Leakers of Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece Got Arrested

The Kumamoto Prefectural Police in Japan have recently arrested two individuals for illegally leaking unpublished manga content. Specifically, the suspects photographed and distributed scans from upcoming issues of Weekly Shonen Jump magazines to scanlation websites and online leakers prior to the official on-sale date.

On Feb 4, 2024, the Kumamoto Prefectural Police shared a photograph of their wall containing illegal panels of Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece manga panels shared on the internet (basically their evidence). They believe that these are related to the individuals they’ve arrested.

Two suspected manga leakers, aged 36 and 34, are foreign nationals based in Tokyo. The two suspects were found violating the Copyright Act for illegally posting panels of chapters that haven’t been officially released yet. And on Mar 15, 2023, they took photographs and uploaded the most recent installment of a manga serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump to an online platform prior to the publication date of the magazine.

The Japan police will continue to investigate this issue as they suspect more individuals and groups to be involved in “leaking” manga content. The Kumamoto Cybercrime division revealed during a press conference that they are investigating websites where they found early releases of popular series like ONE PIECE, Jujutsu Kaisen and Blue Lock before they hit the shelves.

Shueisha comments that the original source of the leaks is still being investigated, but that they have made “big steps towards solving the issue” with the measures taken this time around. By getting to the source of the leaks, Shueisha hopes to prevent such incidents happening in the future.

The company has made it clear that they consider the distribution of manga leaks via social media and other means an “extremely serious issue,” stating that the act robs other readers of enjoyment and causes great distress to manga authors. Shueisha has declared that they will continue to pursue leakers in order to “protect the rights of the authors who pour their souls into their creations” and to “ensure readers can properly enjoy manga.”

However, user reactions to this event were quite different. While the Japanese users seems to be mostly in favor of the arrests and ongoing investigation, they also see unlawful leaks as a serious crime that harms authors. But the reactions from non-Japanese users are far more varied, with some even fearing for the future of leaks.