©Mato Kousaka, Kadokawa
Kadokawa released a statement on Wednesday regarding latest reports of illustrator Gaou allegedly admitting to engaging in sexual acts with a minor in the path of a livestream program in Japan. Kadokawa stated that it has confirmed with Gaou himself that the allegation is factual. The company announced the measures it is taking regarding Gaou‘s removal as the illustrator for Mato Kousaka‘s I May Be a Guild Receptionist light original collection, and the handling of various publications related to the illustrator.
Print copies of the I May Be a Guild Receptionist light novels’ volumes 1-8 have been recalled and are out of print, and digital distribution of the novels has been suspended. Kadokawa plans to re-release the volumes with a original illustrator sooner or later, but no date has been decided but. Gaou‘s 2021 Selfie Girl Gaou Sakuhin-shū (Selfie Girl Gaou Work Sequence) illustration guide has also been recalled and out of print, and digital distribution has been suspended. Kadokawa also suspended the digital distribution of all three volumes of Kōzaburō Yamaguchi’s Hallelujah Vamp light novels, which Gaou drew the illustrations for. Kadokawa‘s subsidiary ASCII Media Works revealed the light novels’ first quantity in 2012.
A individual claiming to be Gaou allegedly admitted in the path of a livestream program in Japan on June 29 to engaging in sexual acts with a minor. According to “exposé YouTuber” KoreKore, who hosted the livestream with the alleged sufferer and the individual claiming to be Gaou, the alleged sufferer said she was 14 when the incident took place. She is now 17. She also stated she met with him again earlier this year when she was 17. They started dating, then no longer too long ago stopped dating (the archive of the livestream itself bleeps out both the acts dedicated and her age, but KoreKore stated her alleged age on his X/Twitter account).
The alleged sufferer stated in the path of the livestream she plans to first search the advice of her parents before deciding whether or no longer to transfer to the police. The individual on the livestream claiming to be Gaou also apologized in the path of the livestream, and said he thinks “he has no choice but to retire” from being an illustrator now.
In Japan, the legal age of consent was 13 till 2023, when it was raised to 16. On the alternative hand, certain sexual acts with any person beneath the age of 18 are view to be a crime, regardless of the legal age of consent.
Gaou‘s Wikipedia page states he was born in November 1985, and if it is accurate, he would at the moment be 39, and 36 when the alleged incident took place.
Following the incident, publishers Dengeki Bunko and Overlap Bunko released separate statements on July 1 and 2, respectively, and announced that they have been taking away Gaou as illustrator for I May Be a Guild Receptionist and Yūki Kimikawa‘s Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! light novels collection. Dengeki Bunko stated then that handling of existing original volumes was in dialogue, while Overlap Bunko is replacing Gaou in its existing volumes.
DMM GAMES‘ EXNOA company had explained in a June 30 statement that illustrator Gaou had certainly drawn designs for 2 characters as properly as both designs and stills for three extra characters for its Girls Creation role-playing game. On the alternative hand, the game’s management team added that various swear material is being created by the team and various collaborating illustrators, and that Gaou is at the moment no longer creating swear material for the game. The game’s staff said that there’s a risk that some character designs in the game may change.
Also on June 30, Gaou‘s name had been removed from the ranking pages and X (beforehand Twitter) account for the anime adaptation of the Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! light novels. The anime premiered on July 3. The anime’s promotional movies have been also removed on the anime’s net pages on June 30, but have been posted again as of July 8.
Shogakukan‘s Gagaga Bunko tag announced on July 1 that it has delayed the July 18 publication of the original original 1/n no Watson and will replace the illustrator “due to circumstances related to illustrator Gaou.”
Yuki Sakuna, one of many VTuber artists for whom Gaou draws illustrations, also announced on July 2 that she is going to refrain from the train of Gaou‘s illustrations, and stated that the potential of hiring a original illustrator is beneath dialogue.
On July 3, the KAI-YOU pop culture net pages properly-known that Gaou‘s pixiv and pixiv Fanbox accounts had change into inactive, with his pixiv account page displaying the “An error [has] occurred” and “Profile not found” messages. It is no longer clear whether Gaou or the pixiv management had removed the accounts.
As of press time, Gaou has no longer but released an official statement regarding the incident.
Gaou is also the illustrator for Jyogesayuu‘s Hikyō-shada to Yūsha Party o Tsuihō Sareta node Hatarakukoto o Tomemashita (Working Appears Pointless After the Hero Labeled Me as a Coward) and Sui Juuichiya‘s Nido Tensei Shita Shōnen wa S-Rank Bōkensha to Shite Heion ni Sugosu (The Re-Reincarnated Boy Lives Peacefully as an S-Rank Adventurer) light original collection, among various works.
Sources: Kadokawa, Dengeki Bunko‘s X/Twitter account via Otakomu
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime Information Network, LLC. One or extra of the companies talked about on this article are part of the Kadokawa Community of Companies.
