The
renowned mangaka Kazuya Minekura surprised her followers by
confirming on her official X account (formerly Twitter) that the eighth
volume of her manga Wild Adapter will be the last.
The author joked about continuing to draw her storyboards on paper, describing
herself as a "Stone Age person."
A return
after a nine-year hiatus
The
announcement coincided with the resumption of the manga's publication on
Ichijinsha's Ichijin Plus website, following a nine-year
hiatus that began in 2016. The series, which was slowed down in 2013
due to the author's health problems, is once again moving towards its
conclusion.
The plot
follows Makoto Kubota, a young gang leader who takes in Minoru
Tokitoh, a boy with an enigmatic past. Tokitoh has been a victim of the
drug "W.A.", which transformed his right arm into a monstrous
limb. Together they dive into the dangerous underworld of the city to discover
the origin of the substance that is destroying lives.
A manga
with a long history
Wild
Adapter debuted
in 2000 in Tokuma Shoten's Chara magazine, before being taken
over by Ichijinsha in 2011. After the demise of Zero-Sum
Ward magazine in 2015, the work continued on Zero-Sum Online.
Its seventh volume was published in July 2015.
The series
inspired an OVA in 2014 and another in 2015, and its characters also appeared
in the Shiritsu Araiso Koutougakkou Seitokai Shikkoubu manga
and its 2002 animated adaptation. In the Western market, Tokyopop published
six volumes before closing its North American division.
Author's
recent projects
In addition
to Wild Adapter, Kazuya Minekura resumed his other paused
manga, Saiyuki Reload Blast, in September 2024 after five years of
inactivity, thus reaffirming his return to the publishing scene.
