The toxic side of the community claimed another victim. Ikka Matsuki, the acclaimed creator of the manga Nippon Sangoku (Japan: Three Kingdoms), decided to cut ties and permanently deleted his official social media account. What should have been a celebration after the successful animated adaptation of this literary gem turned into a psychological nightmare for the author due to an unfit segment of his own fandom.

Before vanishing from the internet, Matsuki left a harsh final message expressing his deep pain over how some fans were “overinterpreting” his protagonists. The mangaka admitted that he felt his own creations were having their minds replaced to become something entirely alien to his original vision. The main issue lies in the relationships fans try to force between characters like Aoteru and Tsune, blatantly ignoring that both men have established wives within the story’s canon.

Although the author acknowledged that fans likely didn’t mean harm, he had to publicly beg them to stop sending him explicit or suggestive material directly to his personal accounts. This constant digital harassment was the final straw for a creator already suffering from severe physical strain, recalling that just in June of this year, he had to pause his work due to severe health issues from steroid withdrawal syndrome.

With the respect barrier between creators and readers growing thinner online, do you think fans have the right to create and share altered content or send such illustrations directly to the author, crossing the line into unforgivable harassment?