The Saint Seiya manga has spawned one of the most successful franchises of all time. With multiple manga series, anime adaptations, toy lines (so many toy lines!), and the periodic live-action film, it feels like nothing can stop the Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac franchise… except, of course, an embezzlement scam so massive it nearly destroyed everything creator Masami Kurumada built over the past 40 years.

Earlier in September, Masami Kurumada said during a Tokyo news conference that a group, including a former executive at his companies, had embezzled around 4.6 billion yen (nearly $30 million) over a 10-year period. To make the betrayal even deeper, the former executive was also Kurumada’s manager.

“I couldn’t believe it when it came to light,” Kurumada explained. “I feel helpless and frustrated knowing that there are people who would betray without hesitation the trust placed in them for their personal gain.”

Related: Best back-to-school supplies for anime fans in 2026: 16 picks we actually recommend [Pop Shop]

Masami Kurumada has been one of the most popular manga creators for decades; his Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac series began in 1985 and still has sequels and spin-off series going today. Kurumada’s manga studio was one of the companies that was stolen from, with the creator revealing that Kurumada Productions had been left with “very little money left in its accounts” and potentially facing bankruptcy. “I, Masami Kurumada, might have been ruined as a manga artist as well.”

Kurumada says that he discovered the embezzlement ring two years ago and has been fighting to have the money returned since then, which resulted in him developing anxiety and depression.

“For a time, I myself was even on the verge of losing faith in people. But from here on, I still want to keep working hard and continue writing for the readers around the world, and for all the people who love Saint Seiya and my manga.”

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
• The Summer Anime season return of Kaiju No. 8, Sakamoto Days, & Dan Da Dan are forcing me to break my vow of watching less anime
• From Tomo-Chan to Oshi No Ko: How some of your favorite manga creators got their start in hentai
• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic