News

Kazuya Minekura's Wild Adapter Manga Changes Publishers

Manga creator Kazuya Minekura (Saiyuki, Bus Gamer) posted on her blog on July 28 that her Wild Adapter mystery manga will be changing publishers. The manga had been published in Tokuma Shoten's bi-monthly Chara magazine since its debut in 2001. The rights have now been transferred to Ichijinsha, and Minekura promises that when the time comes to continue the series, she will tell her readers at once. Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Zero-Sum magazine has published Minekura's Saiyuki Gaiden and Saiyuki Reload manga.

Minekura noted in her post that Ichijinsha will republish new editions of the first six volumes of the manga starting in October. Ichijinsha is currently hosting a teaser site, which states that the new editions will include drama CDs.

Minekura also thanked Chara in her blog post for publishing her work until now and for giving consent to the transfer. Minekura noted that there were two reasons for the transfer. First, Chara was what Minekura described as a "light boys-love" magazine when Wild Adapter was originally published, but the magazine revamped itself into a "genuine boys-love" magazine several years ago. The differences between her work and the trend of the magazine became a concern.

Minekura also wrote that although she has returned to work from her recent health issues, maintaining her publishing schedule between two different publishers would be too difficult. In the end, she decided to move to one publisher for both Wild Adapter and her Saiyuki titles. Minekura had put her manga serial work on hiatus due to her poor health in 2010, although Wild Adapter was already on hiatus before then. Minekura underwent surgery in December 2010 for ameloblastoma, a noncancerous tumor on her right upper jawbone.

Tokyopop licensed the Wild Adapter manga in 2006 for release in North America. The company published six volumes before the company closed its North American publishing division.

Thanks to Dustin for the news tip.