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Minami-ke's Sakuraba, Zetsubō's Kumeta to Start Manga

Kodansha's advertising for its new monthly Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine has revealed the starting lineup for the first issue on September 9. The 570-page issue will feature 16 titles, including the previously announced Dōbutsu no Kuni (Animal Country) parallel-world fantasy from Makoto Raiku (Konjiki no Gash!!/Zatch Bell) on its front cover. Coharu Sakuraba, the creator of Minami-ke and Kyo no Gononi (Today in Class 5-2), will start a supernatural fantasy called Sonna Mirai wa Uso de Aru (That Future is a Lie). Toradora! novel illustrator and character designer Yasu will draw a manga, tentatively titled Joshiraku, that is based on a story by Kôji Kumeta of Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei fame.

090 - Eko to Issho's Maru Asakura will launch Pochi, while Pugyuru's Tohiro Konno will launch his Puapua? four-panel manga. Renshi Fukuhara's Wizardy Zero, Kō Kii's Vanilla Spider, an unnamed pure-love romantic comedy from Hyōryū Net Cafe's Shūzō Oshimi, an untitled work from Yōichi Abe, and others round out the first issue.

The second 700-page issue will feature Ōima's manga adaptation of Mardock Scramble — the same science-fiction action novel by Tow Ubukata (Le Chevalier D'Eon, Heroic Age) that Gonzo was planning to adapt into anime before canceling the project. Yuki Satō (Yōkai no O-isha-san) will launch Kyūketsuki Apaato (Vampire Apartment) in the third issue, while Jin Kobayashi (School Rumble, Natsu no Arashi!) will launch an unnamed "heartwarming" action title in the fourth issue. In future issues, Psycho Busters' Akinari Nao will start his Count-Trouble magical girl comedy, and Takumi Nagayasu (Katsuhiro Ōtomo's The Legend of Mother Sarah) will adapt the Mibu Gishi Den samurai novel by novelist Jirō Asada (Viz Media's The Stationmaster book). The novel was previously adapted into a 2003 live-action samurai film that was released in English as When the Last Sword is Drawn.

Source: Comic Natalie, animeanime.jp, Gigazine