Act-Age author Tatsuya Matsuki Arrested, WSJ Cancels the Manga!

On August 8, 2020, the author of Act-Age, Tatsuya Matsuki was arrested in Japan. It was reported that Matsuki was arrested for allegedly approaching and molesting two female middle school students in June this year.

Tatsuya Matsuki, when presented with the CCTV footage of the two incidents in which he allegedly sexually assaulted two junior high school girls, confirmed that “there’s no question” that the man in the footage was him. And these happened within the span of an hour!

Act-Age author Tatsuya Matsuki arrested
Act-Age | Source: Viz Media

It seems like the matter is taken with extreme seriousness by the editors of Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine as they announced that the series would immediately end publication.

The chapter released on August 11, 2020, will be the last one in this manga series.

MangaPlus confirmed on its website that it will not be posting the final chapter of Act-Agethrough this tweet-

On August 8th, Mr. Tatsuya Matsuki, who is in charge of the original work of “actage act-age”, was arrested.

The editorial department took this situation very seriously, confirmed the facts, and had a discussion with Dr. Shiro Usazaki, who is in charge of drawing. As a result, we have decided that we cannot continue the series of “actage act-age”.
The series will end with the publication of the “Weekly Shonen Jump 36.37 merger issue” that will be released on Tuesday, August 11.

We will end the work that many readers have supported so far in this way, and I am very sorry for the editorial department. However, we took the content of the case and the social responsibility of “Weekly Shonen Jump” seriously, and made such a decision.
We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused.

Although not only the editorial department, but Professor Usazaki is thinking about having an intestine, we will support him and make every effort to create new works.
Regarding related publications such as comics and various events and plans, we will inform you as soon as it is decided after consultation with related parties.

English Translation, Google Translate

After the breaking of this news, fans are in a state of shock.

The manga was ranked 3rd in Honya Club’s Nationwide Bookstore Employees’ Recommended Comics of 2018. Volume 5 of the manga ranked 13th on Oricon’s weekly manga rankings chart, with 52 thousand copies sold.

The series ranked 6th in a poll conducted by AnimeJapan of “Most Wanted Anime Adaptation”.

It was also hugely rumoured that Act-Age was about to have an anime adaptation this year.

The 26th issue of this year’s Weekly Shonen Jump by Shueisha revealed on 1st June that the Act-age manga was going to inspire a stage play that was going to be premiered sometime in 2022.

Act-Age author Tatsuya Matsuki arrested
Act Age Cover | Source: Reddit

The play was going to be directed by Shu Matsui.

But fans fear otherwise! Shiro Usazaki, the artist of this manga series, has been assured by the publishers for future projects.

If you are a U.S.-based victim of sexual assault or misconduct in need of help, contact RAINN at 800-656-4673 to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. If you are based outside the U.S., click here for a list of international sexual assault resources

About Act-Age

The main protagonist of the manga, Kei Yonagi, is a high school girl who strives to become an actress.

Her talent for method acting is so strong that sometimes she even looses track of reality while acting.

In spite of getting comments such as, being this way won’t take her anywhere, she gets noticed by the highly acclaimed director Sumiji Kuroyama, who steps forward with the intent of bringing out her full potential.

Source: Twitter

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