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EXCLUSIVE: Kodansha USA Launches Itoe Takemoto's The Beast Player Manga Adaptation on May 14
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
Kodansha USA Publishing announced on Thursday that it will release the first compiled book volume of Itoe Takemoto's The Beast Player (Kemono no Sou-ja) manga, the adaptation of Nahoko Uehashi's novels of the same title, digitally on May 14.
Kodansha USA also provided ANN with a preview of the manga.
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Ten-year-old Elin loves her brave and beautiful mother, a gifted beast doctor charged with the care of the Toda—the fearsome giant serpents that the kingdom's warriors ride into battle. Their modest but happy life together is shattered when a mysterious illness fells the entire stable of the prized serpents overnight, and Elin's mother is saddled with the blame. Before she knows it, Elin finds herself cast out from all she has ever known, alone in a faraway land, with only her mother's words and the kindness of strangers to guide her. A sumptuous manga adaptation of the hit fantasy novel series, The Beast Player, by Nahoko Uehashi.
Takemoto launched the manga adaptation in Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine in 2008. Kodansha published the manga's first volume in 2009, and released the 11th and final volume in 2016. Kodansha's K MANGA service also publishes the manga in English.
Uehashi (Moribito) launched the original Kemono no Sou-ja novels in 2006, and ended the series in 2009.
The novels' 50-episode anime adaptation titled The Beast Player Erin (Kemono no Sou-ja Erin) aired from January to December 2009. Crunchyroll streamed the anime.
Source: Email correspondence
