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Kingdom Manga Creator Considers Ending Series at 100 Volumes
posted on by Karen Ressler
Manga creator Yasuhisa Hara reported in Media Factory's literary news magazine Da Vinci on Tuesday that he is considering writing up to 100 volumes for his Kingdom manga series.
The magazine's interviewer said that the manga could reach 80 volumes, and that the story might be in its halfway point. Hara replied with a laugh, musing on humanity's tendency to repeat war while wishing for peace. He states that he wants to try portraying that idea in the manga, but doing so will make it end at 100 volumes.
Illustrator Katsuya Terada (Blood: The Last Vampire) also drew an illustration of the character Wang Qi from the manga for the magazine (shown below).
Hara's manga depicts China's tumultuous 5th century Warring States period, centering around the slave boy Xin. He aspires to become a great general for the state of Qin. He aids the young Qin king Ying Zheng to rise to power within his state, and shares his ambition to unify China. The manga follows Xin's struggle to rise to command an army that will defeat the Seven Warring States.
The original manga has been running in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine since 2006. Shueisha will ship the 40th volume on October 19.
The first anime series based on the historical manga premiered in June 2012 and the second premiered in June 2013. Funimation streamed the first series in North America.
The manga set the Guinness World Record for the "Manga Written by the Most People" by having 1,000 fans and celebrities redraw the 26th volume. A total of 1,087 people participated in the campaign, including manga creators Eiichiro Oda (One Piece), Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto), Hirohiko Araki (JoJo's Bizarre Adventure), Takehiko Inoue (Vagabond) and Hiroshi Motomiya (Salaryman Kintaro). Voice actors Masakazu Morita, Jun Fukuyama, and Rikiya Koyama, voice actresses Yōko Hikasa and Rie Kugimiya, and singer Etsuko Yakushimaru also participated. Each participant redrew one of the approximately 1,000 panels from the volume.
