Danica Davidson
June 3, 2024 
In February, Japanese TV station NTV announced it was having an internal investigation over the death of manga creator Hinako Ashihara, whose manga Sexy Tanaka-san was turned into a live-action series by the station. In late January, Ashihara had complained online that the adaptation was supposed to be kept close to the source material, but that was not the case. Afterward she deleted her complaints, apologized, went missing on January 28, and had her body found on January 29 in what’s believed to be a suicide. Now NTV is publicly sharing what its internal investigation turned up.
It’s worth noting that along with having an internal team investigate, NTV worked with original publisher Shogakukan as well as an outside investigation team that contained a lawyer with no connections to the company.
In early 2023, when NTV and Shogakukan talked about an adaptation, Shogakukan said the adaptation could have an original ending if it stayed with a story Ashihara suggested. It seems NTV thought it was given the okay to have an original ending in general, and so there was a misunderstanding.
Ashihara had told Shogakukan some things she demanded, like the adaptation staying close to the original, and she thought this was passed along to NTV. Now it appears that that memo never reached NTV. That also means the scriptwriter was unaware of these conditions. There was a rushed production schedule, which may have attributed to these errors and misunderstandings. The investigation thinks that, going forward, production staff should talk with the original creator instead of having third parties speak on their behalf, so everyone’s on the same page.
In response to these findings, NTV president Akira Ishizawa has promised the company will make changes going forward, including things involving structure as well as production schedule. He stressed he wants things to go better for everyone in future works.
If you or someone you know is contemplating suicide, please know that there is help available. In America, you can call 1-800-273-8255. In Canada, you can call 1-833-456-4566. In Japan, you can call 03-5774-0992. For other countries, numbers and resources are available on this site.
Source: ANN
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
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