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Aho Girl Creator Questions Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store Creator's Income, Expense Claims

posted on by Jennifer Sherman

Mr. Nietzsche in the Convenience Store manga artist Matsukoma posted a response on Twitter on July 17 to a friend's teasing that he should be celebrating the series having more than two million copies in print. To demonstrate the reality of his situation, Matsukoma posted a graph of his expenses for the year so far.

The graph states that Matsukoma's 2017 expenses include 2,191,028 yen (about US$19,700) for taxes, 665,980 yen (US$6,000) for insurance, 641,580 yen (US$5,800) for "other," 385,067 yen (US$3,500) for food, and 179,648 yen (US$1,600) for a cell phone and another expense that is hidden on the chart. The artist reported earning 4,063,303 yen (US$36,500) so far this year. Therefore, the image shows that he is 2,196,366 yen (US$19,800) in the red. Matsukoma added that writing "isn't practical as a business."

This post comes as the manga and anime industries have gotten negative media attention recently over the reported poor living conditions and low wages for creators. The manga market in Japan grew 0.4% in 2016. While the biggest names in the industry such as Eiichiro Oda (One Piece) have reportedly earned large annual incomes, other creators may struggle financially. One factor, as Gantz manga creator Hiroya Oku said last August, is fans' reading manga without purchasing it or buying series second-hand.

However, Aho Girl creator Hiroyuki thinks that Matsukoma's post is misleading. He said, in apparently deleted Twitter posts, that manga creators are profiting if their work is selling. Hiroyuki said that Matsukoma's post was made around the time of tax filing. Hiroyuki thinks that the graph does not represent print manga volumes that have yet to come out this year. The chart may be misleading because it does not show Matsukoma's total income and expenses for the entire year.

Net commenters responses to the posts included remarks that the Ahogaru: Clueless Girl is not clueless himself. Other people called out Matsukoma for allegedly misrepresenting his financial situation. Still other commenters questioned the amount Matsukoma paid in taxes compared to his listed income.

[Via Yaraon!]


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