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Salaryman Kintaro's Hiroshi Motomiya Launches Manga About Xu Fu
posted on by Karen Ressler
This year's third issue of Shueisha's Grand Jump magazine announced on Thursday that Hiroshi Motomiya (The Country Burns, Salaryman Kintaro) will begin a new manga series titled Kōun Ryūsui [Jofūku] (Floating With the Tide [Xu Fu]) in the next issue on January 18.
The manga is based on the story of the Chinese explorer Xu Fu, who is ordered by the Qin Dynasty emperor Shi Huang di to seek the elixir of eternal life. He and his men arrive in a primitive Japan and, according to the magazine's teaser, bring with them more than just their advanced culture.
Motomiya's popular Salaryman Kintaro manga (pictured right) has been running on and off in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine since 1994. He restarted the series as a web manga in April of 2005, and has launched several spinoff series in the Weekly Young Jump since 2009. NTT Solmare's ComicFriends Facebook-based service briefly offered the manga in English, though the service closed in 2012. The manga has inspired a live-action film directed by Takashi Miike, several live-action drama series, and a 2001 anime series that Arts Magic released in North America.
Motomiya debuted as a manga artist in 1965. Many of his other manga — such as Otoko Ippiki Gaki Daisho, Ore no Sora, and Otokogi — have inspired live-action and anime adaptations.
