Interest

Magical Girl Site Manga Creator Kentarō Satō Wants Royalties from Elon Musk

Twitter's controversial new CEO, Elon Musk, is an avid Twitter user, although not every user appreciates his presence on the platform. Between the flashier headlines around his business and personal life, Musk has faced mild criticism in the past for posting uncredited fanart, among other violations of Twitter etiquette.

Magical Girl Site manga creator Kentarō Satō has also chimed in by pointing out that a meme Musk posted in March uses artwork from his manga. "Twitter's new CEO Elon Musk has been posting my drawings without permission, so I'd like a usage fee of one billion. In dollars," he tweeted on Monday.

In a follow-up tweet, he posted the manga panels where the Crying Aya Asagiri meme originates from and advertises the first volume of the manga.

Although Satō's comment can be interpreted in a joking light, other Twitter users have argued in reply that reproducing an artist's illustration in the form of an internet meme without their permission is a copyright violation. While this particular offense would not be limited to Musk's posts, Satō's fans are egging him on in the beef. After all, Musk did purchase Twitter for US$44 billion—surely he could spare another billion for an artist who brings value to the platform.

Satō (Magical Girl Apocalypse) launched the Magical Girl Site horror manga on the Champion Tap! manga website in July 2013, before moving it to Weekly Shōnen Champion in September 2017. The manga ended in 2019 with 16 volumes. Seven Seas Entertainment is releasing the manga in English, and it shipped the 16th volume on November 23.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in April 2018 and ended in June 2018. The anime streamed on Amazon Prime Video outside of Japan.

Satō's new Fushi to Batsu (Immortality and Punishment) manga launched in Bessatsu Shōnen Champion magazine's December issue on November 12.

Source: Kentarō Satō's Twitter account