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Viz's Shonen Jump to Run New Bakuman. Prequel Chapters, Samon the Summoner Preview
posted on by Karen Ressler
Viz Media's digital magazine Weekly Shonen Jump announced on Monday that it will run the the two-chapter Bakuman. prequel short "Bakuman. age 13" in its next issue on September 21. The chapters will debut on the same day in this year's 43rd issue of Shueisha's Japanese Weekly Shonen Jump.
Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba are again collaborating on the manga, which will chronicle a time before "Saikō" (Moritaka Mashiro) and "Shūjin" (Akito Takagi) met.
The two creators of Death Note serialized the Bakuman. manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 2008 to 2012, and Shueisha published over 15 million copies of the manga's 20 compiled volumes. The manga inspired three television anime series from 2010 to 2013. Viz Media published the manga in North America, and Media Blasters released part of the television anime on DVD in North America.
The live-action film starring Takeru Satoh (Rurouni Kenshin, Kamen Rider Den-O, Beck) as Moritaka Mashiro and Ryunosuke Kamiki (Howl's Moving Castle, Summer Wars, The Secret World of Arrietty, The Princess and the Pilot) as Akito Takagi will premiere in Japan on October 3.
Additionally, Viz Media's Shonen Jump will debut the first three chapters of Shun Numa's new series Samon the Summoner as part of its "Jump Start" initiative. The first chapter will debut in next week's issue of both the English and Japanese versions of the magazine.
The new "demon-like unusual comedy" manga will center on high school student and summoner named Samon. Shueisha previously published Numa's three-chapter Moromono no Jijō manga in Weekly Shonen Jump last year.
Viz Media launched a "Jump Start" initiative in North America last September. Under this initiative, Viz's digital English version of Weekly Shonen Jump will run the first three chapters of "almost every single" new series that debuts in Shueisha's original Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in Japan.
