Incorporates references to youngster sexual assault
The unlucky case involving anime producer Kouchirou Itou bought a brand new growth on Friday, because the Wakayama District Court docket handed down a sentence of 4 years in jail, underneath expenses of rape and violating youngster prostitution legal guidelines and youngster sexual abuse pictures legal guidelines. The 53-year-old business veteran labored as a producer on a lot of famend director Makoto Shinkai’s successful movies, together with your name., Suzume, and Weathering With You.
The decision got here after Itou was arrested in February 2024 on suspicion of soliciting a 15-year-old lady for nude photos of herself, against the law found as a part of a unique prostitution investigation. Itou admitted the crime on the time of arrest, whereas additionally revealing to the authorities that he had carried out it with different folks too.
Producer of your title. Is Sentenced to 4 Years in Jail
An Unlucky Blemish on Makoto Shinkai’s Status
Itou was charged with obscene acts towards three minors, together with non-consensual sexual activity with a 15-year-old lady he met on social media. Whereas the prosecution requested for a six-year sentence, Itou’s protection pleaded for a suspended sentence, that means he wouldn’t serve his time in jail if he remained on good habits, on the account that Itou already settled with two out of the three victims out of court docket, and promised to undertake counseling at a medical establishment.
That is an unlucky spot in director Makoto Shinkai’s profession. Whereas there is no such thing as a motive to imagine he or the remainder of his studio, CoMix Wave Movies, had been conscious of Itou’s habits, the unlucky consequence is that the creators of gorgeous murals that moved hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide will, a minimum of for a while, be unwillingly related to a sexual predator. Particularly if it ever comes out that Itou used his repute and work within the anime business to method these ladies.
