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Shinji Mizushima Draws Yakyūkyō no Uta 1-Shot Manga on October 22
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
This year's 46th issue of Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine revealed on Thursday that Shinji Mizushima will draw a one-shot manga based on his Yakyūkyō no Uta (Song of Baseball Enthusiasts) manga in the magazine's next issue, which Akita Shoten will publish on October 22. The one-shot manga's title will be "Yakyūkyō no Uta - Tokubetsu-hen" (Song of Baseball Enthusiasts - Special Chapter).
The one-shot will be the first story in the Yakyūkyō no Uta series in 10 years since Mizushima ended his Shin Yakyūkyō no Uta manga in 2005. The manga will cross over with Mizushima's currently ongoing Dokaben Dream Tournament-hen manga, and will portray the match between Dokaben's protagonist Tarō Yamada, and Yakyūkyō no Uta protagonist Yūki Mizuhara. Mizushima has previously crossed-over both series in the Yakyū-kyō no Uta Vs. Dokaben manga in 2006.
Mizushima's Yakyūkyō no Uta manga centers around Yūki Mizuhara, a woman who wanted to become a veterinarian, but is instead drafted into the Tokyo Mets as the league's first female player. Mizushima published the original manga in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1972 to 1976. He launched a sequel titled Yakyūkyō no Uta: Heisei-hen in Kodansha's Mister Magazine in 1997, until the magazine shuttered in 2000. He launched another sequel titled Shin Yakyūkyō no Uta in Kodansha's Morning magazine in 2000, and ended it in 2005.
The manga spawned a live-action film adaptation in 1977, a 25-episode television anime series from 1977-1979, an anime film titled Yakyū-kyō no Uta: Kita no Ōkami, Minami no Tora in 1979, and a live-action television drama adaptation in 1985.
Source: The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
