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Arata no Kemono, Essence of Being a Muse, An Gura Manga All End
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The March issue of Kadokawa's Monthly Comic Beam magazine published the final chapters of Yū Honda, Leika Sugi, and artist Jun Hanyunyū's Arata no Kemono (The Beast loved by ARATA) manga; and Aya Fumino's The Essence of Being a Muse (Muse no Shinzui) manga on Friday. The magazine also revealed that Suehiro Maruo's An Gura (an abbreviation for "underground") manga will end in the magazine's April issue on March 10.
Honda and Sugi (Ninja Slayer), and artist Hanyunyū (Good-Bye manga) launched the Arata no Kemono manga in Monthly Comic Beam in March 2021. The "brutal paranormal pulp action entertainment" manga's story is set in 2030, where Tokyo Bay city is a dark and violent city, and its hopeless streets are ruled by a strange-looking group of yakuza. An office lady named Rei sells her body every night to satisfy her unsatisfied instincts. Rei is suddenly dragged into a fierce deadly battle with the yakuza, after she meets a strange young boy named Arata.Kadokawa published the manga's first compiled book volume in March 2022, and the fourth and final volume will release on March 10.
Yen Press licensed the manga and will publish its first volume in English on June 20. Yen Press describes the manga's story:
Somebody fill my emptiness.The day I was rejected from art school, everything that was “special” about me died. That's why I have no choice. Since I'm back to being “ordinary,” I'll go to the job my mom decided on while wearing the clothes my mom picked for me so that I can find what my mom calls “happiness” alongside somebody my mom can boast about, trapped in a never-ending cycle of “What if?” and “Too bad” all the while.
Maruo (Mr. Arashi's Amazing Freak Show, The Strange Tale of Panorama Island) launched the An Gura manga in Monthly Comic Beam in November 2021, and the first part ended in March 2022. The manga returned in October 2022.
The An Gura manga is set in the 60s, at the height of both Japan's post-war economic boom, and the protests against the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty. In the midst of revolutionary underground Tokyo subcultures, such as avant-garde theater and the folk movement, a part-time high schooler boy named Migeru Mizuki attempts to become a manga creator.
Source: Monthly Comic Beam March issue
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