NTV establishes in-house special investigation team in cooperation with Shogakukan into the handling of “Sexy Tanaka-san”, apologies again to Ashihara Hinako’s family

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NTV has issued a statement, once again apologizing to the Ashihara family weeks after the mangaka, Ashihara Hinako, known for her work “Sexy Tanaka-san” died (media reports suspect suicide). The death came after posts on X about how she felt the TV station wasn’t faithful to her original manga as agreed upon when it was adapted into a TV drama. And also, how she had to take over the final two episodes.

NTV posted the following:

We would like to express my condolences to Ashihara Hinako, and extend my heartfelt condolences to her bereaved family.

We sincerely apologize to all the readers and viewers who love the “Sexy Tanaka-san” manga and drama, as well as to the drama’s cast members and everyone involved, for the great concern we have caused.

Nippon Television has taken this situation extremely seriously and has conducted its own internal investigation, but we would like to express our gratitude to Shogakukan, the publisher of the original manga “Sexy Tanaka-san” and who served as our point of contact for the dramatization. We have also requested the cooperation of external experts, and have decided to establish an in-house special investigation team independent of the drama production department.

We will proceed with the investigation as soon as possible, seriously verify the matter, and strive to build a system that allows all original authors, screenwriters, program producers, etc. to proceed with production with even greater peace of mind.

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