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Thermae Romae Spinoff Manga to Launch in September
posted on by Egan Loo
Mari Yamazaki will launch a Thermae Romae spinoff manga series in the October issue of Enterbrain's Monthly Comic Beam magazine on September 12. The new series will follow the stories of Hanako (the horse that showed the protagonist Lucius an odd affection), the heroine Satsuki's grandfather Tetsuzō, the people at the Itō hot springs, Marcus Aurelius (the Roman emperor who helped Satsuki), and other side characters.
The original comedy manga follows Lucius, an architect of public bath houses (thermae) in ancient Rome who time-travels to various modern-day baths in Japan. Through manga and essay passages, Yamazaki explores the two cultures in the world "that have loved baths the most: the Japanese and the Romans!"
Yamazaki launched the manga in Monthly Comic Beam in 2008, and she ended it this past March. With the sixth and final compiled book volume that Enterbrain is shipping on Tuesday, the series will have 9 million copies in print. Yen Press published the second omnibus volume in North America in May.
The manga inspired a television anime mini-series, a live-action film starring Hiroshi Abe and Aya Ueto, and next year's live-action film sequel. Discotek licensed the anime in North America.
The work won the Manga Taisho (Cartoon Grand Prize) award in 2010, followed by the Short Work Prize in the 14th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes. Although Yamazaki was born in Tokyo, she now lives in Chicago. In addition to the Thermae Romae spinoff, she began a manga adaptation of Walter Isaacson's Steve Jobs biography in Kodansha's Kiss magazine in March.
Source: Mainich Shimbun's Mantan Web
Update: Comic Natalie posted images from the new manga of the mare Hanako, Satsuki's grandfather Tetsuzō, and the back-scratcher-shaped mobile phone strap included with Amazon's limited edition of the sixth manga volume.
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