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Viz Media Licenses Assassin's Creed: Blade of Shao Jun Manga

Viz Media confirmed with ANN on Tuesday that it will release the first volume of Minoji Kurata's Assassin’s Creed: Blade of Shao Jun manga, based on Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed game series, on February 16, 2021.

Viz Media describes the story:

1526 AD—China is ruled by the Great Ming Empire. Though the empire flourishes, the winds of the new Emperor's political purge are sweeping over the land, and turmoil is brewing. With the decimation of her comrades, Shao Jun has become China's last Assassin. After escaping to Europe, she has now returned alone to her homeland. Her purpose: vengeance!

Ubisoft's official website for the Assassin's Creed series in the U.K. stated in June that the manga would launch in the U.S., the U.K., China, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Southeast Asia this fall. Mana Books published the manga's first volume in France on June 11. Shogakukan Asia licensed the manga in Southeast Asia and published the manga's first volume in English in August.

Kurata launched the manga digitally as Assassin's Creed: China in Shogakukan's Sunday GX magazine in October 2019. The second compiled book volume shipped in Japan on July 17.

The Assassin's Creed: Embers short film previously showed Shao Jun meeting the Assassin Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Italy.

The story of the Assassin's Creed series tracks a shadow war between Assassins and Templars that has been going on since the beginning of time, and is fought for the control of information about the secret history of humanity. Various games have centered on different protagonists and settings, with the main games in the series tackling the Third Crusade, Renaissance Italy and the Ottoman Empire, Colonial America and the Revolutionary War, the French Revolution, Victorian-era England, and Ptolemaic Egypt. The latest main game in the series, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, is set during the Peloponnesian Wars.

Takashi Yano and Kendi Oiwa previously drew another manga based on the series titled Assassin's Creed: Awakening (Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag -Kakusei-), an adaptation of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag. Yano and Oiwa launched the manga in Shueisha's now-defunct Jump X (read as Jump Kai) magazine in August 2013, and ended it in August 2014. Shueisha released two compiled book volumes for the series. Titan Comics released both volumes in English in 2017.

Update: Viz Media's story summary added.

Thanks to Kim P. for the news tip.

Sources: Email correspondence