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I Am a Hero in Nagasaki Spinoff Manga Ends
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The official website of Shogakukan's Yawaraka Spirits online magazine published the last chapter of Kensuke Nishida's I am a Hero in Nagasaki spinoff manga on October 20. The Nagasaki-based spinoff of Kengo Hanazawa's psychological zombie thriller manga I am a Hero launched on March 28.
In Hanazawa's original manga, Hideo is an aspiring manga creator who once struggled with discontent with his assistant artist job and his relationship with his girlfriend — until people started turning into undead "ZQN" creatures overnight. After he is attacked by his ZQN virus-infected girlfriend "Tekko," Hideo flees the overrun Tokyo metropolis with the shotgun he happens to own as a hobby. He travels with Hiromi, a high school girl whom he meets by chance, and they face the desperate situation with the help of a nurse named Yabu at a shopping mall.
Hanazawa launched the manga in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits magazine in 2009. Shogakukan released the manga's 21st compiled book volume on October 28. The manga's compiled book volumes have over 4 million copies in print. An NHK television program revealed in March that the manga was approaching its climax, but did not provide a definitive date for the manga's conclusion. Dark Horse Comics is releasing the original manga in North America.
The live-action film adaptation, starring popular actor Yō Ōizumi (Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva, Brave Story, Gegege no Kitarō) as Hideo, premiered at the 48th Sitges Film Festival in Catalonia, Spain in October 2015. The film won the Grand Audience Award and Award for Best Special Effects at the festival. The film opened in Japan on April 23.
Yuuki Honda launched a separate spinoff titled I am a Hero in Osaka in the same Yawaraka Spirits online magazine in June 2015. Shogakukan published the manga's one compiled volume on February 29.
