News

Manga Planet Licenses Takehiko Inoue's Buzzer Beater Manga

The Manga Planet manga subscription service announced on Saturday during the Anime North: Stay at Home Edition event that it has licensed Takehiko Inoue's Buzzer Beater manga. The manga will be available on the platform in June.

Manga Planet describes the manga:

Several hundred years in the future, the Earth sport "basketball" gains popularity all over the universe. In a landscape where every pro basketball player in the Intergalactic League is from every other planet but Earth, an elderly millionaire named Yoshimune decides to fulfill his dream of having Earthlings play in the League. Will the promise of a one hundred million contract let him find the once-in-a-lifetime dream team he needs?

A sample will be available for free in the Manga Planet Library. Subscribers will be able to read subsequent chapters.

Inoue (Slam Dunk, Vagabond, REAL) launched the full-color manga in May 1996 on the Sports-i ESPN website. The series ended in August 1998. Shueisha published four volumes of the manga, and later republished the manga in two special edition volumes.

The manga inspired a television anime that aired for 13 episodes from February to May 2005. A second season of the anime also with 13 episodes launched in 2007. The Joost video-streaming service streamed the anime with English subtitles in the United States in 2008.

Manga Planet launched in November 2019. The service costs US$6.99 per month and allows users unlimited access to English-translated manga. In addition to manga licensed from publishers, the service offers works licensed from independent artists.

Manga Planet is also working with publishers LEED Publishing Co., Ltd., Bunkasha Publishing Co., Ltd.; Kaiohsha Publishing Co., Ltd.; San-Ei Corporation Co., Ltd.; Tokuma Shoten Publishing Co., Ltd.; Shodensha Publishing Co., Ltd.; Home-sha, Starts Publishing Corporation, K.K. HarperCollins Japan, and MugenUp Inc.

Manga Planet started as a joint project between Dai Nippon Printing Co., Ltd. and Fantasista, Inc. in 2012. The companies' goal with Manga Planet is to "[bring] new manga to fans from all over the world and support artists and the industry."

Source: Press release