Saint Seiya Creator Masami Kurumada Sues Former Manager for 2.8 Billion Yen
The lawsuit targets the management of Kurumada's own copyright and merchandising rights, alleging a long-running misappropriation that forced the cancellation of his first major art exhibition.
Reporting from 2 sources: Anime News Network, Animehunch.
Masami Kurumada, creator of Saint Seiya, announced a lawsuit against a former board director and others from three of his companies, including Kurumada Productions. He seeks 2.8 billion yen in damages over allegedly misappropriated funds between 2018 and 2024. The former director was also his former manager and helped establish the company.
Masami Kurumada held a press conference in Tokyo on Wednesday to announce the lawsuit. The former director, who also served as his manager and handled accounting, had known Kurumada for over 15 years and helped establish Kurumada Productions. The suit claims unauthorized transfers of company funds and license fee payments redirected to accounts under different company names.
The alleged misappropriation totals 4.6 billion yen, with 1.8 billion yen already repaid. Kurumada's legal team is seeking the remaining 2.8 billion yen. The announcement follows the cancellation of Kurumada's first major art exhibition, which was scrapped in March 2024 due to what his website called various circumstances.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.