{"id":69256,"date":"2026-07-07T15:06:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:06:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=69256"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:30:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T06:30:18","slug":"cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;There was a tendency to emotionally corner mangaka.&#8221; Cells at Work! creator&#8217;s allegations\u00a0prompt\u00a0numerous\u00a0fellow\u00a0artists\u00a0to speak out about mistreatment by\u00a0editors\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Cells at Work!<\/strong>&nbsp;creator Akane Shimizu&#8217;s&nbsp;recent&nbsp;allegations against her editorial department&nbsp;and subsequent apology from Kodansha&nbsp;has&nbsp;prompted&nbsp;numerous&nbsp;fellow&nbsp;manga creators&nbsp;to share their own accounts of&nbsp;conflict and hardship involving editorial staff, drawing&nbsp;attention to&nbsp;the&nbsp;poor&nbsp;working conditions&nbsp;of professional mangaka&nbsp;in the industry (as reported by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sponichi.co.jp\/entertainment\/news\/2026\/07\/06\/articles\/20260706s00041000103000c.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Sponichi Anex<\/a>).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To give some background,&nbsp;starting&nbsp;July 1, Shimizu&nbsp;made a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/yellow_flame_\/status\/2072191268176663022?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">series of X posts<\/a>&nbsp;detailing&nbsp;the&nbsp;power harassment and mismanagement&nbsp;she experienced&nbsp;at Kodansha&nbsp;during the serialization of the Cells at Work!&nbsp;manga.&nbsp;She alleged&nbsp;that despite promising to secure professional supervision for the story\u2019s medical aspects, her editor&nbsp;and publishing team&nbsp;failed to&nbsp;do so and repeatedly ignored her requests. As a result,&nbsp;Shimizu had to face harsh criticism from readers for \u201cnot doing her homework\u201d&nbsp;as an author&nbsp;for every error that went by unchecked.&nbsp;With multiple&nbsp;subsequent&nbsp;pleas&nbsp;for supervision being met with dismissive reactions and insults&nbsp;from her assigned editor, Shimizu&nbsp;had to&nbsp;make do&nbsp;with reference books she&nbsp;purchased&nbsp;out of&nbsp;her own pocket.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u4ee5\u4e0b\u306f\u3001\u5f53\u6642\u306e\u8cc7\u6599\u30fb\u8a18\u61b6\u306b\u57fa\u3065\u304f\u79c1\u8996\u70b9\u306e\u6574\u7406\u3067\u3059\u3002\u95a2\u4fc2\u8005\u3078\u306e\u65ad\u5b9a\u7684\u8a55\u4fa1\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u3001\u300e\u306f\u305f\u3089\u304f\u7d30\u80de\u300f\u9023\u8f09\u5f53\u6642\u53d7\u3051\u305f\u8aac\u660e\u3068\u3001\u305d\u306e\u5f8c\u751f\u3058\u305f\u5f71\u97ff\u3092\u307e\u3068\u3081\u305f\u3082\u306e\u3067\u3059\u3002(\u26a0\ufe0f\u6027\u88ab\u5bb3\u306e\u4ef6\u3068\u306f\u5b8c\u5168\u306b\u5225\u4ef6\u306b\u306a\u308a\u307e\u3059\u26a0\ufe0f\u8907\u6570\u306e\u88ab\u5bb3\u304c\u3042\u308a\u3001\u3084\u3084\u3053\u3057\u304f\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3057\u307e\u3044\u7533\u3057\u8a33\u3042\u308a\u307e\u305b\u3093\u2026)<br><br>2014\u5e74\u2026<\/p>&mdash; \u6e05\u6c34\u831c|\u30a4\u30a8\u30ed\u30fc\u30d5\u30ec\u30a4\u30e0 (@yellow_flame_) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/yellow_flame_\/status\/2072191268176663022?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 1, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.x.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, she alleged that Kodansha\u00a0failed to\u00a0provide her with professional-level\u00a0manga\u00a0assistants\u00a0(normally a given for published authors)\u00a0that\u00a0would be\u00a0willing and capable\u00a0of helping\u00a0her with backgrounds and other\u00a0aspects\u00a0of manga production. This\u00a0increased\u00a0her workload and\u00a0left\u00a0her with no choice but to pull\u00a0all-nighters\u00a0to meet her deadlines.\u00a0Requests for these\u00a0conditions\u00a0to be improved were allegedly met with abusive remarks\u00a0from her editor, suggesting Shimizu was \u201calways pushing blame onto others.\u201d\u00a0These issues persisted\u00a0even after Shimizu\u00a0came back from a hiatus\u00a0(which,\u00a0she notes, her editors wrongfully attributed to her \u201crunning out of ideas\u201d),\u00a0ultimately leading\u00a0her to decide to end the manga.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These circumstances, along&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-manga-author-says-ongoing-legal-threats-from-perpetrators-forced-her-to-go-public-about-abuse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with&nbsp;financial and sexual&nbsp;abuse she suffered from her family<\/a>, led Shimizu to develop depression, trichotillomania, and PTSD during the manga\u2019s publication period,&nbsp;and&nbsp;ultimately&nbsp;struggle&nbsp;with suicidal thoughts.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even after Cells at Works ended, Shimizu notes that Kodansha went on to change how she was credited in&nbsp;subsequent&nbsp;spin-off works, (i.e., changing her from \u201coriginal author\u201d to \u201ccollaborator,\u201d or even removing her name entirely) in 2023 and 2026.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These revelations inevitably caused strong backlash among Shimizu\u2019s fans&nbsp;and industry peers, and it&nbsp;didn\u2019t&nbsp;take long for Kodansha to respond. On July 3, the&nbsp;publisher posted a public apology to the author&nbsp;in which they acknowledged&nbsp;that they&nbsp;had&nbsp;failed to provide&nbsp;her with&nbsp;professional supervision&nbsp;and&nbsp;assistants, as well as the fact that they did not properly consult with&nbsp;Shimizu&nbsp;regarding&nbsp;how she would be&nbsp;credited&nbsp;on certain spin-off titles.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1040\" height=\"660\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1040px) 100vw, 1040px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-001jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-69260\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-001jpg.jpg 1040w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-001jpg-380x241.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-001jpg-768x487.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the meantime, other artists have spoken up about their own experiences.&nbsp;Following Shimizu&#8217;s allegations,&nbsp;Kayatamaru, the mangaka&nbsp;behind The&nbsp;Girl,&nbsp;the Shovel, and&nbsp;the&nbsp;Evil Eye,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/kytmr00\/status\/2073691122816483657?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealed<\/a>&nbsp;that they had, at one point, not received royalties from overseas sales of their e-books&nbsp;for over a year, with no apology from their editorial department. Additionally,&nbsp;their&nbsp;editors&nbsp;allegedly&nbsp;showed complete disregard for&nbsp;them&nbsp;voicing concerns about their&nbsp;deteriorating&nbsp;health, which&nbsp;later&nbsp;resulted in a compulsory hiatus of half a year after Kayatamaru\u2019s weight dropped to&nbsp;life-threatening&nbsp;levels.&nbsp;The author&nbsp;remains&nbsp;on medication to this day.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Izuko Fujiya, known for&nbsp;the Slime Slayer: From Zero to Black Steel King manga,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/calorieover\/status\/2073296518178914401?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">addressed for the first time<\/a>&nbsp;why her Monthly Shonen Sirius series Sayonara no Parade was left unfinished. Posting on X, she explained that various disputes with&nbsp;her&nbsp;editorial department between 2016 and 2019 made it impossible for her to continue the series, both mentally&nbsp;and due to the work environment.&nbsp;She expressed hope that Shimizu\u2019s story will help lead to improvements in&nbsp;how mangaka are treated by publishers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Manga artist Q-ta Minami also&nbsp;indirectly referenced mistreatment at Kodansha,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/murasakibashi\/status\/2073201960552218714?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">writing in response to Shimizu<\/a>, \u201cI used to resign myself to the fact that I was treated this way because I&nbsp;wasn\u2019t&nbsp;a bestseller and that it was just the way things were. But if even Shimizu continued to be treated so badly by her editor&nbsp;after achieving&nbsp;such&nbsp;success, then there really is no hope. The fact that&nbsp;she\u2019s&nbsp;still alive and continuing to create manga is a miracle.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1196\" height=\"597\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1196px) 100vw, 1196px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-0012.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-69262\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-0012.jpg 1196w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-0012-380x190.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-0012-768x383.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additionally, Meiji Merou,&nbsp;the author of&nbsp;Jump+\u2019s&nbsp;Magical Girl and&nbsp;Narco&nbsp;Wars,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/meijime_\/status\/2073217254188327229?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">revealed<\/a>&nbsp;they had been repeatedly told by past editors that they were&nbsp;inferior&nbsp;to other artists and would \u201cend up a loser,\u201d commenting&nbsp;\u201cthere was a tendency back then to try to force&nbsp;artists&nbsp;into a mold and&nbsp;emotionally&nbsp;corner them.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While Akane Shimizu is currently in talks with Kodansha&nbsp;regarding past conflicts&nbsp;and has&nbsp;resolved&nbsp;the&nbsp;issues regarding credits on spin-off titles based on her work, the extent of&nbsp;the mismanagement she described&nbsp;\u2013 and the fact&nbsp;the she is far from the only one&nbsp;to experience it&nbsp;\u2013 is&nbsp;concerning. Hopefully now that manga authors are freer to speak up about their experiences publicly, publishers will&nbsp;feel more pressured to improve working conditions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/nongaming-news\/former-weekly-shonen-jump-manga-artist-says-editors-insisted-on-erotic-content-as-a-precondition-to-publishing-superhero-series-with-a-female-protagonist\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Former Weekly Shonen Jump manga artist\u00a0says\u00a0editors\u00a0insisted on erotic content as a\u00a0precondition to\u00a0publishing\u00a0superhero series with a female protagonist\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/nongaming-news\/japanese-manga-author-issues-statement-clarifying-they-dont-endorse-their-fictional-story-events-actually-happening-in-real-life-after-being-harassed-into-leaving\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>BL manga author\u00a0clarifies they\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0endorse their fictional story events\u00a0actually\u00a0happening\u00a0in real life after being harassed into leaving X\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/manga-publisher-shogakukan-once-again-under-fire-after-another-case-of-sexual-exploitation-by-former-employee-surfaces\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Manga publisher\u00a0Shogakukan\u00a0once again under fire after\u00a0another case of\u00a0sexual exploitation by former employee surfaces\u00a0<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Following Akane Shimizu&#8217;s allegations against Kodansha, other authors have spoken out about unpaid royalties, ignored health concerns and other issues with editors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":69258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[{"did":"did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2","date":"2026-07-07T06:06:27+00:00","uri":"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mpzwsjpwzl2z","response":"{\"uri\":\"at:\/\/did:plc:uzrrhkfyjrfdsynj2voztcf2\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3mpzwsjpwzl2z\",\"cid\":\"bafyreiczl453obqvujma26gvturkjsekek33s5txgvemmhrj45lbk27fdm\",\"commit\":{\"cid\":\"bafyreiapg6szguiso75fqmnqvqywijcjvoftx4id7a745yvrtvygcziriu\",\"rev\":\"3mpzwsjqbrd2z\"},\"validationStatus\":\"valid\"}"}],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,65],"tags":[73,17],"class_list":["post-69256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-nongaming-news","tag-anime","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>&quot;There was a tendency to emotionally corner mangaka.&quot; Cells at Work! creator&#039;s allegations\u00a0prompt\u00a0numerous\u00a0fellow\u00a0artists\u00a0to speak out about mistreatment by\u00a0editors\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following Akane Shimizu&#039;s allegations against Kodansha, other mangaka have spoken out about unpaid royalties, ignored health concerns and other issues with editors.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"&quot;There was a tendency to emotionally corner mangaka.&quot; Cells at Work! creator&#039;s allegations\u00a0prompt\u00a0numerous\u00a0fellow\u00a0artists\u00a0to speak out about mistreatment by\u00a0editors\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following Akane Shimizu&#039;s allegations against Kodansha, other mangaka have spoken out about unpaid royalties, ignored health concerns and other issues with editors.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T06:06:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-07T06:30:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"998\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"612\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"There was a tendency to emotionally corner mangaka.\" Cells at Work! creator's allegations\u00a0prompt\u00a0numerous\u00a0fellow\u00a0artists\u00a0to speak out about mistreatment by\u00a0editors\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Following Akane Shimizu's allegations against Kodansha, other mangaka have spoken out about unpaid royalties, ignored health concerns and other issues with editors.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"There was a tendency to emotionally corner mangaka.\" Cells at Work! creator's allegations\u00a0prompt\u00a0numerous\u00a0fellow\u00a0artists\u00a0to speak out about mistreatment by\u00a0editors\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Following Akane Shimizu's allegations against Kodansha, other mangaka have spoken out about unpaid royalties, ignored health concerns and other issues with editors.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-07-07T06:06:16+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-07-07T06:30:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":998,"height":612,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260707-69256-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/cells-at-work-creators-allegations-prompt-numerous-fellow-artists-to-speak-out-about-mistreatment-by-editors\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"&#8220;There was a tendency to emotionally corner mangaka.&#8221; Cells at Work! 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