Cells at Work! creator Akane Shimizu’s recent allegations against her editorial department and subsequent apology from Kodansha has prompted numerous fellow manga creators to share their own accounts of conflict and hardship involving editorial staff, drawing attention to the poor working conditions of professional mangaka in the industry (as reported by Sponichi Anex).
To give some background, starting July 1, Shimizu made a series of X posts detailing the power harassment and mismanagement she experienced at Kodansha during the serialization of the Cells at Work! manga. She alleged that despite promising to secure professional supervision for the story’s medical aspects, her editor and publishing team failed to do so and repeatedly ignored her requests. As a result, Shimizu had to face harsh criticism from readers for “not doing her homework” as an author for every error that went by unchecked. With multiple subsequent pleas for supervision being met with dismissive reactions and insults from her assigned editor, Shimizu had to make do with reference books she purchased out of her own pocket.
Additionally, she alleged that Kodansha failed to provide her with professional-level manga assistants (normally a given for published authors) that would be willing and capable of helping her with backgrounds and other aspects of manga production. This increased her workload and left her with no choice but to pull all-nighters to meet her deadlines. Requests for these conditions to be improved were allegedly met with abusive remarks from her editor, suggesting Shimizu was “always pushing blame onto others.” These issues persisted even after Shimizu came back from a hiatus (which, she notes, her editors wrongfully attributed to her “running out of ideas”), ultimately leading her to decide to end the manga.
These circumstances, along with financial and sexual abuse she suffered from her family, led Shimizu to develop depression, trichotillomania, and PTSD during the manga’s publication period, and ultimately struggle with suicidal thoughts.
Even after Cells at Works ended, Shimizu notes that Kodansha went on to change how she was credited in subsequent spin-off works, (i.e., changing her from “original author” to “collaborator,” or even removing her name entirely) in 2023 and 2026.
These revelations inevitably caused strong backlash among Shimizu’s fans and industry peers, and it didn’t take long for Kodansha to respond. On July 3, the publisher posted a public apology to the author in which they acknowledged that they had failed to provide her with professional supervision and assistants, as well as the fact that they did not properly consult with Shimizu regarding how she would be credited on certain spin-off titles.
In the meantime, other artists have spoken up about their own experiences. Following Shimizu’s allegations, Kayatamaru, the mangaka behind The Girl, the Shovel, and the Evil Eye, revealed that they had, at one point, not received royalties from overseas sales of their e-books for over a year, with no apology from their editorial department. Additionally, their editors allegedly showed complete disregard for them voicing concerns about their deteriorating health, which later resulted in a compulsory hiatus of half a year after Kayatamaru’s weight dropped to life-threatening levels. The author remains on medication to this day.
Izuko Fujiya, known for the Slime Slayer: From Zero to Black Steel King manga, addressed for the first time why her Monthly Shonen Sirius series Sayonara no Parade was left unfinished. Posting on X, she explained that various disputes with her editorial department between 2016 and 2019 made it impossible for her to continue the series, both mentally and due to the work environment. She expressed hope that Shimizu’s story will help lead to improvements in how mangaka are treated by publishers.
Manga artist Q-ta Minami also indirectly referenced mistreatment at Kodansha, writing in response to Shimizu, “I used to resign myself to the fact that I was treated this way because I wasn’t a bestseller and that it was just the way things were. But if even Shimizu continued to be treated so badly by her editor after achieving such success, then there really is no hope. The fact that she’s still alive and continuing to create manga is a miracle.”
Additionally, Meiji Merou, the author of Jump+’s Magical Girl and Narco Wars, revealed they had been repeatedly told by past editors that they were inferior to other artists and would “end up a loser,” commenting “there was a tendency back then to try to force artists into a mold and emotionally corner them.”
While Akane Shimizu is currently in talks with Kodansha regarding past conflicts and has resolved the issues regarding credits on spin-off titles based on her work, the extent of the mismanagement she described – and the fact the she is far from the only one to experience it – is concerning. Hopefully now that manga authors are freer to speak up about their experiences publicly, publishers will feel more pressured to improve working conditions.
