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Ritsuhiro Mikami Draws Spinoff 1-Shot for Kazuya Minekura's Saiyuki Manga
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The March issue of Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Zero-Sum magazine revealed on Thursday that Ritsuhiro Mikami will draw a special spinoff for Kazuya Minekura's Saiyuki manga that will appear in the magazine's April issue on February 26. The manga will appear in a special supplement in the magazine dedicated to Minekura's Saiyuki Reload Blast manga.
Mikami confirmed on Twitter on Thursday that the manga will be a one-shot.
【告知】
— 御守リツヒロ (@mkm_r) January 28, 2021
本日発売の3月号でも告知頂きましたが、来月2/26(金)発売の月刊コミックZERO-SUM4月号にて、僭越ながら峰倉かずや先生原作の『最遊記』のスピンオフ漫画(読切)を掲載して頂きます。
どうぞ、よろしくお願い致します…! pic.twitter.com/odsEXh7QaD
Minekura's Saiyuki Reload manga is inspiring a new television anime titled Saiyuki Reload: ZEROIN, which will cover the manga's "Even a Worm" arc.
Saiyuki, the original 1997 "fantasy road movie" manga series loosely inspired by the Chinese novel Journey to the West (Saiyuki in Japanese), has spawned the Saiyuki Gaiden and Saiyuki Ibun manga spinoffs. The Saiyuki Reload Blast sequel manga launched in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Zero-Sum in 2009, but Minekura slowed down her publication of the manga in 2013 due to her health. The manga franchise as a whole has 25 million copies in circulation worldwide. Tokyopop published the original manga, and Kodansha re-released the manga.
The various manga series also inspired four television anime series, an anime film, three original video anime (OVA) series, and several stage musical productions.
The Saiyuki Reload Blast anime premiered in July 2017. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired, and Funimation offered a simuldub.
Sources: Monthly Comic Zero-Sum March issue and magazine's website, Ritsuhiro Mikami's Twitter account