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Attack on Titan Spinoff Causes Magazine's Print Run to Jump 500%

Kodansha will increase the print run of its shōjo manga magazine Aria about 500%, thanks to the launch of Hikaru Suruga and Gan Sunaaku's Attack on Titan: No Regrets (Shingeki no Kyojin Gaiden: Kuinaki Sentaku) manga.

The series will start in the January issue of the magazine on November 28 with a color opening page. That issue will also have Attack on Titan: No Regrets on the cover and a clear file with exclusive art by Suruga. The first compiled book volume will ship next April.

The magazine, which debuted in 2010 with "unordinary" stories in every genre from fantasy and science fiction to horror and historical samurai, published a prologue to the Attack on Titan: No Regrets manga in its November issue on September 28. However, that issue sold out throughout Japan within a week, so Aria reprinted the entire prologue in the December issue on October 28. The staff also apologized for inconveniencing readers who wanted to read the other works in the November issue.

According to the Japanese Magazine Publishers Association, Aria had a verified monthly circulation run of 13,667 from July to September. An unprecedented 500% increase in the print run will put the magazine in the same range as Kodansha's more established shōjo magazine Bessatsu Friend.

The Attack on Titan: No Regrets manga focuses on Levi's past, including his first encounter with Commander Erwin and how he entered the Survey Corps. Suruga is drawing the manga, and Sunaaku (Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet) from Nitroplus is in charge of the manga's scripts. Sunaaku is also penning Kuinaki Sentaku (No Regrets) visual novels that are shipping with the third and sixth Blu-ray Disc volumes of the Attack on Titan television anime series.

Hajime Isayama's original Attack on Titan manga has already inspired Saki Nakagawa's Attack on Titan: Junior High (Shingeki! Kyojin Chūgakkō) spinoff comedy manga series and is inspiring the Attack on Titan: Before the Fall manga by Satoshi Shiki that is based on Ryō Suzukaze's light novel series of the same name.

Kodansha Comics is publishing Isayama's original Attack on Titan manga in North America, along with the Attack on Titan: No Regrets and Attack on Titan: Before the Fall manga. It is also publishing the Attack on Titan: Junior High manga and the Attack on Titan Guidebooks: INSIDE & OUTSIDE.

Spike Chunsoft revealed on Sunday that it will offer Levi's route as downloadable content in its Nintendo 3DS action game Shingeki no Kyojin ~Jinrui Saigo no Tsubasa (Attack on Titan: The Last Wings of Humanity) .

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web

Update: Levi's rank differs depending on the translation. Thanks, simona.com and saurers123