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Nobuyuki Fukumoto: Kaiji Manga's Next Arc is Last
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The series is currently on hiatus. The manga first went on hiatus in June 2023 due to Fukumoto conducting research, and was slated to return in September, but instead announced another hiatus in October, and was slated to return in November, but the series has not resumed serialization since then. The manga last appeared in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine's 2023 27th issue in June.
Denpa is releasing the original manga in English, and Manga Planet is releasing the manga digitally. Denpa describes the manga:
Ne'er-do-well Kaiji Itou's shiftless existence is suddenly rattled by a visit from the yakuza. Burdened by debt and resentment, Kaiji is coerced into gambling for his worthless life. As the stakes grow higher and the rules become increasingly more bizarre, Kaiji must finally take the future into his own hands!
Fukumoto launched the seinen manga series in Weekly Young Magazine in 1996. The 26th compiled book volume of the manga's "24-oku Dasshutsu-hen" (89th volume of the whole series) shipped on December 6. The manga's "Dai Kaiji-ten" (The Great Kaiji Exhibition) is currently running at Tokyo Dome City's Gallery Aamo until May 12.
In addition to two television anime series, the manga has inspired three Japanese live-action films, a Chinese live-action film, and a reality game show.
The Mr. Tonegawa anime, based on a Kaiji spinoff manga, premiered in July 2018. Sentai Filmworks licensed the series and began streaming it on HIDIVE in August 2018.
Source: Yorozu News (山本 鋼平) via Hachima Kiko