Manga-ka in Trouble With School

Date: 2005 September 08 21:37

Posted by Jeremy

Anime News Network has reported that manga-ka Rieko Saibara, creator of the manga strip Mainichi Kasan and winner of the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize earlier this year, is in dispute with the school where her eldest son attends. The dispute is in regards to a panel of the manga published last November, which the school claims is too closely inspired by real events and people.

Mainichi Kasan, which translates as "Daily/Everyday Mom", depicts the daily life of a woman and her children. The panel in question shows five school children being referred to as "the Five Class Dummies". Following the panel's publication, Saibara was called in to her son's school (the name of the facility has not been given), where she was told that she was causing trouble for them and demanded that she refrain from depicting school scenes in her strip. Saibara argued that her work is fiction and that she has the freedom of expression. The school, however, said that she should take more consideration for the other children and their patrons and that her manga clearly depicts that school, even featuring their name. While there is no indication of any lawsuits having been filed by either party involved, the dispute currently remains unresolved.