Nekokurage, the artist for the manga adaptation of The Apothecary Diaries, has been found guilty of tax evasion. The Fukuoka District Court sentenced her to ten months in prison and three years’ suspension, as well as fined her 11 million JPY (close to $71.1k). [Thanks, KaroshiMyriad and Mainichi!]
As a note, she will only have to serve her ten months’ jail sentence if she commits a crime within the suspension period of three years. During the court proceedings, the prosecution stated Nekokurage (whose real name is Erika Ikeda) prioritized her work and was too lazy to prepare the documentation necessary to declare her taxes. This is despite the fact that Ikeda clearly understood the need to declare and file her taxes. They added that her motive leaves no room for sympathy.
In June 2024, Nekokurage pleaded guilty to tax evasion worth 47 million JPY, which (at the time) is about $298,754. Ikeda claimed that she’d planned on declaring several years’ worth of taxes in one go and this is something she’d done in the past. The people around her (including an acquaintance, her editor, and even the author of The Apothecary Diaries) urged Ikeda to file her taxes or at least consult an accountant. Ikeda has accepted full responsibility for her actions and states that her failures do not reflect on the property she works on. She has not made a public comment about her sentencing and her last Tweet was in April 2024.
Square Enix has told IT Media in a statement that it has no plans on cancelling the manga serialization.
Published: Jul 24, 2024 11:00 am