Businesses Pull Hisashi Eguchi Art Over Tracing Claims

Several companies in Japan have stopped using advertising illustrations by manga creator Hisashi Eguchi, following allegations that he traced the artwork. The businesses include the Denny’s restaurant chain in Japan, the Ogikubo branch of the Lumine shopping complex, and the Saison Card credit card service.

The situation traces back to a now deleted post Eguchi made on X on October 3. In it, he explained that he had drawn an illustration for a Lumine Ogikubo culture festival based on a striking profile photo he came across on Instagram.

After the advertising went public, the person in that photo, a writer and model named Kyū Kanai, reached out to him. She later recalled the surprise of seeing her likeness used around Ogikubo without her knowledge, and noted that she alone holds the rights to her own image. According to the accounts, the two discussed the matter directly and she gave her consent after the fact.

The companies have responded cautiously. Lumine Ogikubo withdrew all of the festival’s advertising and canceled a related talk show, while Denny’s Japan said it is reviewing how the illustrations were produced and will hold off on using them for now. Saison Card likewise said it is looking into the artwork it had been using and is discontinuing it.

Eguchi is a widely respected artist whose career spans manga like Stop! Hibari-kun and character design work on films such as Perfect Blue.

My take: Questions of how reference and tracing are handled are sensitive ones, and there is clearly more to sort out here. I will leave the judgments to those involved and simply note how seriously the companies are treating it.