Child pornography charges
In November 2017, police found DVDs with footage of naked girls in their early teens in Watsuki's Tokyo office. Tokyo Police raided Watsuki's home as part of an investigation into the purchase of child pornography. The search uncovered about a hundred child pornography DVDs. He was referred to prosecutors over possession of child pornography on November 21. The serialization of Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc was put on hiatus after the details of Watsuki's charges were made public. In February 2018, Watsuki was fined 200,000 or about US$ 1,500. The Hokkaido Arc resumed serialization in June 2018.