Interest
Saitama Gun Range Hopes to Attract New Enthusiasts With Manga
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
The Ground Self-Defense Force's Asaka shooting range is hoping to attract new gun enthusiasts prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a manga by Rifle Is Beautiful creator Akki Sarumi focusing on the sport. The city governments of Niiza, Asaka and Wako, all three that co-sponsor the range, will run the manga series in their respective newsletters starting next month.
Rifle Is Beautiful follows Hikari Kokura, an incoming high school student who is excited to join her school's shooting club. However, when she gets there, she learns that the club has been shut down, so she must revive it. The ongoing manga launched on Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump website in April 2015. Shueisha published the fourth book on Friday.
The government sponsored manga will have a similar story as Rifle Is Beautiful but will not be directly related to it. Sarumi will create new stories exclusively for the city newsletters. Sarumi previously worked with the city of Wako to create a poster for its Asian Airgun Championships last December. Government officials decided to turn to Sarumi again for this new project.
The manga is expected to run in the newsletters every other month until November 2020. The overall goal is to raise awareness for shooting as a sport and inform readers about the range. Interested readers can also check the official city websites to read the manga online.
This year's 46th issue of Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump announced an anime adaptation of Rifle Is Beautiful is in the works.
Source: The Asahi Shimbun (Satoshi Shiba)
