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Tetsuo Hara, Nobuhiko Horie, Masato Deguchi Launch Maeda Keiji Kabuki Tabi Manga in February
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The December issue of Tokuma Shoten's Comic Zenon magazine revealed on Thursday that Tetsuo Hara, Nobuhiko Horie, and Masato Deguchi will launch a new manga titled Maeda Keiji Kabuki Tabi (Maeda Keiji's Kabuki Journey) in the magazine's April 2019 issue, which will ship on February 25. Hara and Horie commented on the manga that while the Gifū Dōdō!! series is over, from the beginning the authors wanted to tell the story of Maeda Keiji to their heart's content. The manga is the latest by Hara to take place in the Warring States era.
The 13th volume of the three authors' Gifū Dōdō!! Naoe Kanetsugu -Maeda Keiji Hana-gatari- manga had revealed in July that the manga's 14th volume will be the final volume when it ships on November 20. The manga ended serialization in the December issue on Thursday.
The manga was billed as the the final series in Hara and Horie's story about the samurai Maeda Keiji. The manga launched in the Comic Zenon magazine in March 2014.
Hara (Fist of the North Star) first created the 1990-1993 manga Hana no Keiji -Kumo no Kanata ni- to adapt Keiichirō Ryū's novel about Maeda Keiji.
Hara and magazine editor Horie then brought in manga artist Yūji Takemura to launch the spin-off Gifū Dōdō!! Naoe Kanetsugu -Maeda Keiji Tsuki-gatari- manga in Shinchosha's Weekly Comic Bunch magazine in 2008. According to Hara, he felt he did not delve far enough into the life of Maeda's close friend Naoe in the earlier manga. However, Weekly Comic Bunch folded in 2010 after Shinchosha had published nine compiled volumes.
As a result, Horie launched Comic Zenon in 2010. The three creators launched the Gifū Dōdō!! Naoe Kanetsugu -Maeda Keiji Sake-gatari- manga in Comic Zenon's inaugural issue. That series ended in the 10th compiled volume in spring 2014.
The sequel manga inspired the Gifū Dōdō!! Kanetsugu to Keiji television anime series, which debuted in Japan in July 2013. Crunchyroll streamed the 26-episode series as it aired.
Source: Comic Zenon December issue
