Shogakukan has released a statement that Joujin Kamen written by Shouchi Yamamoto (using the pen name "Ichiro Hajime") and illustrated by Eri Tsuruyoshi will cease publication and be removed from the app due to his alleged past crimes of sexual assault.
Yamamoto had another series in 2020, Daten Sakuksen, that was summarily cancelled after his arrest. However, he was still brought on to write Joujin Kamen. Posts made on X (formerly Twitter) raised accusations of his sexual assault against a female student that occurred while he was a teacher in Hokkaido and that the identity of the accused was Yamamoto. Not only that, but editors from MangaOne were involved in the court settlement, discussing how to handle settlements that essentially pay for the victim's silence in exchange for withdrawal of their plea. The victim requested that the defendant's arrest be made public if the series Daten Sakuksen were to resume serialization, which was refused.
Relatedly, the serialization of Daten Sakuksen, which began in 2015, was first put on hiatus in 2020 due to Yamamoto's health. During this time, he was arrested, indicted, and fined for this scandal. It was then announced in 2022 that the manga would officially cease publication on MangaOne on October 1, 2022. With the reason being stated as "ongoing personal issues." Yamamoto then continued to self-publish the series, with a sixth volume releasing in 2023.
Shogakukan acknowledged that they were involved in the discussion, although they state they did not intend to be, noting that an editor did participate in a LINE text group at the request of both parties. They claim, however, that although the editor advised both parties to appoint a lawyer and to create a notarized document, they were not made aware of the seriousness of the accusations before becoming involved.
The victim claims they still suffer PTSD from the incident, even now in their twenties. On February 20, 2026, Yamamoto lost a civil lawsuit and was ordered to pay 11 million yen in damages. At the time his name wasn't revealed, and his identity as the writer of Joujin Kamen was not revealed.
Tsuruyoshi has said they didn't know about Yamamoto's offenses before taking the job as illustrator and has apologized to readers. They only found out about this case through social media and stated that they didn't look too deeply into Yamamoto's name change, figuring their reasons for doing so are their own. The two only met in person once, and they had a professional relationship.
Although the final volumes of Joujin Kamen were released on February 19th, Shogakukan is ceasing production and distribution. The publisher has gone on to state that Yamamoto and Ichiro are the same person and that they should have never allowed him to be serialized again. They state they will take the incident seriously, but they haven't stated any specific actions they plan to take.
Many authors are outraged at the handling of this matter and have summarily asked for their works to be removed from MangaOne. Including, but not limited to Kaeru Mizuho's Magical Girl Dandelion, Sumito Owara's Keep Your Hands Off of Eizoken, and Nujima's Mysterious Disappearances. Many more authors have expressed their anger, and readers are responding by deleting the app.
(Note: while there will inevitably be more authors who ask for their series to be removed from the app, these are generally manga that are serialized elsewhere, so the works will continue.)
The statement issued by Shogakukan is frankly lacking. We hope that this is only the beginning of a further investigation and that the parties involved with this cover-up will be punished. Manga is an art form that is primarily meant to entertain, and people taking reprehensible actions like Yamamoto only tarnish its reputation. Not only that, but as Shogakukan fans, it is heartbreaking that they'd cover up someone's pain for the sake of profit. As such, we will reconsider how we cover the publisher (especially MangaOne) starting now.
To the victim and their family, we extend our deepest apologies for what happened.
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