On February 4th, renowned manga artist Ami Shibata (age 56) made an appearance on the Fuji TV program Wide Show. During the program, there was a moment where the deceased manga artist, Himiko Ashihara, who passed away last month was mentioned.

Ashihara is known as the original author of the drama Sexy Tanaka-san. Regarding Ashihara’s death on January 29th, Shibata expressed words of mourning during the program. Shibata herself is also a manga artist known for works such as Tropical Boy Papuwa-kun. It was clear that she deeply felt the grief over the death of Ashihara, who shared the same profession.

Furthermore, during the broadcast of Wide Show, Shibata sent out a message to the viewers to stop blaming the screenwriters. She explained how screenwriters sometimes change the story or character settings different from the original work due to the nature of dramas, and called for a stop to the misunderstanding and unfair criticism.

Thus, Shibata’s appearance on Wide Show served as a good opportunity to both show respect to the already deceased Ashihara and to explain issues within the industry to the viewers.