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Shin Honkaku Mahō Shōjo Risuka Manga Goes on Hiatus Due to Author's Maternity Leave
posted on by Alex Mateo
The January 2023 issue of Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine revealed on Friday that manga creator Nao Emoto (O Maidens in Your Savage Season, Josee, The Tiger and the Fish) is taking maternity leave, and her Shin Honkaku Mahō Shōjo Risuka manga is going on hiatus. The manga is scheduled to return next spring.
Emoto launched the manga adaptation of author NisiOisin's Shin Honkaku Mahō Shōjo Risuka (The New Orthodox Magical Girl Risuka) novels in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in April 2021. Kodansha published the manga's fourth compiled book volume on July 8.
The novels are set in world where Nagasaki prefecture on the island of Kyushu is home to a long-standing kingdom of magic users, who are nevertheless trapped on the island. Their power was once so great that the Americans dropped an atomic bomb on the city during the Second World War. Now there are still tensions in the kingdom on if and when this might happen again. The story is told from the point of view of fifth grader Kizutaka Kugi, a model student with "thorns in his heart" that make him look down on others as mere pawns. When he meets classmate Risuka Mizukura, a young witch who has the ability to transform into her 27-year-old self on the verge of death, they are whisked away into a fantastical magical adventure.
NisiOisin first began serializing the story in the literary magazine Faust in 2003. Kodansha published the first volume in 2004 with illustrations by Kinu Nishimura (Street Fighter illustrator/character designer, Overman King Gainer, Sirius the Jaeger character designer). The fourth and final volume shipped in December 2020.
Emoto previously drew the O Maidens in Your Savage Season (Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo) manga alongside author Mari Okada. The manga launched in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in December 2016, and ended in September 2019. Kodansha USA Publishing released the manga in English. The manga inspired a television anime adaptation that premiered in July 2019. Emoto concluded the manga adaptation of the Josee, The Tiger and the Fish anime film (which opened in Japan in December 2020), for which she is also the character designer. Yen Press licensed the manga.
Emoto serialized her Forget Me Not romance manga, inspired by Mag Hsu's original Taiwanese novel Mǎzimen, from 2013 to 2016. Kodansha Comics also publishes Forget Me Not in English.
Source: Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine January issue
