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Kodomo no Jikan Manga Removed From Online Store as 'Precaution' After Project-H Site is Banned From Shopify
posted on by Karen Ressler
The official Twitter account for Digital Manga, Inc.'s adult manga imprint Project-H announced on Tuesday that its store is down because it was banned from its ecommerce platform Shopify.
Project-H's brand manager told ANN that the staff received an email saying the site was banned for violating Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy, which does not explicitly ban adult content. Shopify lists pornography as one of the prohibited businesses for its payment processor, but not for its overall service, and the brand manager told ANN that the story was not using Shopify Payments. They declined to comment on which payment method it was using instead.
Project-H noted that it still has physical books available on its Amazon store, and its Secret Devil-Chan manga is available on Digital Manga's eManga and Juné online stores, but other digital purchases are impossible for the time being.
The Kickstarter campaign for Kaworu Watashiya's Kodomo no Jikan manga updated on the same day to say that digital copies of the manga have been removed from the eManga site, also powered by Shopify. The update noted that one of Digital Manga's other websites is having issues (though it did not specify Project-H), so the removal is a "precaution to ensure eManga doesn't run into the same predicament."
The update said that the staff is not yet sure if it will be able to put Kodomo no Jikan back up for purchase or if it will stay gone indefinitely.
The Kodomo no Jikan manga is not graphically explicit or pornographic, but is notably controversial for its sexually suggestive scenes depicting young girls. North American publisher Seven Seas Entertainment had previously licensed the manga under the name Nymphet, but canceled its plans due to the content.
Digital Manga's Kickstarter campaign to fund an English release of Kodomo no Jikan ended successfully in July 2016. However, it is one of several Kickstarter campaigns from Digital Manga, Inc. that has stalled on shipping rewards to backers. This past March, the company's president Hikaru Sasahara posted an apology and a promise to deliver on all rewards, citing a "weakened" financial situation and other problems as contributing to the delay.
According to a December 5 update, all digital book rewards for Kodomo no Jikan had been sent out. Digital Manga noted in its newest update that it still plans to print the physical books and send out backer rewards.
Digital Manga launched its newly revamped eManga retail website in May. At the time, all of its hentai (adult) titles moved to Project-H's website.
Sources: Project-H Twitter account, Kodomo no Jikan Kickstarter campaign. Thanks, Shiroi Hane and Blanchimont
Update: Shopify payment rules updated. Thanks, Kisuka.
Update 2: Project-H was not using Shopify's payment processor and was banned for violating the Acceptable Use Policy.
this article has been modified since it was originally posted; see change history