Viz Media and Japan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday are debuting a new manga series simultaneously in the US and Japan. Rin-Ne, the new series by Rumiko Takahashi, will appear online at TheRumicWorld.com on 22 April. The site is “a new North American web site devoted to news about Takahashi, while the series will launch at the same time for Japanese readers in Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine. Each week a new chapter will be released at the same time for both US and Japanese fans.”
Rin-Ne is the story of Sakura Mamiya, “a child who disappears into the woods and returns to find she’s able to see ghosts.” Rin-Ne will be the first new manga work by Takahashi since she completed her bestselling epic fantasy series Inuyasha last year. Takahashi began her mangaka career in 1978 and is best known for creating manga series such as Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, and Rumic Theater.
Rin-Ne won’t be the first simultaneous online manga publication for Viz, but it is the first for Takahashi and Weekly Shonen Sunday.
Viz Vice President of Sales and Marketing Gonzalo Ferreyra said “Rumiko Takahashi is an artist without equal and we’re extremely honored to present her long-awaited new series Rin-Ne simultaneously with Shonen Sunday. Her signature style has come to be known as the ‘Rumic World’, and we invite fans across North America to visit her official web site on 22 April for the English debut.”