Shueisha Suspends Sales of All “act-age” Manga Volumes, Merchandise After Author’s Arrest

Publisher Shueisha has officially announced via the Shonen Jump website that they are implementing an “indefinite suspension” on sales of all volumes of Tatsuya Matsuki and Shiro Usazaki’s act-age manga series. This suspension covers all 12 existing volumes of the manga already out in print, as well as the digital editions in Shueisha’s websites and in other digital manga services.

The announcement also confirmed that no more future volumes of the series will be published, as well as official merchandise for the series including the act-age Comic Calendar as well as NatsuComi 2020 Photo Contest prize Tosho Card (it will, instead, be substituted with a card of another title), 200 Rasetsujo Stage Play DVD-Box prizes, and the Jump Shop 366-Day Sticker. However, special bonus gifts that were already pre-ordered in the past issues will still be distributed, unless buyers wish to cancel their pre-orders.

Last Monday, the publisher announced that they have cancelled the serialization of Matsuki’s manga series. The chapter that is included in Shonen Jump’s 36^th and 37^th issue, which was out in stores last Tuesday, will be the last chapter of the once-promising series. In an official statement, Shueisha stated that they made this decision because they were taking the situation “very seriously”. The company has also already informed the manga’s illustrator, Shiro Usazaki, about the decision and says that while Usazaki was “heartbroken” with what happened, they are supportive of the decision and hopes that they get to draw another work in the future.

On August 8, series creator and author Tatsuya Matsuki was arrested by police after committing an indecent act on a female high school student. According to police reports, the junior high school student was walking in the streets of Nakano ward, Tokyo on June 18 at 8:00 PM when Matsuki approached her from behind while on his bicycle. He then touched her inappropriately and fled the scene on his bike. The victim immediately reported the incident to the police, and the suspect was identified using security footage. The police also discovered that an hour after the reported incident, Matsuki inappropriately touched another female student, this time in a road near where the first incident took place.

act-age was launched in Weekly Shonen Jump last January 2018, with the story written and created by Matsuki and illustrations provided by Shiro Usazaki. The series was once considered to be one of Shonen Jump’s current promising works along with Jujutsu Kaisen, which will be receiving a TV anime series this year. The manga was nominated for Kodansha’s 43^rd Annual Manga Awards last year and is set to receive a stage play adaptation in 2022. Shueisha has not stated their plans for act-age’s future projects, saying that they are still in the process of discussing these.

Anime News Network describes act-age’s story as such:

“Kei Yonagi is a high school girl aiming to become a successful actress. She catches the eye of a director Sumiji Kuroyama during an audition and he decides to give her her big break. However, Yonagi’s acting talent is due to her Method acting, which could be come dangerous if she doesn’t get it under control.”

Source: Anime News Network