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Anime Producer Kouichirou Itou Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison

The Wakayama District Court has sentenced on Friday 53-year-old anime producer Kouichirou Itou to four years in prison for committing nonconsensual sexual intercourse with three minor girls, and knowingly exchanging money with a 15-year-old girl he met on social media for obscene acts.

Itou was charged with violating child prostitution laws and child sexual abuse images laws in Japan, as well as rape.

In the ruling, presiding judge Keiko Fukushima pointed out that Itou repeatedly searched on the Internet for minor girls with whom he could have sex, and had them send nude photos and secretly took photos of them during sexual intercourse. Judge Fukushima stated that Itou's degree of responsibility and blame is great since his actions severely harmed the mental and physical development of the victims.

The prosecution in the case recommended on January 7 that Itou serve six years in jail. The defense asked for a suspended sentence for Itou (meaning he would not serve his sentence if he remained on good behavior during a period of time mandated by the court), following Itou's plea of guilty to all charges.

Wakayama Prefectural Police arrested Itou in February 2024 on suspicion of soliciting a 15-year-old high school girl living in Nagano for nude pictures of herself. Itou admitted to the charge at the time of his arrest, though according to authorities he claimed that he had "done it with other people, so [he couldn't] tell if it was this girl or not." Itou allegedly paid the minor 12,500 yen (about US$83) in electronic money for the photo or photos according to TBS News. The outlet also stated police found other videos and images on Itou's computer. According to the authorities, Itou asked the girl for the pictures in September 2021, with full knowledge that the girl was a minor at the time. Police said that Itou's alleged crime was discovered as part of a different prostitution investigation.

The police then laid down additional charges on Itou in March 2024, saying that he exchanged money knowingly with a 15-year-old girl he met on social media in November 2023 for obscene acts, including nonconsensual sexual intercourse. Itou admitted to the charge at the time of his arrest.

He was charged with obscene acts against three minors. His defense argued that he had already settled with two out of the three victims out of court, and promised that Itou will undertake counseling at a medical institution to prevent the reoccurrence of the act.

Itou has been a producer on many of director Makoto Shinkai's works, including his second film The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, The Garden of Words, his breakout hit your name., and his following two films Weathering With You and Suzume.

Sources: NHK News Web, The Mainichi (Shunji Fujiki)