©君川優樹・オーバーラップ／「追放者食堂へようこそ！」製作委員会
The literary world trembled like a spiderweb in a storm as Dengeki Bunko and Overlap Bunko severed ties with artist Gaou on July 1 and 2 respectively. The visual architect behind Mato Kousaka‘s I May Be a Guild Receptionist and Yūki Kimikawa‘s Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant! found himself exiled from both series after a June 29 livestream confession that crackled through the industry like lightning.
The Unraveling Tapestry
Update: Digital investigator KoreKore, who hosted the damning broadcast with the alleged young woman and the self-confessed artist, revealed the architecture of the scandal. The accuser, now 17, painted a portrait of encounters that began when she was 14, brushstrokes that included reunions this year before the relationship dissolved. While the livestream’s audio veil obscured specifics, KoreKore’s Twitter account filled the gaps with damning detail.
Japan’s legal landscape, which only recently in 2023 elevated its consent age from 13 to 16, still prosecutes certain acts with those under 18 regardless. The young woman stands at a crossroads, weighing whether to bring her story to authorities after consulting her family.
Gaou‘s biographical canvas shows a man of 39 winters today, 36 at the scandal’s inception, according to his Wikipedia entry. The voice on that fateful stream reportedly offered contrition alongside resignation, suggesting his illustration career had reached its final chapter.
Industry Shockwaves
The publisher dominoes fell swiftly. Dengeki Bunko and Overlap Bunko now scour the creative landscape for replacement artists, with Overlap committing to redraw Gaou‘s existing contributions.
In the gaming sphere, DMM GAMES‘ EXNOA confirmed Gaou‘s five-character contribution to Girls Creation, though his digital brush has since gone dry on the project. The studio warned of potential visual revisions ahead.
Vanishing Acts
The anime adaptation of Welcome to the Outcast’s Restaurant!, which premiered on July 3, performed its own purge – scrubbing Gaou‘s name from official channels, temporarily disappearing promotional videos like magic tricks gone wrong.
Meanwhile, Shogakukan‘s Gagaga Bunko postponed the July 18 release of 1/n no Watson, while VTuber artist Yuki Sakuna froze Gaou‘s illustrations in digital stasis on July 2.
By July 3, Gaou‘s online presence had dissolved like morning fog – his pixiv and Fanbox accounts displaying only digital tombstones of error messages, whether by his hand or the platform’s remains unclear.
The Fallout Expands
The illustrator’s shadow still lingers on other literary works: Jyogesayuu‘s tale of exiled cowardice and Sui Juuichiya‘s reincarnated adventurer narrative now bear the stain of association.
As the creative world holds its breath, the artist at the eye of this storm maintains his silence, leaving a trail of altered publication schedules and erased digital footprints in his wake.
Acknowledgment: Our gratitude to DokoMadeMo for illuminating this unfolding story.
Source Tapestry: KoreKore’s digital testimonial through YouTube and Twitter channels, the publisher chorus of Dengeki Bunko and Overlap, Girls Creation‘s virtual stage, Gagaga Bunko’s announcements, and the journalistic mosaic of Yahoo! Japan, Game Watch, and Kai-You.