Shiro Usazaki, the artist for Act-age manga, released a statement on Monday regarding author Tatsuya Matsuki’s arrest and the cancellation of the manga by Jump Editorial team.

She began by expressing her sympathy and concern for the vitims and their family. She commended that courage that the victims showed in the wake of enormous shock, fear, and trauma this whole incident caused them. According to her the victims deciding to come forward is what led to the arrest of Matsuki and his detainment.

“Sexual harassment is a really serious matter that will most likely affect the victims for their whole lives. Victims will fear people with similar appearances, walking outside at nights, and will suffer stress and fear they never deserved to experience”

Shiro Usazaki

She further said that she accepted every single measure that Jump has taken, including the cancellation of the manga, the volume releases and the merchandises of the series. The continuation of the manga would only have triggered trauma and caused further pain for the victims according to her. She explicitly stated that victims are not to be blamed for the end of the series. She asked everyone to refrain from hurting the victims by making light, shaming, or blaming them for what happened.

“Those victims that asked for justice and didn’t accept the pain of sexual harassment are completely in the right. This is the result of them doing the right thing,” she said in her statement.

Usazaki also thanked the fans for the support they had shown the manga till the end and wished for the victims to recover.