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Manga Authors Kazuhiro Fujita, Kazuhiko Shimamoto to Launch New Manga Each on May 7
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
This year's 21st and 22nd combined issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday revealed on Wednesday that manga authors Kazuhiro Fujita (Ushio & Tora) and Kazuhiko Shimamoto (Hoero Pen) will each launch new manga series in the magazine's next issue on May 7. Fujita will launch the Silver Mountain manga (top right in image below) and Shimamoto will launch the Vampire-Idol Tagiru manga (top left).
Fujita's Silver Mountain centers on a boy who is kidnapped by a Tengu and is taken to an enchanted land. The boy speaks of an unbelievable world where people who want real existence strive to reach the peak of martial arts.
Shimamoto's Vampire-Idol Tagiru manga tells the story of a passionate manga artist who a story about idols. Something strange happens during a live performance of the idol group that the manga's main character Tagiru Chisio belongs to.
Fujita revealed in September last year that he was working on a new manga.
Fujita's Ushio & Tora manga ran from 1990 to 1996 in Weekly Shonen Sunday with 33 volumes. The manga was adapted into an original video anime series in 1992 and a television anime that began in July 2015. Sentai Filmworks licensed the television series, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan.
Studio VOLN produced a television anime adaptation of Fujita's Karakuri Circus (Le Cirque de Karakuri) manga that premiered on Amazon in Japan in October 2018. Amazon Prime exclusively streamed the anime in Japan and overseas. Fujita's Bakegyamon manga also inspired a television anime in 2006. Another manga, the "Karakuri no Kimi" short story in Fujita's Yoru no Uta collection, inspired the Puppet Princess original video anime project.
Shimamoto is known for his Hoero Pen manga series that centers around manga creator Moyuro Honoo (a character whom Shimamoto uses as an author stand-in in this and other works, although it is not clear if the character is the manga artist in the new series) and his struggles in the manga industry. The series began with Moeyo Pen in 1990, then continued with Hoero Pen in 2001, and then Shin Hoero Pen in 2011. The latter two serialized in Shogakukan's Sunday GX magazine. Shin Hoero Pen ended with 11 volumes. Shimamoto drew a new story titled Hoero Pen RRR set during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021.
Shimamoto is also known for other over-the-top comedies such as Honō no Tenkōsei (Blazing Transfer Student) and Anime Tenchō. He is also the creator of Aoi Honō (Blue Blazes), a fictionalized account of Shimamoto's own college years in the early 1980s, and also stars protagonist Moyuru Honoo. The manga is notable for the inclusion of fictionalized versions of some of the founding members of anime studio Gainax.
Honō no Tenkōsei and Anime Tenchō inspired anime, while Aoi Honō inspired a live-action television series.
Source: Weekly Shonen Sunday combined issue 21/22
