#watsuki

I’ve recently posted an update as the news broke about Nobuhiro Watsuki. This was after conversations with HYRK’s main admin @Whiteplum, a few hours after her decision to close down HYRK for good. As of writing this, the blog is still open for people to view and remain updated on any more news but in the meantime both her and I have received messages from loyal RK fans - many expressing disappointment and sadness to see us go, and others that have calling us selfish and condemning our decision as damaging to the fandom. I want to write this post to make our stance very clear. 

This will be the last post I make on the topic of Nobuhiro Watsuki and for the foreseeable future, the last post I will make about Rurouni Kenshin so if you have any opinions on the closing of the blog or the cessation of production on any of my Hiten Encyclopedia projects, you will be referred back to this post. 

Rurouni Kenshin has been in our lives for more than a decade. I can speak for myself that my daily life is insanity. I am currently working on a short film which is a lot of hard work. I have to get ready to move across states, deal with the stress of getting work in the field I want to get work in, a wife,  and so on, but even in adulthood more than 10+ years later, Dragonball and Rurouni Kenshin remain cornerstones that define my life. These stories have been incredibly moving, poignant, and genuinely wise - the themes are usually so deep that I recite some lines to myself in adulthood when I get overwhelmed. This series will always be special to me, and I know I can say the same for @Whiteplum and a majority of the followers of both myself and HYRK.

But this isn’t about Rurouni Kenshin anymore. This isn’t about Nobuhiro Watsuki either. His act is disgusting and deplorable, but let’s not suffer delusions: the illegal industry and practice he indulges in only exists because we live in a world unfortunate enough to have a market for it, a market which he is/was an active patron of. This “industry” makes a profit off exploiting young children in the most hideous of ways and for that, I hope he receives justice.

As creatives, and as well as hosts and contributors to a fandom that actively celebrates work that provides a living for this man, we have both concluded that it’s best for us to bow out and step away from platforms that, at the very least, indirectly supported this man monetarily. 

We DO NOT condemn anyone who chooses to remain in the fandom. We understand that Rurouni Kenshin largely exists independently of Watsuki and his actions. I believe that it’s a personal decision whether or not one should continue in this fandom after recent events, but I also believe we are entitled to that decision ourselves. We do not actively wish to promote, discuss, give a platform to, or associate ourselves with a product in which it can be presumed to have been used to fund illicit acts that come from the exploitation of children and we will step away for the time being. It is an issue we’re both passionate about, and we both feel it is our responsibility to make this decision for our respective blogs.