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Sachiiro One Room Drama Cancelled Following Suspicion Manga is Based on Real Kidnapping

The live-action drama adaptation of Hakuri's Sachiiro no One Room manga has been cancelled on the Kanto region's TV Asahi amidst criticism that it portrays real-life kidnapping in a positive light. The show will still premiere on the Kansai region's ABC channel on July 8 as planned.

The manga and drama's story centers on a girl and her kidnapper. The kidnapper removes the girl from troubles in her former life and provides her with a taste of happiness. The girl starts to enjoy living with her kidnapper, and she vows to marry him one day.

In March 2016, a girl was abducted in the city of Asaka in in Saitama Prefecture and taken to Tokyo. Rumors have spread that the manga, which Hakuri began on Twitter in September 2016, was based on this incident. If it were made into a live-action series, the detractors claimed, it would be portraying the incident in a positive light and would be disrespectful for the actual parties involved.

TV Asahi's public relations department commented that it is shelving the show following another investigation into the matter. However, Osaka's ABC, which is producing the show, released a statement saying it does not believe the original work is modeled on or uses motifs from the real incident.

The manga is serializing in Square Enix and pixiv's web manga magazine Gangan pixiv. Square Enix released the fourth compiled book volume on May 28, and the fifth volume is slated to ship this fall. The series won third place in pixiv and Nippon Shuppan Hanbai, Inc's Web Manga General Election last year.

Source: Asahi Shimbun (湊彬子)