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Blue Exorcist Manga Goes on Hiatus Until April, as Kazue Katō Draws Manga of Twelve Kingdoms Author's Horror Novel
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The August issue of Shueisha's Jump SQ. magazine announced on Friday that Kazue Katō's Blue Exorcist manga will go on hiatus for eight months until April 2022. During that time, Katō will launch an adaptation of author Fuyumi Ono's Eizen Karukaya Kaiitan (Strange Tales from the Handy Shop Karukaya) horror novels as a short six-chapter manga mini-series in the magazine's October issue in September.
In a post on her Twitter account, Katō said that she would have loved to be able to serialize two works at the same time, but she worried that she might be too overstressed with the work (especially since this is her first manga adaptation of a novel). Therefore, she decided to put the Blue Exorcist manga on hiatus.
Katō recently had a two-month hiatus for Blue Exorcist from February 4 to March 4 earlier this year. Explaining the hiatus, she only said that "simply put, 12 years of fatigue exploded," though later added that she was not sick and was enjoying her vacation. Katō launched the manga in Jump SQ. in 2009, and Shueisha published the manga's 27th compiled book volume on Friday. The manga has inspired two television anime, an anime film, several OVAs, novels, and a series of stage plays.
Ono's Eizen Karukaya Kaiitan collects short stories centered around Shōko, a girl who lives in an old samurai residence-turned-shop that she inherited from her aunt. The stories center on the strange goings-on in the house. Ono published the first book in June 2018, and the second book in July 2019.
Ono pens the epic fantasy novel series The Twelve Kingdoms, which she began in 1992. The novel series is ongoing, with the 13th volume shipping in 2019. The novel series inspired a 2002 television anime. Ono also wrote the novel that inspired the Ghost Hunt anime, and also wrote the Shiki vampire horror novel that inspired the 2010 anime.
Sources: Jump SQ. August issue, Blue Exorcist's official Twitter account, Kazue Katō's Twitter account
