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Whistle's Daisuke Higuchi Launches New Soccer Manga Series
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The official Twitter account for Manga ONE, the app for Shogakukan's web comic magazine Ura Sunday, announced on Saturday that Whistle! manga creator Daisuke Higuchi will launch a new manga series.
The Manga ONE app itself gives more details on the series, featuring images with text such as "14 years after Whistle!," "shocking new soccer serialization coming soon..." and "with new protagonists, a new Whistle blows!."
In commemoration of the new series, Manga ONE will also digitally republish the original Whistle! series starting on April 4. On that day the app will add the first 50 chapters, and then the app will add one additional chapter each day. The app mentions that the new manga will start on the day after the final chapter of Whistle! is republished on the app (the original manga has 212 chapters plus an epilogue). If the republication doesn't take any breaks, the new manga should launch in September.
Whistle! centers on Sho Kazamatsuri, a boy Who Wants to Play soccer, but is prohibited by his short stature. He transfers to a different school, hoping to join a soccer team with a different point of view. There, he hones his skills and struggles to earn acceptance to the soccer team while dealing with his height disadvantage.
Higuchi serialized Whistle! in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1998 to 2002. Shueisha released 24 compiled book volumes for the series. Viz Media released all 24 volumes in English from 2004 to 2010, and released the manga digitally from 2013 to 2014. The manga received a 39-episode television anime adaptation in 2002-2003.
The manga more recently is inspiring a stage play adaptation that will premiere in Tokyo in August.
[Via Hachima Kikō]
