After Nobuhiro Watsuki was charged with possession of child pornography last fall, his manga Rurouni Kenshin was placed on hiatus. This June, it will resume serialization in Japan.
Earlier this year, Watsuki was fined 200,000 yen ($1,870) for violating the country’s child pornography law for this possession.
Starting June 4, however, Rurouni Kenshin’s “Hokkaido Arc” will return to print. The manga publication Jump Square’s editorial department offered a deep apology for the long hiatus from print and to everyone involved for causing concern and problems.
Continuing, it added, “The author spends his days reflecting and with remorse, and think as though it’s our obligation as a publisher as well as his as an author make a way for us to reply through the work to the various opinions we’ve been getting, and so, from the July issue, which goes on sale June 4, serialization will resume.”
The magazine asked readers for their understanding.
Investigators had discovered several DVDs that showed nude under-15-year-old girls at Watsuki’s Tokyo office. Similar DVDs were also reportedly found at his house. At the time, Watsuki was quoted as telling authorities, “I liked girls from the upper grades of elementary school to around the second year of junior high school.”
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