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BTOOOM! Gets Spinoff Manga, Ouroboros' Yūya Kanzaki Starts New Series (Update)

The April issue of Shinchosha's Monthly Comic @Bunch magazine revealed on Wednesday that Junya Inoue's Btooom! manga is inspiring a spinoff, titled BTOOOM! U-18, that will debut in the next issue in March. In addition, Yūya Kanzaki (Ouroboros, Impossibility Defense) is drawing the series that will debut its prologue chapter in the next issue.

Inoue's main Btooom! manga will also endin the May issue of the magazine. The 25th compiled book volume (seen right) revealed on February 9 that the manga will have two endings, and consequently, two versions of the 26th and final volume. The manga volume asks readers what they would do if they were the protagonist Ryōta Sakamoto at a pivotal point in the manga's story. Depending on the reader's choice, the story progresses either into the "Light" ending culminating in the "Friendship Arc," or the "Dark" ending culminating in the "Truth Arc."

The "Light" ending is already being serialized as part of the manga's main serialization in Shinchosha's Monthly Comic @Bunch magazine starting from the February issue last December, and ending in the May issue in March. The "Dark" ending will have a short serialization in Shinchosha's B Bunch magazine starting in June. Both versions of the 26th volume will ship in July.

Inoue revealed on Twitter in September that the series will end in the 26th compiled book volume. The manga entered its final arc in the 23rd volume.

The story centers around Sakamoto, a NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) young man and a top-ranked player in the online combat game "Btooom!". One day, he wakes up on a tropical island without remembering how he got there. He sees a figure in the distance and asks for help. However, the figure responds by throwing something at Ryūta — a "BIM" bomb.

Inoue launched the series in Shinchosha's Weekly Comic Bunch magazine in 2009, and then transferred it to Monthly Comic @Bunch in 2011. Yen Press is publishing the manga in English. The company released the 19th compiled volume last November, and the 20th volume will ship on March 6.

Kotono Watanabe directed a 12-episode anime adaptation of the series in 2012. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired, and Sentai Filmworks released the series on Blu-ray Disc and DVD in 2013.

The manga also inspired a multiplayer smartphone game from developer Asobimo that launched last February.

Update: Though they were announced together, the magazine does not say that Yūya Kanzaki's new series and BTOOOM! U-18 are the same manga, as previously reported.