User blog:Ponyo Fan/Ponyo Fan's Unsolved Mysteries: Episode 3: The Kuroko's Basketball Threats

Nah, just kidding, it's the third episode of Ponyo Fan's Unsolved Mysteries! That name is totally original so don't ask where I got it from. Today, we'll be discussing the Kuroko's Basketball threats, and just why the hell the Japanese government isn't trying at all to put a stop to this.

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What are the Kuroko's Basketball threats? Well, in Japan, there's an anime/manga called Kuroko's Basketball, about a former legend of middle school basketball who decides to help another boy on his quest to become Japan's greatest basketball player. Yeah...there are better anime/manga you could be watching/reading with your time.

The anime series started on April 7, 2012, and was at first controversy-free, though...nobody was watching it. That all changed on October 17, 2012, when the creator of the manga, Tadatoshi Fujimaki was sent a threat letter containing mysterious powders, and the publisher of the manga was sent a letter reading, "If you do not stop the parody manga, you will get hydrogen sulfide."

Then, on October 21, 2012, it was reported that a doujinshi (fan-made manga of the series) event for the series received a letter also containing a mysterious powdered substance, reading "Tadatoshi Fujimaki is despicable. If the Kuroko's Basketball event is not cancelled, I will disperse drugs [there]." The event still went on without problems.

Then on October 29, 2012, it was reported that 10 threats had now been sent, one notable one being for Nippon Cultural Broadcasting, which was airing a radio show of the anime/manga in Japan at the time, reading that if the company did not stop broadcasting the program, the sender would cause harm to the company.

And then, on November 1, 2012, it was repeated that now 20+ threats had been sent, including for the station that was broadcasting the anime in Osaka, MBS, which read "Do your best to strengthen your defenses; it won't work.", also "I'll use fire, a knife, a gun...whatever I can get my hands on!" It also warned the station strongly not to air a second season.

Also reported on November 1, 2012 was that an anonymous poster had posted on 2channel (essentially the Japanese 4chan) at about 1:30 pm on October 12, 2012 (English translation): "I hate Tadatoshi Fujimaki, who is now a famous Sophia University alumnus. I wanted to take revenge on Fujimaki himself, but could not find his location. I had no other choice but to target here. If you ask Fujimaki, you will know who I, the suspect, am. Toyama High School, the school where he went, brace yourself."

Reported on November 6, 2012 was that another doujinshi event for Kuroko's Basketball, the "Kansai Only Festa 2012 Autumn Part 2", set to take place on November 18 with other smaller doujinshi events for other anime, was canceled due to the recent threats, and the doujinshi events for other anime were rescheduled to December 9.

And then, on November 9, 2012, the "Miracle Corner" doujinshi event, also for Kuroko's Basketball set to take place in January 2013, was also canceled due to receiving a threat letter.

The story continues on as on November 11, 2012, the Comic Market Preparations Committee, in charge of the largest doujinshi event in the world (Comiket), received a threat letter. The event went on without problems, however lost 10+ million yen due to disqualifying Kuroko's Basketball circles from participating.

On November 28, 2012, it was reported that three more doujinshi events for Kuroko's Basketball had been canceled due to receiving threat letters.

On December 31, 2012, it was reported that Comiket had received three more threat letters, sitting in the vacant area where the Kuroko's Basketball circles were supposed to take place.

A doujinshi event also forbade (is that a word?) Kuroko's Basketball material on February 8, 2013 for their then-upcoming March 17, 2013 convention.

Again, on March 11, 2013, it was reported that more threats had been sent and the Kuroko's Basketball doujinshi event "Shadow Trickster Osaka 2" had been canceled, and other conventions set to run on the day it was supposed to run (November 18, 2013) to show restraint when selling Kuroko's Basketball material.

Here we go again! On April 12, 2013, it was reported that another doujinshi event for Kuroko's Basketball had been canceled due to a new threat letter.

You know the drill. On May 1, 2013, two more doujinshi events were canceled due to two new threat letters.

Most recently, on May 30, 2013, another doujinshi event for Kuroko's Basketball, "Ace-sama Issho! Na no da yo" was canceled due to threat letters.

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Alright, so there we go. The unsolved mystery here is; why hasn't this guy/girl been caught? If this were America, we would have caught this person in maybe a week or two; look at how quickly they got the person who was sending letters with traces of poison in them to Obama most recently.

More importantly, who is this mysterious person, and what kind of a past do they have with the creator of the manga? This could end up being very interesting...