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Hiromi Morishita Launches New Shōnen Ashibe Manga (Update)
posted on by Alex Mateo
This year's sixth issue of Futabasha's Manga Action magazine announced on Tuesday that Hiromi Morishita will launch a new Shōnen Ashibe manga titled Shō 3 Ashibe QQ Goma-chan in the magazine's next issue on March 17. The manga's story will follow the daily life of the baby spotted seal Goma-chan and its owner, third-grade schoolboy Ashibe Ashiya.
Morishita serialized the original manga in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump magazine from 1988 to 1994. The manga spawned a sequel titled ComaGoma in Weekly Young Jump from 2000 to 2004. A new manga adaptation (seen right) of the Shōnen Ashibe GO! GO! Goma-chan anime by Morishita and artist Junko Ogino debuted in Monthly Action in April 2016, and switched to Monthly Manga Town in May 2017. The manga's third compiled book volume shipped in April 2018. Crunchyroll is releasing the manga in English digitally.
The manga inspired the Shōnen Ashibe GO! GO! Goma-chan television anime, which premiered in April 2016. The second season premiered in April 2017, the third season premiered in April 2018, and the fourth season premiered on NHK Educational in April 2019. Crunchyroll streamed all four seasons as they aired in Japan. The manga also inspired a 1991 television anime series and a second 1992-1993 television anime series.
Morishita and Shōhei, an artist known for boys-love manga, launched a Shōnen Ashibe manga in Monthly Action in July 2017. The manga, titled Seishōnen Ashibe, follows Ashibe and Sugao as first-year high school students. In the original series, they are in their second year of elementary school. The manga's third compiled book volume shipped on Friday.
Update: New manga image added.
Sources: Manga Action issue 6 and website
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