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The Sneaker Light Novel Magazine Returns With Special Issue After 7 Years
posted on by Egan Loo
Kadokawa will bring back its light novel magazine The Sneaker for a special issue on November 1. The Sneaker Legend issue (tentative title) will mark the 30th anniversary of the Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint.
The upcoming issue will have features devoted to Record of Lodoss War, the Haruhi Suzumiya franchise, Konosuba - God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!, and other titles. In addition, it will publish contributions by Satoru Akahori (Abenobashi: Magical Shopping Arcade, Knights of Ramune & 40, Maze), Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam), Shō Tomono (The Damned Stalkers), Usagi Nakamura (Bokura wa Reinō Tanteidan!), Kō Hiura (Guldeen the Future Wanderer), and Misio Fukazawa (Fortune Quest Gaiden) on Sneaker Bunko's 30th anniversary.
The magazine launched in April of 1993, and it published every other month for most of its run. It launched several popular light novel titles such as The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya and Rental Magica. Later, it carried Dantalian no Shoka, R-15, and other titles that would inspire anime.
The magazine ceased publication in its April 2011 issue (pictured right) on February 28, 2011. According to the Japanese Magazine Publishers Association, the magazine had a circulation run of about 20,000 copies in its final year. At the time, The Sneaker Editor-in-Chief Kōichi Sakamoto said that his company will expand its bunko (pocket-sized paperback book) lineup even more, as well as broaden its use of the web and electronic books in response to its readers' needs.
Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web
