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Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness Manga Approaches Climax
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
The May issue of Asahi Shimbun Publications' Nemuki+ magazine revealed on Thursday that Nahoko Uehashi and Yū's Yami no Moribito (Moribito II: Guardian of the Darkness) manga series is approaching its climax. The word "climax" written in phonetic katakana often indicates a manga series' final chapter.
Yū resumed the manga in last year's September issue on August 12 with the start of the manga's final arc.
The manga adapts Uehashi's second novel in her Moribito novel series. Yū launched the series in Nemuki+ in April 2014, and Asahi Shimbun Publications published the manga's second compiled volume (pictured at right) in March 2016.
Production I.G and Kenji Kamiyama (Eden of the East, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex) adapted the first book in Uehashi's series into a 26-episode television anime series that originally aired in 2007. NHK is adapting Uehashi's entire novel series into a live-action television series. The first four-episode season premiered in March 2-16. The second nine-episode season premiered in January, and the third nine-episode season will premiere in November.
Uehashi's novel series centers on a traveling spear-wielding bodyguard named Balsa who has sworn to save the lives of eight people to atone for a past sin. In the first novel, Balsa meets Chagum, the second prince of the New Yogo Empire, whose life is in danger because he is possessed by a sacred spirit that poses a danger to his country. Balsa swears to protect Chagum, and the two undertake a journey to find out how to rid Chagum of the spirit possessing him.
Scholastic has released the first two books in Uehashi's novel series in English. Uehashi, who also wrote the Kemono no Sou-ja Erin novel series, won the Hans Christian Andersen Author Award in 2014.
