Head’s up to those who are fans of the works by Hiromu Arakawa. This year’s 52nd issue of Weekly Shonen Sunday asked fans to “look forward to a new story” made by Arakawa. Arakawa is responsible for creating the Full Metal Alchemist series and Silver Spoon.
It was also announced recently that the Silver Spoon manga would be ending in four chapters. With that said, the new project by Arakawa might be released anytime next year. The 15th and final volume of the manga are slated to be released in Japan on February 18.
Silver Spoon is a popular manga series by Arukawa, aside from her smash hit series Fullmetal Alchemist. Silver Spoon went with a few manga hiatuses started in July 2017 (ended in May 2018), then in June 2018. It also won a few awards like the Manga Taiso (Cartoon Grand Prize) in 2012, Booklog awards, and the Shogakukan Manga Awards in the boy’s category in 2013.
The popularity of the manga series also paved the way for an anime adaptation, which was first aired in July 2013. This was then followed with a second season on January 2014, and a live-action film adaptation in March 2014. The manga is officially translated and released in English by Yen Press, while Aniplex of America released the anime on home video. Both seasons of the anime adaptation is available for streaming on Crunchyroll. The recent 14th volume of the manga was released in Japan in 2017. No new manga volumes have announced since then.
The story of Silver Spoon is centered on Yugo Hachiken as he goes through his life, attending an agricultural high school in the countryside and learning a lot from his environment and the people around him. Arakawa created her hit manga Fullmetal Alchemist before beginning to create this series.
Fullmetal Alchemist was released in 2001 and ended in 2010. The series was published in Japan by Enix magazine (from 2001 to 2003) and Square Enix (from 2003 to 2010). It was later compiled into 27 volumes. The series is Arakawa’s successful work selling more than 70 million volumes worldwide, and it is titled as one of the best-selling manga series. This series has probably been part of your anime childhood at some point.
The manga was then released in English by VIZ Media (North America), Chuang Yi (Singapore), and Madman Entertainment (Australasia). Yen Press also publishes the manga in English but in digital due to the manga being a Square Enix title. The popularity of the manga has paved the way for anime adaptations, anime films, OVA, video games, and light novels.
Fullmetal Alchemist is centered on the lives of two brothers Edward and Alphonse Elric. They used the power of alchemy in an attempt to bring back their mother. However, things didn’t go well, and it cost Edward to lost his left leg and right arm, and Alphonse his entire body. Together they go on a quest to look for the Philosopher’s stone in order to reverse what they’ve lost.
The first Fullmetal Alchemist anime aired from 2003 to 2004 with a total of 51 episodes. It was animated an co-produced by Bones, Aniplex, and Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS). Since the original manga series was still ongoing when the anime aired, the first anime has a different storyline. A sequel film to this anime series titled Conqueror Shimbalia was released in 2005. Back then, it was considered as one of the most viewed anime shows in Japan.
The second anime series titled Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood aired in April 2009 to July 2010 with a total of 64 episodes. Unlike the first anime, which has an original story, Brotherhood faithfully follows the manga.
The announcement of the series was confirmed in the 20th volume manga release in Japan. Brotherhood is produced and animated by Bones with both Yashiro Irie as director and Hiroshi Onogi as writer.
Fast forward to years later, a live-action film adaptation of Fullmetal Alchemist was produced. The film premiered on December 1, 2017, in Japan, starring Ryosuke Yamada, Tsubasa Honda, and Dean Fujioka. The anime film faithfully follows the original manga series created by Arakawa. The movie covers the first four volumes of the manga. In 2018, the popular streaming platform Netflix announced that they would be adding the Fullmetal Alchemist live-action movie into their streaming library. This happened during their consistent announcements of placing Japanese anime and other shows into their library.
On its opening weekend alone on December 2 and 3, 2017, it earned a total of 264, 065, 100 yen beginning from its December 1 premiere until Sunday. The film earned a cumulative total of 373,330,500 yen as of early 2018.
The film’s world premiere happened on October 25, 2017, at the Tokyo International Film Festival. It was then screened in over 400 theatres (including 4DX and IMAX screenings) in Japan on its official premiere date.
Fumihiko Sori promised to fans that the movie is closely accurate to its original source. To quote, “I want to create a style that follows the original manga as much as possible. The cast is entirely Japanese, but the cultural background is Europe. However, it’s a style that doesn’t represent a specific race or country."
Let’s hope that this new series by Arakawa will be just as successful as her other manga series.
Source: Anime News Network