunchyroll and Funimation. The Entertainment District Arc (the actual Season 2) is set to premiere on December 7. For more details about the upcoming arc, you can check out everything you need to know about Demon Slayer: Entertainment District arc in our dedicated article.
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