Rurouni Kenshin Creator Nobuhiro Watsuki Fined 200,000 Yen For Possession Of Child Porn

Fined about US$1,900 for having DVDs; Rurouni Kenshin manga's Hokkaido Arc on hiatus
The Tokyo Public Prosecutors Office filed a summary indictment against 47-year-old manga creator Nobuhiro Watsuki (real name Nobuhiro Nishiwaki) for simple possession of child pornography on Tuesday. On the same day, the Tokyo Summary Court ordered Watsuki to pay a fine of 200,000 yen (about US$1,900).

According to the Public Prosecutors Office, Watsuki possessed multiple DVDs with videos of nude girls in their early teens and other materials last October. Authorities were searching Watsuki's home as part of a different investigation, which linked him to the purchase of DVDs with child pornography. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police then found the DVDs at Watsuki's office in Tokyo.

The police charged Watsuki in November for possessing the pornographic videos since July 2015. In his deposition, Watsuki had said that he "liked girls in late elementary school to around the second year of middle school."

Possession of child pornography in Japan can lead to imprisonment for up to one year, a fine of up to 1 million yen (about US$8,800), or both.

Watsuki is best known as the creator of the Rurouni Kenshin manga. The manga ran from 1994 to 1999 in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine, and Shueisha published over 60 million copies of the manga's compiled book volumes. The manga inspired an anime series that ran from 1996 to 1998, as well as films and original video anime projects.

The manga also inspired a live-action film trilogy from 2012 to 2014, with a new film reportedly in the works last year. Most recently, Watsuki and his novelist wife/story collaborator Kaoru Kurosaki launched the Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc (Rurouni Kenshin, Meiji Kenkaku Romantan: Hokkaido-hen) in Shueisha's Jump SQ. magazine in September. Viz was simultaneously publishing the manga in English. However, Shueisha announced after police filed charges against Watsuki that this manga was going on hiatus.