Virginia Nitōhei confirms manga’s upcoming 19th volume will not have bonus features
© Virginia Nitōhei, Natsuya Semikawa, Kururi, Kadokawa
Manga author Virginia Nitōhei announced on their X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday that the 19th compiled book volume of Otherwordly Izakaya “Nobu” (Isekai Izakaya “Nobu”) manga – the adaptation of Natsuya Semikawa‘s light novel series of the same title – will not have any bonus features, and will probably not even have cover art. An hour after the post, Nitōhei confirmed in another post that the 19th volume will have no bonus features, saying that the promise of them receiving royalties for their manuscript was revoked. Kadokawa publishes the Otherwordly Izakaya “Nobu” manga, and the 19th volume will ship on December 4.
Prior to and after the posts announcing that the upcoming volume would not have bonus features nor cover art, Nitōhei has been reposting several status posts about the issue of manga authors not getting paid for drawing cover art for book volumes.
Some of the status posts Nitōhei reposted were from other manga artists such as George Morikawa (Hajime no Ippo) and Sumito Ōwara (Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!). On one post, Morikawa stated that it would be best to listen to both sides (publisher and artist) of the argument. Nitōhei reposted a series of Ōwara’s status posts about his own experience of not getting paid for drawing cover arts. On Ōwara’s last status post that Nitōhei reposted, he stated that he has been directly approaching publishers, and talked about the issue moving forward.
Nitōhei launched the Otherwordly Izakaya “Nobu” manga with original character design by Kururi in Young Ace magazine in July 2015.
Udon Entertainment licensed the manga and published its 10th volume in English in March 2022. The company describes the manga:
A Japanese style pub called “Nobu” exists in a back alley of the fictional medieval European city of Eiteriach. Its customers? A pair of slacker soldiers, a spoiled heiress, an uptight tax collector, and more… When the citizens of this strange world sit down to enjoy some unfamiliar Japanese cuisine, their troubles simply melt away…
The curtain rises on this otherworldly eatery and the gourmet fantasy about to unfold within!
Semikawa launched the original novel series on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō (Let’s Be Novelists) website in 2012. Takarajimasha began publishing the story in print with illustrations by Kururi in 2014.
The novels inspired a net anime series of 15-minute shorts that premiered in April 2018. Crunchyroll streamed the series under the title Isekai Izakaya: Japanese Food From Another World worldwide except in Asia with subtitles in English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, German, and Arabic. bilibili streamed the series in Asia.
The novels also inspired a 10-episode live-action series adaptation, which premiered in May 2020. The series’ second season titled Isekai Izakaya “Nobu” Season 2: Majo to Daishikyō-hen (Witch and Archbishop Chapter) premiered in May 2022. The second season also had a special episode titled “Shinobu to Eva no Himitsu no Gokujō Sweets-hen” (Shinobu and Eva’s Secret Super Sweets), which aired immediately after the second season’s first episode.
The series’ third season titled Isekai Izakaya “Nobu” Season 3: Kōtei to Oilia no Ōjo-hen (The Emperor and the Princess of Oilia Arc) premiered in Japan in January 2023.
Source: Virginia Nitōhei‘s X/Twitter account via Yaraon!
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
