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Kochikame Earns Guinness World Record For Most Volumes Published For Single Manga Series
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
This year's 41st issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine is announcing on Monday that Osamu Akimoto's Kochira Katsushika-ku Kamearikouen-mae Hashutsujo ("Kochikame") police comedy manga has earned the Guinness World Record for "most volumes published for a single manga series."
Akimoto will publish the final chapter of Kochikame after a 40-year serialization in the 42nd issue of Weekly Shonen Jump on September 17. The manga's 200th and final compiled volume will also ship on September 17.
The manga series has approximately 150 million copies in print as of June when the 199th volume (pictured at right) shipped.
The manga centers on the crazy adventures of middle-aged policeman Kankichi Ryōtsu. Akimoto debuted Kochira Katsushika-ku Kamearikouen-mae Hashutsujo in 1976, and it has become Weekly Shonen Jump's longest-running manga series.
The manga inspired a 1996-2004 television anime adaptation and two anime compilation films in 1999 and 2003. Additionally, the manga inspired an anime special in 1985 and then various other anime specials that aired between 2005-2008. In addition to the anime, the manga inspired live-action films in 1977 and 2011, and a live-action drama adaptation in 2009.
The manga has also inspired several stage plays, and a new stage play is running from September 9-19 at Tokyo's AiiA 2.5 Theater Tokyo, and from September 23-25 at Osaka's Sankei Hall Breeze.
The manga is also inspiring a new one-hour television anime special that will air on Fuji TV on September 18.
