Finally, some news that brings a smile to my face.
It's come to my attention that in the latest issue of CoroCoro Comics, notorious for publishing the new serialized Sonic manga in Japan, an odd message was printed after the most recent installment. It said that starting next issue, Harukaze Santa will no longer be writing or drawing the Sonic manga. However, the manga WILL be continuing, and take a new direction at that.
Brimming with curiousity upon hearing this, I decided to do a little research on the topic. In the end, my fellow Sonicphiles, I have uncovered some very pleasant news in a Japanese article I found:
Naoto Ohshima (Sonic's mother), HIMSELF will be writing and drawing a brand new Sonic manga in CoroCoro comics. There's only one thing I have to say:
^__________________^
This is beyond fabulous. For those of you not in the know, Ohshima was the original designer for Sonic, Eggman and the classic furries. He was also the genius that brought us the visual masterpiece that was "Sonic CD", which many consider to be, visually, the best Sonic game EVER. He created Amy Rose, the Chaotix and, most importantly, METAL SONIC. He had recently left Sega and Sonic Team to begin his own development company, Artoon, who have so far churned out the mediocre GBA game Pinobee.
"When I first found out Sega was publishing a new manga," said Ohshima in the article, "I thought it was a great idea. It's been years since there's been an offical manga for Sonic, much less a good one. I was okay with the idea of Mr. Harukaze doing it at first, but when I thought about it I finally decided to myself how because I no longer work on the Sonic games I should, as his original designer, be the one to bring Sonic to life in this way".
Ohshima said the manga, which will begin publishing in three months time, will follow the existing Sonic stories rather than original adventures. He'll start with one 30 page intro comic (which he promises will be a visual delight whether or not you're a fan of Sonic games), and then jump straight into the "Little Planet saga" (I'm placing my bets on this being a Sonic CD adaptation). According to Ohshima, this new manga will have the same kind of flare that he put into Sonic 1 and Sonic CD designs.
Apart from being able to keep it alive along to even get as far as Sonic Adventure 2 (which he claims to have a slightly different view on), one of Ohshima's sincerest hopes is that this new manga will make it to the West.
"Sonic is a strange character," he also said, "he's been successful in the United States for the exact reasons that he's popular in Japan. That's a real rarity for characters created on the other side of the world. And yet at the same time, neither side has been given the opportunity to appreciate the true integrity with which Sonic was created, and that he carries on to this very day in both the storyline, the world and the character. I hope this manga can finally open that window to everyone, even outside Japan. That is if I can ever get it rolling".
This, my friends, truly is a time for people from ALL parts of Sonicdom to celebrate.
The article translated pretty easy through a basic AltaVista translator from the source, and some clarification from friends. The only thing I couldn't figure out, however, was the title of the article, which was "Yongatsu no Baka".
