Manga hit Rurouni Kenshin gets spinoff miniseries starting this month

Creator Nobuhiro Watsuki takes readers back to Japan’s Meiji period for a tale of criminals and treasure.

Whether you knew him as Himura Kenshin, Hitokiri Battosai, or Samurai X, if you were an anime fan in the late ‘90s, odds are you’ve seen or read some of the adventures of the star of Rurouni Kenshin. The original manga from creator Nobuhiro Watsuki ran for just five years, a relatively short time compared to other action-adventure hits in the world of Japanese comics, but the franchise remains relevant to this day.

Not only has the series been adapted into a well-received trilogy of live-action movies, Watsuki himself occasionally revisits his defining work, having released a handful of additional chapters since the manga’s regular serialization ended in 1998. Now he’s about to do so again with a brand-new Rurouni Kenshin spinoff manga that’s just about to hit store shelves in Japan.

Titled Rurouni Kenshin Ibun – Ashitaro Zenka Ari (“Rurouni Kenshin Rumor – Tomoro with the Criminal Record”), the plot doesn’t center on Kenshin, despite his top billing, although it is set in the Rurouni Kenshin world. Instead, the protagonist is a convict named Tomoro who meets another shady character named Aran while in the custody of the authorities. The pair later have a run-in with a mysterious woman named Asahi, who has her sights set on some sort of treasure that Tomoro has hidden away.

The spinoff is scheduled for two parts, with the first to be published in the December issue of monthly manga anthology Jump Square, which goes on sale November 4 and the latter half appearing in the magazine’s next volume.

Source: IT Media
Top image: Amazon Japan/株式会社集英社 (edited by RocketNews24)

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