Author of The Apothecary Diaries Manga Is Convicted of Tax Evasion
Illustrator Nekokurage (Erika Ikeda), who is responsible for making one of the manga versions of The Apothecary Diaries (yes, there are two mangas of The Apothecary Diaries), was sentenced to 10 months in prison and fined 11 million yen for having evaded taxes .
However, her sentence was suspended for 3 years, which means that if she behaves during those 3 years, she will not go to jail to serve the 10 months.
Erika Ikeda was tried and convicted for failing to declare 260 million yen of income and thus not paying her taxes between 2019 and 2021. Japan’s IRS said the tax money was used to buy real estate.
In her defense Erika Ikeda said that she had no intention of not paying her taxes and that she planned to “pay them later”.
It was discovered that Erika Ikeda submitted tax petitions for years without meeting the deadlines and statements from her editor were discovered telling her to declare her income tax “otherwise the manga would be canceled”.
Furthermore, the author of the original light novel, Natsu Hyuga, advised Erika Ikeda to consult a “tax accountant” to help her pay her taxes. Square Enix said there are no plans to cancel Erika Ikeda’s manga.
Source: Yomiuri Shimbun
Read More on Crazy for Anime Trivia