Square Enix Stands by Neko Kurage: As of late, Square Enix has responded to the debate surrounding Neko kurage, the manga artist behind The Apothecary Diaries, saying that they are “not particularly considering canceling” the series. Nekokurage, whose real name is Erika Ikeda, said this after getting a suspended term for tax evasion. Ikeda was fined 11 million yen ($70,600) and given a 10-month jail sentence by the Fukuoka District Court. However, her prison sentence will be suspended for three years if she stays good.
The Fukuoka Regional Taxation Bureau did an investigation and found that Ikeda had not reported about 260 million yen (about US$1.6 million) in income. This meant that he avoided paying taxes on that amount of money for 47 million yen (about US$298,887) between 2019 and 2021. It turned out that some of the unreported income, which included money from selling manga, was used to buy a house.
Neko kurage admitted to the charges at the first court meeting on May 31. He said that the omission was because he didn’t know what to do, not because he wanted to avoid paying taxes. She said she had planned to pay all of her taxes at once at a later time. On April 1, Neko kurage talked about the situation in public.
She admitted she had made a mistake and said she had paid the taxes and penalties in 2022, as instructed by tax officials. She also talked about hiring a tax planner to make sure she filed her taxes correctly in the future. She made it clear that the problem was personal and had nothing to do with the original author of The Apothecary Diaries light novel series or any of her co-authors.
Apothecary Diaries by Nekokurage began in May 2017 in Square Enix’s Monthly Big Gangan magazine. Since then, the series has become very famous, and on March 25, Square Enix released the 13th collected volume. The English version can be bought from Square Enix Manga & Books, which makes the series more popular around the world.
Also Read: The Apothecary Diaries Artist Nekokurage Gets Suspended Sentence for Tax Evasion
This story, “The Apothecary Diaries,” was written by Natsu Hyūga and first featured on the “Let’s Become Novelists” website in October 2011. Since August 2014, Shufunotomo has been printing the books with drawings by Touko Shino. The novel series is distributed online by J-Novel Club, which helps it reach even more people.
The story is so well-known that it was turned into a cartoon, which first aired in October 2023. It had two seasons and was aired on Crunchyroll, along with an English dub. As a result of how well the first season did, fans are excited that a second season will be out in 2025.
Square Enix’s decision to keep going with the manga even though Nekokurage is in legal trouble shows that the company believes in the series’ promise and keeps the artist’s personal life separate from her work. Fans are looking forward to more adventures in the world of The Apothecary Diaries as the series grows in both print and film
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