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The scandal around Shogakukan is reaching further than we thought, with the fallout impacting not just the two writers who were hired despite their past sex offender convictions. Multiple artists have spoken out against the company, including One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100 creator, ONE, who explained that he wouldn’t work with Manga One unless they couldn’t “clearly state their strong condemnation of sexual harm against minors.”

In February 2026, it came to light that Manga One, whose parent company, Shogakukan, is a part-owner of VIZ Media, had hired not one but two individuals with convictions of sexual misconduct with minors. In both cases, the editors have allowed the offending writers to use a pen name to hide their identity from the public, and according to one artist, even their coworkers.

Once this became more widely known, the backlash was fairly swift. The creators of COSMOS, Hachimitsu Ni Hatsukoi, and Momo Lover all posted on social media about their desire to have their work removed from the site. However, none of these creators has the same international platform as ONE, whose manga and webtoons have been turned into two hit anime series.

“Manga One, I cannot team up with people who cannot clearly state their strong condemnation of sexual harm against minors,” ONE posted on social media. “That’s a given. Waiting for disclosure of circumstances by the relevant parties. I also want Shogakukan to support them if they take that action.” He later clarified that by “relevant parties” he meant the editors, who worked with both writers and made the decision to hire them following their convictions.

While the One Punch Man manga is published by VIZ Media in North America, it is published by Shueisha in Japan. However, ONE’s other well-known manga, Mob Psycho 100, was originally published by Shogakukan. The implied threat with ONE’s post is that he will not work with the publisher again in the future if he is not satisfied with the way they handle this current scandal.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

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