The manga world was rocked by a Jaw-dropping court decision this week, as a former editor of the hit series like Attack on Titan, “GTO: Paradise Lost,” and “Seven Deadly Sins,” received a hefty prison sentence. But what led to this surprising turn of events?
On July 18, 2024, the Tokyo High Court dropped a bombshell on the anime and manga community. Park Jong-hyun, once a high-ranking editor at publishing giant Kodansha, was sentenced to 11 years behind bars. The charge? The murder of his wife eight years ago – a crime he continues to deny.
Park’s name might not be immediately familiar to Attack on Titan fans, but his influence on the series was significant. As a deputy editor-in-chief at Kodansha, he worked closely with the manga during its meteoric rise to global fame.
The case itself reads like a crime thriller. Park claimed his wife died by suicide. He claimed that he had pinned his wife down with a mattress after seeing her with a knife and that he later found her dead after hearing noises from another room, but the court wasn’t buying it.
Judge Kazunori Karei called out Park’s story as “abrupt and unnatural.” According to the prosecution, Park suffocated his wife on a mattress in their Tokyo home – a far cry from the suicide narrative he’s been pushing.
But here’s where things get even more complicated. This isn’t Park’s first time in court over this case. Previous trials had already handed down an 11-year sentence, but Japan’s Supreme Court ordered a retrial, citing issues with how evidence was examined.
The verdict has sent shockwaves through Park’s family. Park’s mom held a tear-jerker of a press conference, struggling to figure out how to break the news to Park’s kids. “They thought daddy was coming home today,” she said, calling the verdict “cruel beyond words.”
Park’s legal team isn’t taking this lying down. They’ve already announced plans to appeal, calling the verdict “extremely unjust.” But with the prosecution’s case described as particularly strong by legal experts, Park’s fight for freedom is far from over.
Source: NHK
