Weekly Shonen Jump has canceled several manga series in recent memory, but Shueisha isn’t the only manga publisher that is bringing some of its stories to a close. Kodansha, the publisher responsible for the likes of Attack on Titan, Vinland Saga, The Seven Deadly Sins, and more is planning to not just end one of its biggest series, but one of its longest-running to date. Releasing new chapters since 2007, a pair of siblings and their quest to venture to outer space is finally reaching its conclusion.
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Space Brothers has announced that the manga, which introduced us to Mutta and Hibito, is ending this year. Specifically, the series has three chapters remaining in its long run before it calls it quits, with creator Chuya Koyama commenting that this will be the organic ending of the manga. In a new social media post from the mangaka, Koyama states, “I’m looking forward to seeing how it all ends, too. To everyone who has read this far, I hope you’ll stick with me until the final volume.” While the final chapter will be released this spring, the last volume of the manga will arrive this summer, netting Space Brothers forty-six compilations in total. It’s one of the longest runs in the manga world this side of One Piece, and while the series might not be as big as the Straw Hats, it has earned a loyal fanbase.
Space Brothers Are Blasting Off
If this is your first time hearing of the manga series known as Space Brothers, here’s how Kodansha describes the series: “Two brothers looked to the starry skies as children and made a promise… Now, in the year 2025, the younger brother, Hibito, is carrying it out. He is an astronaut who has been selected as a crew member for mankind’s first long-term base on the moon. Meanwhile, the older brother, Mutta, has just been fired from his job and is unemployed, but decides to trust himself just one last time. A text message from Hibito sends him applying to be an astronaut too and shooting for the stars…”
Luckily, if you want to check out Space Brothers but want to witness their story on the screen, you have some options available. To start, the series did receive an anime adaptation in 2012 that ran for almost one hundred episodes. A-1 Pictures, who fans might know best for its work on the likes of Solo Leveling and Sword Art Online, headed up the project, with an anime film for the franchise landing in 2014. In 2012, the series also received a live action adaptation in Japan from Toho, translating the manga’s story to the big screen. Clearly, there’s quite a bit of material from the manga that was never adapted into an anime so it’s possible it might return some day.
What do you think of Space Brothers ending this year after such a long run? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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Courtesy of Warner Bros. Japan
