In a shocking statement, the unfortunate death of Hinako Ashiharaauthor of mangas like “Sunadokei (Sand Chronicles)“, “Bread & Butter“; ““Sexy Tanaka-san”, among others. Although he died at the relatively young age of 50, the circumstances surrounding his death have generated intense debate because there are many doubts about it.
According to police sources, she was reported “missing” on January 28, and her body was found today, January 29, with what is also suspected to be a suicide note. The police continue to investigate the case. It should be noted that the author had posted a worrying message on her personal blog and then deleted it, and had even deleted her social media history in an apparent nervous breakdown.
Ashihara suffered greatly during the production of the live-action series that adapted his successful manga “Sexy Tanaka-san,” attempting to recover its plot and characters from the massively altered version produced by the Nippon TV production committee. Although fidelity to the adaptation was one of his conditions for giving the green light, he conveyed to the screenwriter through the producers (his only point of contact) the changes he wanted to be introduced into the adaptation, only to find them rejected and without changes.
Ashihara was then inundated with complaints about the poor quality of the adaptation, which was not helped by the series’ screenwriter, Tomoko Aizawa, who pointed out that Ashihara had written the script for the last two episodes. After detailing everything in his blog post as an explanation, social media users used it as fuel to add fuel to the fire and attack other members of the production, which apparently led Ashihara to delete his Twitter and his blog: «I didn’t mean to say it as a form of attack. I’m sorry».
Nippon TV commented on the author’s death through its online news outlet, saying:
- «We would like to express our deep sadness and regret upon receiving the news of the passing of Hinako Ashihara. The October 2023 Sunday live-action series adaptation ‘Sexy Tanaka-san’ was proposed by Nippon TV, and through Shogakukan management we discussed and took into account Ashihara-san’s opinions on the script, which led to approval and green light for the script and broadcast. We thank Ashihara-san for giving her best in the production of the program».
As expected, the death of the author and the response from the production company Nippon TV immediately set social networks on fire, with screenwriter Tomoko Aizawa setting her Instagram account to private. Other authors have commented on her death, such as Tomoko Ninomiya (“Nodame Cantabile”), who wrote: «This hurts… This hurts too much…», while the author Ken Akamatsu he claimed: “This is something that should never have happened.». And of course, the fans did not remain silent about it:
- «And how will NTV take action? Stop making shitty live-action series!».
- «I’m impressed that she had this ending, she was one of my favorite authors. I pray for the repose of your soul».
- «It’s so sad that things ended this way after such a disastrous production and personal blog post.».
- «I really feel bad for her, not all of us have the strength to face a controversy».
- «I think many people strongly criticized the screenwriter of the live-action adaptation, but don’t you notice a pattern with all this criticism on Twitter? If the TV station was aware of Ashihara-sensei’s situation and did nothing, then this is going to get ugly.».
- «After the live-action destroyed the original story of the manga, the series’ writer became angry and the author of the original manga committed suicide. Doesn’t it seem strange to you?»
- «I was shocked by the news, I can’t even put into words what I feel. I really wanted to see what the author had to offer in the future».
- «Now they are going to criticize the television station and the scriptwriter much more. I don’t think television has changed at all since what happened with Hana Kimura».
- «On whom should I cast this fury that I feel inside? Both the television station and the scriptwriter should stand up and apologize».
- «His work was destroyed. I think she felt disappointed and sad. I wish there were more ways to protect manga authors».
Fountain: Otakomu
