Aniplex showcased the new trailer for the Rurouni Kenshin anime adaptation set to premiere in 2023 during their Aniplex Online Fest 2022. The reboot will be produced by LINDEN Films and will have a new set of staff and cast.
The announcement caused many fans to express their distaste for the reboot, heavily criticizing the scandal that surrounds the author Nobuhiro Watsuki who was charged with child pornography in 2017 and was fined ¥200,000 or about US$1,500 in 2018. Many feel that the punishment is a slap on the wrist compared to the atrocities that the author has done.
Some even suggesting to pirate the series as a way to not support it as Watsuki has earned enough from the previous anime and the movie series that concluded last year.
Read More: Rurouni Kenshin to Get New Anime Adaptation, PV Reveals Staff and New Cast for 2023
Some fans expressed their excitement for the reboot’s release. Undoubtedly, the series has a lot of fans around the globe and many are still excited to watch the remake, hoping that the reboot would have the same vibe as the original.
Read More: Netflix Losing Bleach Movies, Death Note, and Other Anime in October
Other fans took a more neutral stance towards the series, quoting the separation of art and the artist.
There is no doubt that Rurouni Kenshin is a popular title and many anime/manga fans have grown up following the series and had been an integral part of their childhood. Many of the fans loved the vibe of the 90s series, with its action packed episodes and banger opening and ending songs.
The manga has sold over 72 million copies worldwide and the anime has been aired in multiple countries. It also had a live-action movie series that concluded last year.
Not much has been revealed about the reboot yet but it will be premiered on Fuji TV’s Noitamina programming block sometime in 2023.
Rurouni Kenshin Controversy Explained
Rurouni Kenshin’s Author Nobuhiro Watsuki was put under investigation by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on November 21, 2017, for child pornography charges.
In a separate investigation, the now 52-year-old Watsuki was found to have purchased videos featuring naked younger girls ranging from age 10 to 15. In a succeeding search of his Tokyo office and home revealed a stash of approximately 100 DVDs and CDs of said material which were seized by the authorities.
The Possession of child pornography became completely illegal in Japan in 2015. People found in possession of explicit pictures and videos of children can be imprisoned for up to one year and fined up to 1 million yen ($8,900) under Japanese law.
Watsuki admitted to possessing the materials telling the authorities, “I liked girls between the ages of upper elementary school students to about the second year of junior high school.” In the Japanese school system, elementary school lasts six years making second-year junior high school students either 13-14 years old.
Watsuki’s Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc manga was put into hiatus after the scandal broke out. Shueisha’s public relations section gave a written comment on the issue saying “Receiving the media reports this time, we take this matter very seriously. The author is really reflecting upon himself.” The series resumed publication in June 2018.
Read More: Crunchyroll Faces Backlash for Recasting Mob Psycho Voice Actor Over Union Disagreements
