Girumasu Gets a New Illustrator After Gaou’s Dismissal
Last year, Japanese YouTuber Korekore, known for covering controversies, revealed that Gaou, a famous illustrator in his 40s, had been involved with a minor despite being married and having a child.
Unable to deny the accusations, Gaou [admitted] that he had been involved with the girl when she was 14 and again when she was 17. The fallout from the scandal caused the illustrator to lose practically all of his professional work.
Gaou also revealed that this was apparently not the only minor he had met, mentioning another 15-year-old girl.
After the controversy blew up, one of Gaou’s manga went viral precisely because it was completely [based on real events].
Gaou Lost His Job as Girumasu’s Illustrator
One of the many jobs Gaou lost was his position as the illustrator for the Girumasu light novel, which received an anime adaptation last year.
Girumasu is a light novel published by Kadokawa, following a young woman who works as a receptionist at an adventurers’ guild.
Above is the cover of Girumasu‘s first light novel volume, illustrated by Gaou.
Following the controversy, Kadokawa, the publisher of Girumasu, announced that Gaou had been dismissed and that all of the series’ volumes would be re-released with a new illustrator.
Kadokawa suspended sales of the light novel’s digital editions and even recalled the physical volumes from bookstores. The announcement was made in July of last year.
And finally, now in October 2026, Kadokawa has revealed who will be the new illustrator for Girumasu!
Girumasu Gets a New Illustrator After Gaou’s Dismissal
Girumasu will now be illustrated by artist Icomochi.
You may know her as the illustrator of Hololive VTubers Fuwawa and Mococo.
And below is the new artwork for Girumasu Volume 1, created by Icomochi:
What do you guys think of her art compared to the previous illustrator’s work?
In a tweet, Icomochi said that she will be the new illustrator for the series and asked everyone to treat her well. This is probably the biggest light novel project she has worked on so far.
The anime’s official Twitter account also revealed more artwork that Icomochi created for Girumasu:
Looks pretty good, right? And she managed to keep a somewhat similar feel to the previous artwork, so the change doesn’t feel too drastic.
Either way, Girumasu‘s sales should resume with the new artwork, and after all this mess, the light novel finally has a new illustrator.
Girumasu Synopsis
Alina Clover works as a receptionist at a guild in the major city of Ifure. To her, this should be the perfect job: safe, stable, and with a nice schedule that lets her clock out on time.
The problem is that reality is very different. Whenever adventurers can’t make progress through the dungeons, the guild counter gets crowded, troublesome customers show up, and Alina is left with a mountain of paperwork to deal with.
The result? Overtime every single day.
When she finally reaches her breaking point, Alina reveals her big secret: she is actually the mysterious and incredibly skilled adventurer known as “Executioner.”
Armed with a massive warhammer, she ventures alone into extremely dangerous dungeons and takes down bosses that would normally require an entire party of adventurers.
There’s just one small problem: guild receptionists aren’t allowed to have another job. If her true identity is discovered, Alina could lose the stable job she is desperately trying to protect.