In light of the arrest of Kenya Suzuki, author of Please Tell Me! Galko-chan, the manga’s publisher Kadokawa has opted to suspend the manga’s serialization, along with any other related content. Representatives for the publisher did not release a formal statement on the suspension, only stating that the suspension came about due to “multiple news reports about the creator.” Seven Seas Entertainment, the publishing company that localizes Please Tell Me! Galko-chan in English has yet to release a formal statement concerning the future of the manga.
Please Tell Me! Galko-chan was first serialized through the creator’s Twitter account, before eventually being serialized through Kadokawa’s digital manga service, ComicWalker. The series eventually inspired an anime adaptation in 2015, which was streamed through Crunchyroll. The manga’s story concerned the titular Galko-chan, an outspoken high school student dispensing advice to friends and classmates alike often with hilarious results, especially as innuendo manages to fly right over Galko-chan’s head.
Author Kenya Suzuki was arrested earlier in December, sometime after he was unable to be located for a week and was subsequently reported missing to police. It is unknown if Suzuki going missing was related in any way to his current charges. Suzuki was arrested on suspicion of acquiring child pornography from Germany. Aichi Prefectural Police allege that Suzuki was in possession of six photo collections sent through international mail in September and October of this year. Suzuki was quoted as saying that he “desperately wanted to acquire nude photos of foreign children that cannot be acquired in Japan.”
Upon search of Suzuki’s property, Aichi Prefectural Police found an additional forty-six collections and publications that allegedly contained child pornography. No other statements have been released by the police or the media at this time.
There have been several other incidences of manga authors engaging in inappropriate behavior involving children; most recently being the author of Act-Age, Tatsuya Masumoto. It’s often disheartening to see that despite charges, concrete consequences are often few and far between for these authors, even in the court of public opinion. The recent news that the Rurouni Kenshin series was getting a new anime film sparked polarizing opinions across the internet, especially after reminders that the series creator Nobuhiro Watsuki was arrested for possession of child pornography in 2017. However, Suzuki’s charges may actually stick, as he broke Japan’s Customs Act by importing the illicit material from Germany, which is punishable by “imprisonment with work for not more than ten years or a fine of not more than thirty million yen, or both.”
Source: Anime News Network, Japan’s Customs Act (translated)
