Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox animanga/Header Template:Infobox animanga/Print Template:Infobox animanga/Print Template:Infobox animanga/Footer
Template:NihongoTemplate:Efn is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. His wife, Kaworu Kurosaki, is credited as a story consultant. It is a direct sequel to Rurouni Kenshin and follows Himura Kenshin and his friends in 1883 Japan as they traverse Hokkaido in search of his father-in-law.
It has been serialized monthly in Shueisha's [[Shōnen manga|Template:Transliteration manga]] magazine Jump Square since September 2017, with the chapters collected in nine Template:Transliteration volumes as of November 2023. North American publisher Viz Media released the series digitally in Weekly Shonen Jump simultaneously as it ran in Japan until November 2017.
Plot
In 1883, Himura Kenshin, having married Kamiya Kaoru, became a father to Himura Kenji and, with his body deteriorating, still fights for those in need. Former criminals Inoue Aran and Hasegawa Ashitaro, the latter a former member of Shishio Makoto's faction, have become live-in students at the Kamiya Dojo in Tokyo. Kubota Asahi, a member of the Yaminobu, also starts living at the dojo. The Yaminobu accidentally left behind a recent photograph taken in Hokkaido of Kaoru's father, Kamiya Koshijirō, who was thought to have died in the Seinan War. After reacquiring his Template:Transliteration or reversed-edge sword from Myōjin Yahiko, Kenshin, his family, and the new residents of Kamiya Dojo head to Hokkaido to find Koshijirō.
There, they reunite with Sagara Sanosuke and team up with Saitō Hajime when they get involved in stopping the mysterious group named Kenkaku Heiki, who create havoc throughout Japan to gain battle experience to protect the country from foreign threats. Saitō recruits his former comrade Nagakura Shinpachi and former Juppongatana members Seta Sōjirō, Yūkyūzan Anji, Sawagejō Chō, Honjō Kamatari and Kariwa Henya to aid them.
Characters
- The former legendary assassin known as Template:Transliteration, Kenshin now lives peacefully with his family. His body is deteriorating due to continuously using the Template:Transliteration style of swordsmanship. After being given back his Template:Transliteration from Myōjin Yahiko, Kenshin continues to protect the weak for as long as his body will hold up.
- Template:Nihongo
- An orphaned 16-year-old boy just released from prison. Born in Niigata Prefecture, he survived by stealing crops and foraging the mountains. Although claiming to have served five years in a Tokyo prison for dine and dash, it is suspected to have been for being a gofer member of Shishio Makoto's faction, which planned to take over Japan before disbanding when their leader died five years ago. He possesses Shishio's sword, Template:Transliteration, but Kenshin asks him not to draw it due to his propensity for entering uncontrolled fits of rage. Ashitaro's given name was formerly written as Template:Nihongo2 ("evil child") before he changed it to Template:Nihongo2 ("tomorrow's child").
- Template:Nihongo
- A 16-year-old boy who grew up in the Westernized portion of Japan. He was jailed in Tokyo for three months for attempting to be a stowaway on a ship to the Americas. He is revealed to be half-Japanese with blond hair and suspected to be the son of a prostitute to foreigners.
- Template:Nihongo
- A war orphan raised by the Yaminobu but claims to be a pacifist. Following their failure to kill Kenshin during the Bakumatsu, the Yaminobu lost status and were reduced to working as mercenaries for hire. Shishio's faction hired Kubota and later trailed Ashitaro to retrieve Shishio's sword.
- Template:Nihongo
- A mysterious group that claims to have been initially formed by ancestors in the Kamakura period who stopped the Mongol invasions of Japan. Having stayed hidden for over 500 years, they take over Mount Hakodate and launch other attacks in Japan to gain battle experience to fend off future foreign invasions.
Production
In the final Template:Transliteration volume of the original Rurouni Kenshin, published in November 1999, Nobuhiro Watsuki said that he had ideas for a "Hokkaido episode, a sequel" but wanted to start a new manga, and so ended the series.[1] In September 2012, Watsuki revealed that he considered drawing the Hokkaido arc before creating Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration. However, with the series' theme concluded in the final arc of the original and unable to come up with a new one, he said there was "just no way" he could write it.[2] In July 2013, following the positive reception of the live-action film and the conclusion of Restoration, Watsuki said although Rurouni Kenshin concluded once over ten years ago, "there are many requests for its continuation both from the creator and fans. Then why not continue expanding its world for a little while longer? That's how I feel at the moment." Although he said he had not yet decided if he would write it as a manga again.[3] The fact that the original manga ended with Kenshin as a family man bothered Watsuki as he was not sure if Kenshin should fight again now that he is happily married. Originally, he planned to include a "Final Chapter" (which was the initial draft of what would later become the Hokkaido Arc) for the original series within the volumes of Rurouni Kenshin: Restoration, but Watsuki's wife Kaworu Kurosaki found the ending of the draft to be boring, and assisted him with the new manga series when it came to research.[4]
Due to the dark nature of Kenshin's life, Watsuki ended the manga in the Jinchu arc, afraid that if he continued writing, the series would not fit the [[Shōnen manga|Template:Transliteration manga]] demographic category. When watching the live-action films, Watsuki decided to make a reboot of the series, Restoration, but still had no plans for Hokkaido. Upon watching the Rurouni Kenshin musical, Watsuki was convinced to write Hokkaido as soon as he finished writing his recent work Embalming. To keep the cheerful feeling of the original series, Watsuki wrote the new characters who are nicely treated by Kenshin and Kaoru.[5] Upon helping the staff from the live-action films, The Final and The Beginning, Watsuki came up with new ideas to give Kenshin's story a happy ending despite his Template:Transliteration actions. Watsuki stated that Takeru Satoh's portrayal of the main character is stronger than the manga one, most notably in The Final. He felt that Kenshin was a "king type" character, similar to Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, due to his heroic traits. Watsuki also reflected on Kenshin's pacifism, which became a common trend in other Weekly Shōnen Jump protagonists like Luffy and Naruto Uzumaki, who are against the idea of killing their enemies, indicating that for The Hokkaido Arc Kenshin will continue sparring them.[6]
On November 4, 2016, Watsuki began a two-chapter spin-off titled Template:Nihongo in Jump Square.[7] The two chapters were inspired by buddy films with Watsuki remembering the ideal designs needed for the protagonists to be likable, citing Ushio & Tora as an example. The first chapter had little hints about Ashitaro being related to Rurouni Kenshin, with the second one expanding it further.[8] Since the young character Myojin Yahiko already matured in the original Rurouni Kenshin, Watsuki created Ashitaro to have him act more like him during early years.[5] The second chapter, published on December 2, 2016, revealed that the story is a prologue to a new arc of Rurouni Kenshin beginning in spring 2017.[9] Delayed until summer,[10] Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc began publication in Jump Square on September 4, 2017.[11] In order to promote the series, multiple posters of Kenshin were on display in Shinjuku Station.[12]
On November 21, 2017, Watsuki was charged with possession of child pornography. That same day, Shueisha suspended the publication of new chapters of The Hokkaido Arc beginning on December 4, 2017.[13] It resumed serialization in Jump Square on June 4, 2018.[14] The series went on a hiatus in June 2021 and resumed in August of that same year.[15] In September 2024, it was announced that the series would enter on hiatus due to Watsuki's poor health.[16]
Publication
The two parts of Rurouni Kenshin Side Story: The Ex-Con Ashitaro were published on November 4 and December 2, 2016, in Shueisha's Jump Square.[7] Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc began monthly publication in the same magazine on September 4, 2017.[11] Shueisha has collected the chapters into individual Template:Transliteration volumes. The first volume was released on September 4, 2018.[17] As of November 2, 2023, nine volumes have been released.
Viz Media released an English translation of The Ex-Con Ashitaro in their digital Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The first part was released on December 19, 2016, and the second on January 2, 2017.[18] On September 4, 2017, they began simultaneously publishing The Hokkaido Arc in the magazine as it ran in Japan.[19][20] Following Watsuki's being charged, Viz Media did not continue English publication when the series resumed in Japan,[21] making its last appearance in the magazine on November 6, 2017.[22]
Volumes
Template:Graphic novel list/header Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list Template:Graphic novel list/footer
Chapters not yet in tankōbon format
These chapters have yet to be published in a Template:Transliteration volume. They were serialized in issues of Jump Square. Template:Numbered list
Reception
In July 2019, Jump Square announced that Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc had 1.2 million copies in print.[23] The first volume debuted at number four on Oricon's list of the best-selling manga with 172,160 copies sold.[24] By its sixth week, it had sold 322,520 copies.[25] The second volume debuted at number three with 201,590 copies sold,[26] while volume three debuted at number three, selling 111,231 copies.[27] Volumes three and four's initial printings of 350,000 copies were some of the highest first printings that Shueisha made for manga between 2019–2020 and 2020–2021 respectively.[28][29] Natalie reported that volume four was the fifth best-selling manga at Tsutaya stores during its first week of release.[30] Volume five debuted on the Oricon chart at number six with 108,859 copies sold,[31] while volume six topped the chart in its first week with 75,731 copies sold.[32] Volume seven sold 117,720 copies its first week, but peaked at third place on the Oricon chart.[33] Volume eight debuted in second place with 95,594 copies sold,[34] and volume nine peaked at number four with 81,380 copies sold in its first week.[35]
Based on the first volume only, the January 2019 issue of Da Vinci magazine included Rurouni Kenshin: The Hokkaido Arc at number 21 on its annual "Book of the Year" list for 2018. The list was voted on by 4,275 book reviewers, writers, and bookstore employees.[36]
Notes
References
External links
Template:Rurouni Kenshin Template:Nobuhiro Watsuki Template:Jump Square
- ↑ Template:Cite book
- ↑ Template:Cite book
- ↑ Template:Cite book
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite news
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedvol1 - ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite tweet
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web
- ↑ Template:Cite web