The bad
news is once again hitting the manga industry hard. Through an
official statement, the editors of the magazine Monthly Shonen Gangan,
belonging to the giant Square Enix, confirmed the unfortunate death
of mangaka Yoko Umezu, who lost her life on July 7 due to a stroke.
To respect privacy at this difficult time, his closest relatives have already
held a private funeral without access to the general public.
As expected
in the face of a tragedy of this magnitude, the consequences for his projects
in publication were immediate. The publisher announced that the popular
manga Vermeil in Gold (known in Japan as Kinsou no
Vermeil), written by Kota Amana and beautifully
illustrated by Umezu, reached its final conclusion with the chapter published
on June 12. This story, which saw the light of day in August 2018 and gave us
one of the most beloved demonic waifus in the community,
managed to premiere a successful animated adaptation for
television during the summer of 2022.
Although
the eleventh compilation volume of this fantasy gem managed to
be released in stores in Japan just one day before its last episode, the
editorial team promised to reveal soon what will happen to the rest of the
chapters that did not manage to be printed in physical format. Beyond his work
with the cheeky and powerful Vermeil, longtime fans will also remember Umezu
for having illustrated the spin-off manga Minidura, belonging to
the acclaimed Durarara franchise!! between 2013 and
2015, leaving us with a huge void in the visual section of this medium.
Knowing that
the death of a major artist forces publishers to nip stories in the bud no
matter how successful they are
