Manga Xanadu

Saint Seiya, also known as Knights of the Zodiac here in the west, is a series with a long lineage. The main series started in 1985 and was among the titles that helped make Weekly Shonen Jump the power house it was in the 1980s and 1990s. Since the end of original series, there have been some spin offs  that are now reaching a conclusion.

More information has come out regarding the end of Assassination Classroom. The 12th issue of Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump revealed that the series actually has 5 more chapters and will now wrap up at the end of March, coinciding with the end of the academic year in Japan. The students of Class 3E will now move on along with the rest of Japan’s graduating classes. This is a very clever ploy by Shueisha to tie the two events together, and will make the ending of Assassination Classroom a much more memorable event. The 11th issue of Weekly Shonen Jump had teased a “final mission climax” and “conclusion of the fated battle” in this issue, which had been read as a final chapter, but the surprise turned out to be much bigger. It has also been confirmed that the anime of the manga that is running right now, and simulcast by Funimation, will cover the manga’s ending as will the live action movie set to come out in Japan later this year. The movie’s ending was announced at a press conference held earlier this week, where Matsui explained that the timing of the film’s production led to the proposal that the manga and movie share…

The March issue of Kodansh’s Shonen Sirius magazine out this month has announced that Devil Survivor, by Satoru Matsuba,will end in the April issue out at the end of February.

As 2015 comes to a close, so too did several manga titles, some that were only with us a little while, some that spanned some years.

Square Enix’s Young Gangan magazine revealed that the title Until Death Do Us Part will be ending in the 22nd issue out November 20, after almost 10 years of serialization.

It was announced in the 12th volume of the manga adaptation of the light novel series Spice and Wolf would be starting its final arc in the next volume.

It has been announced that the manga, Knights of Sidonia,  will be coming to an end in the November issues of Kodansha’s Monthly Afternoon magazine due out in September.

It’s been kind of shocking seeing how many manga are ending this summer. It seems every other day has been a new item about a title either ending or entering its final arc.

As much as you love a title, at some point it’s got to come to an end, usually. There are the few exceptions that got 10, 20, 45 years, but they are not the rule. Most manga titles do (and should) have an end. Lately, the end for some titles released here have been announced to be ending serialization in Japan. Chi’s Sweet Home is a cute, heartwarming series about a family who find and adopt a grey and white tabby kitten. Each short chapter shows the family and kitten, Chi, interacting as well as Chi’s adventures with other pets in their apartment complex and neighborhood. The series recently when on a year hiatus and only just returned. It has now been announced that the next volume to be released, Volume 12, would be its final. The series was being released by Vertical Comics, and has been a big hit for the company, with fans of all ages picking it up. The series has been fun, heartwarming and sometimes heartbreaking, but always a great read. I will certainly miss it when it’s gone. Vertical will release the final volume in August, and will follow-up with a re-release of the series…

All good things must come to an end, and several of the titles on this week’s list are doing just that. Viz Media has a huge catalog of titles, and most of those titles have an end. This week, we see four of them. Nura Rise of the Yokai Clan has been following third generation Yokai Yakuza Rikuo, and with volume 25, we see his story come to an end. It took a while for me to get into Nura, but I really started to enjoy the story at around volume 8. I’ll have to get back to finish it some day. High School Debut gets to end a second time, as the 3-in-1 omnibus editions roll out with Volume 5 which includes volumes 13-15. This series had its moments, but was never a favorite for me. Viz is also one of the few publishers taking a chance on josei titles, and two of them end this week as well. Honey Blood is a short-lived vampire romance series, but this volume, Tale Zero is filled with short stories that may (or may not) help the abrupt ending of the original two volumes. Happy Marriage!? finally comes to an end at…