It has now been zero days since the last time Weekly Shonen Jump didn’t contain a manga created by a convicted sex offender. Proving that they learned nothing when act-age writer Tatsuya Matsuki was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two middle school girls, the manga periodical launched Build King, the latest manga by Toriko creator Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro.
In 2002, Shimabukuro was arrested and charged for hiring a 16-year-old girl for sex. He was initially given a two year jail sentence, but it was suspended for unknown reasons. Shonen Jump cancelled his series Seikimatsu Leader Den Takeshi! as a result of the charges.
Shueisha gave Shimabukuro another chance in 2004 (some believe this was at the request of One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda). They ran his sports comedy manga Ring in Super Jump for three volumes. In 2008, he returned to Shonen Jump with Toriko.
This is not the first time Shueisha has continued to work with a convicted sex offender. Nobuhioro Watsuki was charged with possession of child pornography in 2017. He was back to work on Rurouni Kenshin: Hokkaido Arc less than a year later.
Not to be outdone by their Japanese counterpart, Viz Media has already translated and released the first chapter of Build King on their website.
[Sources: Anime News Network, Samantha Ferreira’s Twitter]
”One Piece creator Eiichiro Oda convinced Shueisha to give Shimabukuo another chance in 2004.” This is a completely fabricated claim with no official sources
I’ve updated the story to reflect this. However, Oda’s ongoing relationship with Watsuki and Shimabukuro — both convicted pedophiles — is well documented.
Honestly this is really reaching for attention, there’s no proof of oda had anything to do with this as others stated and, while questionable there’s nothing culturally wrong with it so no issues with him staying in touch. Frankly, it seems that you may want to read up on Japanese law as (not that I agree with it, personally…) but as far as I can see, that was within the age of consent by at least three years, according to this and Wikipedia : https://www.ageofconsent.net/world/japan#:~:text=The%20Age%20of%20Consent%20in,to%20participation%20in%20sexual%20activity.
(Hopefully my previous comments with a typo deleted, apologies if they didn’t)