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Hiroki Yagami Launches New Dear Boys Act 4 Basketball Manga in October

The October issue of Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine announced on Thursday that Hiroki Yagami will launch a new installment of his Dear Boys manga series titled Dear Boys Act 4. The manga will debut in the magazine's next issue on October 6.

The manga is set one year after Kazuhiko and Mizuho High School's inter-high victory, and is set in the famous Shōnan Dai Sagami High School, Mizuho's rival school. The manga centers on Fuse, the school basketball team's ace who aims for the nationals, and a new freshman protagonist.

Yagami's original Dear Boys manga focuses on Kazuhiko Aikawa, a transfer student to Mizuho High School. A lack of players and a coach quitting due to conflict with a student leaving the team have left the Mizuho High School basketball team gutted. Aikawa joins, and brings the team back to competitive shape through his love of the game. Eventually, the manga shares its focus between the Mizuho High School team and the teams and players of other schools.

Yagami launched the first Dear Boys manga in 1989 and ended it in 1997. The series has 40 million copies in print. The Dear Boys: The Early Days prequel manga followed from February to May 1997. Yagami launched the sequel manga Dear Boys Act II in 1997 and ended it in 2008. The sequel won the Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen manga in 2007. Yagami launched Dear Boys Act 3 in December 2008 and ended it in December 2015.

Yagami launched the Dear Boys Overtime sequel manga in Monthly Shonen Magazine in February 2016, and ended it in January 2017. Kodansha shipped the third and final compiled volume in February 2017.

The manga inspired a 26-episode television anime series that premiered in Japan in 2003. Bandai Entertainment released the anime (retitled as Hoop Days) in English in 2005.

Yagami recently ended the Tokiwa Bowl no Megami-sama (The Goddess in Tokiwa Bowl) bowling manga on July 6.

Sources: Monthly Shonen Magazine, Comic Natalie