NTV Reveals New Guidelines for Live-Action Productions After Death of Manga Creator Hinako Ashihara – News

Warning: this article contains statements about a suicide. If you or anyone you know is suicidal or having suicidal thoughts, please reach out to a suicide prevention organization in your country. In the United States, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available by calling 988. In Japan, the TELL LifeLine service is available at 03-5774-0992, and an English counseling service is available at 03-4550-1146. In Canada, Crisis Services Canada is available at 1-833-456-4566.

NTV announced new guidelines on Monday for live-action adaptations of original works following the internal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the live-action Sexy Tanaka-san series, after the show’s original manga creator Hinako Ashihara died in an apparent suicide in January.

The guidelines outline four main points to address: production process, safety, social media policies, and human resources.

NTV will focus on overhauling the adaptation process, with a focus on the pre-production phase. Staff will gain a deeper understanding of the worldview and setting of the work through online meetings with original creators. One year prior to the start of production, staff and original creators will collaborate on a production plan. Staff members will also consult a discussion guide when communicating with all parties involved to streamline the production.

The company will also review the work and staff recruitment process to ensure all staff are not overburdened with an excess workload. Communication and transparency between departments will be improved with more frequent reports, which will ensure upper staff are educated on how to best address issues and questions that arise.

NTV will ensure all staff in productions, including those outside the company, are familiar with the NTV Social Media Policy, which includes points advising caution on using social media. The company will establish a “Social Media Crisis Response Team” for addressing emergencies that arise, including measures to protect staff who experience harassment online with consultation from medical and legal professionals.

Finally, the company will improve the training of human resource staff involved with productions. Producers and production staff will train for the necessary skills and experience to handle situations that arise, with guidance from veteran producers. Follow-up meetings will be conducted to ensure producers are on-track with training. Training will also include lessons on the previously mentioned social media strategies and involve seminars from experts outside of the company, original creators, and producers.

The full outline can be found on the NTV website.

NTV conducted an investigation in June concluding that while Ashihara stated in a blog post shortly before her death that she had originally set a condition that the live-action adaptation must always stay faithful to the manga, due to miscommunication from the very start of negotiations and production, that message was never conveyed to the staff of the adaptation.

NTV then issued an apology in February, apologizing to all involved and expressing condolences to Ashihara’s family. The network added at the time that it was is taking the situation seriously and would conduct its own investigation with an internal team. NTV cooperated with Shogakukan and an outside investigation team, including an outside lawyer.

The investigation revealed that there was a discrepancy between the two sides of the production from the beginning, including confusion around the ending of the series.

A source at Shogakukan also revealed during the investigation that they had insisted that it would be difficult to create the live-action adaptation unless the staff hired a scriptwriter who would stay faithful to the original work, but the NTV production team claimed they never heard this.

Ashihira’s conditions for the adaptation of the manga were also never conveyed by Shogakukan to the NTV staff verbally or in writing during two meetings in March 2023. NTV staff stated they were not aware that Shogakukan had said anything about these conditions, and this information was thus never conveyed to the show’s scriptwriter.

Source: NTV via Hachima Kikō