Producer of several of the biggest anime films, such as Weathering With You and Suzume, Your Name (Your Name) by Makoto Shinkai, Kouichirou Itou was detained on suspicion of breaking the Child Pornography Prohibition Act.
Japanese media outlets, including NHK and others, report that Itou was arrested on Feb. 21, 2024, after soliciting nude images from a female high school student and saving them on his phone. According to the Wakayama Prefectural Police, Itou met the 15-year-old child in September 2021 via social media and asked for her to take nude images while aware that she was a minor. It’s reported that Itou’s crime came to light during the investigation of another child prostitution case. Itou generally admitted to the crime, with the producer conceding, “I have received images from underage women several times in the past, but I can’t remember which one this time belonged to.” Police are now investigating if there are other victims.
Itou entered Movie production at age 28, moving to Comix Wave Films the animation studio behind several of Makoto Shinkai’s works — sometime later. He met the acclaimed director just as he was releasing Voices of a Distant Star. Itou recounted his working relationship with Shinkai in a 2011 interview, characterized by trying to balance expanding their customer base while letting Shinkai’s authorial intent shine through and delegating tasks that Shinkai usually took on himself, such as drawing, cinematography and art direction.
Itou produced Shinkai’s The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Dareka no Manazashi, and the short film The Garden of Words in addition to the aforementioned movies.
Source: CBR
