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The New Prince of Tennis Manga Goes on Hiatus This Month Due to Editorial Mismanagement

The official X (formerly Twitter) account for Takeshi Konomi's The New Prince of Tennis sequel manga released a statement on Tuesday, regarding the manga not publishing a new chapter in the February issue of Shueisha's Jump Square magazine on Monday. The manga's staff explained in the statement that Konomi has been working on a different illustration project since last year. However, due to the editor in charge's mismanagement, problems arose with the project's progress, and it became impossible to exhibit the project. The incident also affected the progress of the manuscript for the magazine's current issue, so the staff was forced to put the manga on hiatus.

The staff stated that Konomi has already begun working on the chapter that will appear in the magazine's March issue on February 4. The editorial staff added that it and Konomi will work together to create an even better story as the series approaches its climax.

Konomi launched The New Prince of Tennis sequel manga in Shueisha's Jump Square magazine in 2009. Shueisha published the manga's 46th compiled book volume on January 5. Konomi announced last July that he planned to end the serialization of The New Prince of Tennis within a year.

Konomi serialized the original The Prince of Tennis manga in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1999 to 2008. The manga follows middle school tennis player Ryōma Echizen as he battles rivals to reach the national tournament. The manga inspired a 2001-2005 television anime, two anime feature films and a theatrical short, various video anime projects, a live-action film, a live-action television series in China, and a popular stage musical series.

Shin Tennis no Ōji-sama U-17 World Cup Kesshō Member Ketteisen (The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup Finals Members Decisive Match), the sequel anime to the The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup Semifinal (Shin Tennis no Ōji-sama U-17 World Cup Semifinal) anime will debut this fall. The sequel anime will depict the battle to decide who will represent Japan in the finals match against Spain. 

The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup Semifinal is itself a sequel to the The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup anime series.

The Prince of Tennis II: U-17 World Cup premiered on TV Tokyo in July 2022. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and also streamed an English dub. The anime was the first new television anime in the franchise in about a decade.

Source: The New Prince of Tennis manga's X/Twitter account via Hachima Kikō