Rurouni Kenshin Creator Arrested

The creator of Rurouni Kenshin and Buso Renkin, Nobuhiro Watsuki, is arrested on possession of child pornography, according to Yahoo News Japan, and the Yomiuri Shinbun.

According to reports, police had uncovered DVDs of women aged 15 and under at Watsuki’s office in Tokyo, as well as inside his home. Watsuki quoted to the police “I liked girls from the upper grades of elementary school to around the second year of junior high school”.

Possession of child pornography is illegal in Japan (with the exception of lolicon or sexual depictions of fictional young women under the age of 18). If convicted, Watsuki would face one-year in prison, as well as having to pay a fine of 1 million yen (around $9000).

Serialized in Shonen Jump from 1994 to 1999, Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin depicts a former assassin defending the people of Meiji-era Japan, while vowing to never kill again. It was adapted to an anime series that aired in Japan from 1996 to 1998. Columbia Pictures Television (a division of Sony) would release the series internationally under the title “Samurai X”. Media Blasters acquired the rights for the US release and aired on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block in 2003. Three live-action films adapting the manga were released from 2012 to 2014.

In September of this year, Watsuki produced a sequel manga series of Rurouni Kenshin, which is serialized in Jump Square. Publisher Shueisha has announced that in light of Watsuki’s arrest, the Rurouni Kenshin sequel manga will be put on hiatus, according to a report from Buzzfeed Japan.

In addition to Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki also created the manga series Buso Renkin, of a young teenager who uses the power of alchemy to combat various monsters. It was serialized in Shonen Jump from 2003to 2005, and was adapted into an anime series airing from 2006 to 2007.