Over at YN@LJ, a poster links to Nitta-sensei's post here.

Nitta-sensei announces the upcoming publishing of the last chapter of Haru (in BBoy Gold - which probably means #8, the tankoubon #14 will be out in the fall 2009 although the date is not set yet) and apologises for her wrongdoings, the long wait and thanks the readers for their support and mails during her hard time. I am not sure whether this means that Nitta-sensei is back - as I read it, it seems as if she is allowed back only for this to finish Haru. There is some talk about all her manga being pulled, and of the delay of the next BLCD in the series. Maybe Geri can shed some light over my wonky translation?

ETA: I've gone over the info that seemed most important again and got it to something like "Essentially, at this point in time the intention is to end Haru o Daiteita drawing the last part (in exchange) for the long support recived from the reader-sama (who are able to) distinguishing between right and wrong. The full/ended work will come with apology and gratitude."

Sounds like this is the end, both of Haru and of Nitta's work.

OMG! I so don't want Haru to end!!! *wails*

News thanks to queen_golgo_13 posting on LJ:

Diesel has posted an OK to Nitta-sensei's use of their picture - the one with the Iwaki and Katou on the ledge. They even joke that their models are hotter than Iwaki and Katou! Link here. (And w00t? Hotter than our boys? How are they able to design anything in that company? They have to be blind!)

From 55DSL's blog: "New rumors about 55DSL are stirring on the web these days, since the incredibly attentive manga readers concerned about artist Youka Nitta’s recent illustration that resembles one of the brand’s advertising photographs.

Specifically, the opening page in Stand on Vessel (Haru wo Daiteita series #49) manga in the August issue of Be-Boy Gold Magazine bears a great resemblance to the famous “kiss on the the ledge” from the Fall-Winter 06 campaign, and Nitta directly acknowledged that she traced it and that she is somewhat naïve in her awareness of copyrights.

Nitta also promised to deal with these issues more carefully in the future, and apologized profusely to 55DSL, the people involved, and her readers. 55DSL says: Nitta, don’t worry, we’re not that kind of brand, we consider this a tribute, only the greatest are copied, right? But honestly, our chick is hotter than yours!"

This is certainly a relief, and might be an indication that this might not end as badly as we thought.

Other news: The person - and yes, this seems to be a personal vendetta - who began this witch hunt is now on LJ and has made their own account. As if this wasn't spread widely enough as it is. This is beginning to look like a case of "let's look at the bitch's pics and find ads that look like them". Journal's here: http://community.livejournal.com/nitta_crib/

Pathetic much?

Unfortunately, the first modly post here is also a sad one. Nitta-sensei has been caught up in a plagiarism scandal; it is not yet determined how bad this is, and what the consequences for her will be. It is not as bad as it seems; Nitta-sensei has been using fashion photos as reference for some of her covers, but it is questionable if this is a case of plagiarism or just erm- slightly enthusiastic inspiration and use of photo reference.

A link to a news article with the most incriminating example is here.

In Japan, however, this is a big thing, and one of the results might be that Youka Nitta might stop creating any more manga - at least for some time. Nitta-sensei has not been aware of the copyright infringement and - due to the fact that she has several editors and assistants who should have known better and stopped her - I tend to believe her. Therefore I'll use some time and money for the next months or years, if necessary, to send letters to support Nitta-sensei and tell her publishers that I'd love more from her hand. If any of you wants to do the same, I've posted contact information for Nitta-sensei and her publishers.

The info is collected by pgrape over at youka_nitta@LJ and posted here by her permission.

I'll link to this post from the side bar and I encourage you to use a stamp or two and send Youka Nitta a few supportive words. Physical evidence always works better than email. Nitta-sensei understands and reads English, if not overly well. Do mind the fact that all mail will probably be read by assistants at the publishers.

ETA: For those of you whose browser can't handle Japanese signs, I've made a screen dump so you can download the picture and print out the addresses that way. Pic's here.

ETA II: Thanks to pgrape, we now have the translated addresses, if you'd rather use those. The post below's edited.

( Nitta-sensei's contact info )