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49-Year-Old Man Arrested for Selling Sexy Altered Love Live! Figures
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
One man's decade long business as a makaizo figure seller on Japanese auction sites came to an end on January 21. Takuya Matsuda, a 49-year-old publishing company employee and Kyoto resident, was arrested by Gunma prefectural police for selling altered, sexier Love Live! and other character figures online.
Matsuda was in the business of swapping heads: he'd take a popular Love Live! character figure's head and put it on a more risque figure's body. One of the modified figures shown in a news report is Love Live! Sunshine!! character Kanan's head mixed with the body of Utaha Kasumigaoka from Saekano (pictured right).
Matsuda allegedly sold four figures between November and December, including to a customer in Gunma Prefecture for 51,750 yen (US$465). Over the last decade, Matsuda earned 39 million yen (US$351,000) from the sale of figures on Japanese auction sites.
The figures are considered copyright infringement under Japanese law. Matsuda admitted to the charges and claimed that the sales were to earn money to repay loans and living expenses.
Earlier this year, a 39-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of modifying and selling Love Live! character figures without permission. Police discovered suspicious deposits into the man's bank account totaling 8.5 million yen (about US$77,000) from November 2016 to October 2018.
Source: Asahi Shimbun (森岡航平) via Sora News 24 (Casey Baseel)
