Recently, manga artist Shinobu Seguchi is working on a new manga series titled “Prisoner Riku”. However, the artist has recently faced backlash online due to a disagreement over fan art and copyrights. This was triggered by their rude response to a French colorist, whom they asked to remove their post.
Shinobu Seguchi wrote and illustrated Prisoner Riku, a Japanese manga series that was serialized in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine from February 2011 to February 2018. The series has been compiled into 38 volumes, each containing multiple chapters.
Controversy surrounding Prisoner Riku’s mangaka
On Saturday, April 6, 2024, @Atsukyooa, a French manga colorist for X, shared a colored illustration of Sasaki Renoma, a character from the Prisoner Riku manga. In the tweet, the colorist also tagged the official account of the manga’s creator, @ShinobuSeguchi.
Despite the colorist’s praise and gratitude, the manga creator responded rudely to the tweet, claiming that the illustration featured their original line work.
Shinobu Seguchi also stated that after using Google translation to read a post on X, he did not perceive any originality in the colored art. As a result, he requested the colorist to remove the tweet. Additionally, the mangaka mentioned that he would not have had any problem with the colorist had they drawn the line art and then proceeded to color it themselves.
When the colorist attempted to talk to the manga creator, Seguchi expressed that the “fan art”was not well-received. This was the catalyst for the significant backlash against the mangaka of Prisoner Riku.
Fan Response to Statements by the Creator of Prisoner Riku
Shortly after Prisoner Riku creator Shinobu Seguchi shared their thoughts, numerous fans rallied to their support and urged the colorist to remove the post. Some argued that the disagreement stemmed from cultural disparities between France and Japan, where copyright laws are much more stringent.
Despite the manga creator’s attempts to use ‘culture difference’ as an excuse, animanga fans online were not willing to overlook their rude behavior. In contrast, there are manga creators, such as Makoto Yukimura, the creator of Vinland Saga, who not only appreciate fan art but also actively share it on social media.
“Culture difference’ my ***. I’ve never heard of a mangaka being this petty, cruel and unprofessional to a fan art/coloration,”said one fan.
“I know it can be hard to understand but just look at the mangaka of Vinland Saga. He always share fan art and coloring because it makes the manga live. He is happy people are involved in his story. You are the problem. You are HARASSING someone for literally nothing,”added another.
“I mean, colorist is an actual profession, and it takes skill to do it well. I think the mangaka is in the wrong here for not appreciating what is essentially fan art,”said another fan.
The fans online deemed Shinobu Seguchi’s handling of the situation as unprofessional, as evidenced by their comments.
It was noted by many that the manga creator could have requested the colorist to refrain from using his line art or directly altering his work. However, instead of approaching the situation calmly, Prisoner Riku mangaka Shinobu Seguchi publicly criticized the colorist’s work. As a result, numerous animanga fans online declared that they would permit their followers to utilize their line art if they were to achieve success as a manga artist.
“Also that mangaka is being unnecessarily rude af to a fan. could have just told the fan that they don’t want their drawing to be used/changed by fan. (Like some artists that don’t want their art to be reposted),”another fan explained their point.
“If I’d be a famous Mangaka one day, I’d let all of you, haters or fans, color my line art/panels. I’d be honored,”one fan shared.
Despite the criticism that Prisoner Riku author, Shinobu Seguchi, has faced, it is uncertain whether the incident will fade from memory in the near future.
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