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As the Gods Will's Muneyuki Kaneshiro Launches Blue Lock Soccer Manga
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura launched a new manga titled Blue Lock in this year's 35th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine on Wednesday. The first chapter has 82 pages. Kaneshiro is credited with the original work, and Nomura is drawing the art.
The manga begins with Japan's elimination from the 2018 World Cup, which prompts the Japanese Football Union to start a program to scout high schools for select players that will train and prepare for the 2022 World Cup. The protagonist Yuichi Kiyoshi (Note: Name romanization not official), a forward in his high school team, receives an invitation to join the program, just after his team loses the Saitama finals and misses their chance to play in nationals.
Kaneshiro previously wrote the Kami-sama no Iu Toori (As the Gods Will) manga with artist Akeji Fujimura in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine from 2011 to 2012. They then launched a sequel series titled As the Gods Will: The Second Series (Kami-sama no Iu Toori Ni) in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2013. The manga ended in December 2016. Crunchyroll simultaneously published chapters online along with the Japanese release, and Kodansha Comics released the 21 compiled volumes digitally.
Kami-sama no Iu Toori inspired a live-action film directed by Takashi Miike in 2014. FUNimation Entertainment released the film on home video in North America.
Kaneshiro and Fujimura recently launched a new manga titled Gnoshros in Kodansha's Young Magazine in July 2017.
Sources: Comic Natalie, The Mainchi Shimbun's Mantan Web
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