Category Archives: Moriyama Daisuke

Renowned mangaka Daisuke Moriyama deletes all his images from social media, citing the rampant art theft via generative AI

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Technology has always been exponentially advancing, almost of its own accord and possibly since its very inception. With the arrival of such easy to use text based art generatorsー”generative AI”ーwe’ve seen a distinct separation of those for an against such technology which utilizes, often unauthorized, artist’s work to train algorithms to magically spit out free art for anyone. If you never had an ounce of an artistic gift, now you could create works of art merely with descriptive words and strategically constructed code.

But the question remains: is this ethical? When you use generative AI to create “art”, you are effectively stealing somebody’s work that has been used to train a string of code to replicate and alter their original work. People have even taken this a step further by selling generative AI work for hundreds if not sometimes thousands of dollars, all the while the original artist gets nothing.

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The latest trend has been the Ghibli fad, where people are now creating generative art in the style of Japan’s most prestigious animation studios, Studio Ghibli. The fact that so many people don’t seem to have any problem doing this, merely to satiate their need for immediate gratification, is beyond disturbing.

Moving on, it seems as though the renowned mangaka and illustrator Daisuke Moriyama (World Embryo, Chrono Crusade, Thou Shalt Not Die, etc.) has taken it upon himself to delete all artwork that he’s posted to Twitter in the past. Some of this stuff goes WAY back, too, so it’s very sad to see all of this go, but I am entirely on his side with this unfortunate decision.

Please see below his most recent comments regarding this:

I realize this is a bit abrupt, but I will be deleting all of my artwork from X.
With the implementation of the generative AI function “Edit photo with Grok”,
I have lost any desire to leave my work on this platform.
I hope you all can understand. ー6:08pm, April 14, 2025

You can still find my color roughs and other stuff in my Xfolio,
but I’m really sorry about rough monochrome sketches.
You’ll have to see the final version in their respective released books,
so I hope you all understand this difficult decision. ー6:08pm, April 14, 2025

I really appreciate everyone’s likes and replies; I will treat them as my precious memories.
I’m quite sad and heartbroken over this, but I don’t think I can continue on as I have in the past…
Everything will have to go. ー6:09pm, April 14, 2025

As a fan, it also breaks my heart to see such talented people have to literally DELETE their work stretching back years and years merely in the hopes of protecting what little autonomy they still have over their brand due to chaotically unregulated generative AI practices and devices. He actually liked all of my replies over the years before deleting them… So, sad. I feel so badly for him.

I’ve also met Moriyama-sensei several times at various signing events and the like, so I feel especially distraught for his current predicament. You can find my various reports on this site, or maybe just take a look at this one of the all-night release event for the Thou Shalt Night Die manga.

If you are on the boarder line regarding generative AI, I would highly recommend that you watch the following documentary. It seems to have just been released yesterday, so it is very timely and up-to-date with current events.

On a more personal level, I currently work for an animation studio, and have been a collector of production animation artwork for going on 30 years now… So, I am entirely on the side of the creatives, the artists and designers. I do believe there needs to be stricter regulations to reign in the continual advancements with generative AI, but more than that, I wish people would take a deeper look at themselves and contemplate their own actions when they use such programs, because at the end of the day, it does come down to an ethical choice that you either choose to uphold or willingly rip to pieces. Which side are you on?

Yoko Taro’s Manga “Thou Shalt Not Die” Ends With Chapter 59

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** BEWARE OF SPOILERS **

Introduction

Today marks an end of an era. Yoko Taro’s longest running manga “Thou Shalt Not Die” (君死ニタマフ事ナカレ) with mangaka Moriyama Daisuke concludes with 59 chapters. It seems like an odd number to end the series on, but…

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Thou Shalt Not Die, Chapter 57 Notes (Spoilers)

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Now that we’re coming down to the end of the TSND manga, it feels like some loose ends are finally starting to come together. Exactly what light these revelations will shed on the overall Yokoverse or how the TSND story could be connected is still anyone’s guess at this point. But the more we see of this story, the more obvious it seems to get.

First of all, the main conflict taking place at the school is over. The US Army infiltration into the school to eliminate all of the kids was thwarted thanks solely to Asagi’s efforts. Because of his ultimate sacrifice, the main cast was able to retreat from the area… and after that, apparently the statute of limitations that connected the US Army to the whole thing in the first place ran out, so they will no longer be pursuing the kids after this point.

A segment of the chapter is dedicated to telling the story of the army’s side, focusing on a head general related to the latest mission at the school. He’s the one that tells his subordinates that they are not going to pursue the kids any further… But since their mission actually ended in failure, he has to take that responsibility upon himself… and he ends up committing suicide after briefing his subordinates. It’s almost like… Miyata is trying to cover its tracks.

The kids get away on a military vessel and are scheduled to be dropped off at a Yokohama port (maybe Osanbashi!?!). On the way, Kuroi calls up Yamabuki-senpai to discuss the progression he’s made on compiling all the information about Project White that Asagi had collected. I entirely forget now, but it seems as though Yamabuki has a direct connection to Project White and helping the others out like (I forget his motivations) also spelled his own death.

Yamabuki mentions that he has to take responsibility for the failure of the mission or whatever and was given some suicide pills from Project White (yet another instance of Miyata covering its tracks). He mentions he’s only got about 5 minutes to live.

He mentions that Miyata cannot be destroyed and that it was specifically created in such a way that it would survive. Apparently the “Special Abilities” side of Project White was just one of many it covered. The information that Asagi retrieved was the connection between the Special Ability High and Project White as well as its connection to the Political World and the Self-Defense Forces. But there’s apparently another plan that they haven’t yet uncovered…

It seems like it was one of Asagi’s final predictions that Yamabuki would have already compiled all the information to hand it off to Kuroi in preparation of his own untimely death. It’s super interesting that Kuroi would even go to say “This is the end both of us hoped for, isn’t it?” Kuroi certainly has his endearing moments!

Yamabuki transfers the information to Kuroi, and gives him the location where to find more answers: at the Miyata General Hospital.

At some point during the conversation, though, we find out that Mashiro isn’t on the ship… but Kuroi still knows–somehow–that she’s fine. It’s almost like they have a direct connection between them now…

Another interesting thing I noticed in this chapter was the prevalence of BIRDS throughout the entire thing, in every scene change even. Birds have never been a major focus in the story, so I can’t help but imagine what symbolic meaning they may have here.

I’m guessing they’re going to aim for a total of 60 chapters in this story, so that would mean we’ll have 3 more chapters left with the final chapter on September 25. That is assuming there’s no month break between any of the chapters and also assuming the chapter length. Nonetheless, we know the story will be wrapping up by fall… so best be prepared!! It’s been a long 6 years!!

Thou Shalt Not Die / Kimi Shi ni Tamou Koto Nakare – Vol.7

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Volume 7 of Yoko Taro’s manga “Thou Shalt Not Die / Kimi Shi ni Tamou Koto Nakare” is out today with again several bonus items available from various stores. You can order a copy from Amazon here.

There will also be another digital live drawing and signing event with Moriyama Daisuke and Yoko Taro on Monday, February 11 from 11:00am at the Gamers in Akihabara. This time, however, participants will be selected by a lottery drawing, and names will be released at the store and online on February 1.