Some of the Most Interesting Manga Hiatuses

The manga industry can be quite an intense workplace with constant deadlines to produce an unusually high amount of content. Understandably, mangaka sometimes need to take a break from a particular series before they can begin producing more content whether that be to recover physically, mentally or for any other reasons. Therefore, I thought it might be worth taking a look at some of the more interesting manga hiatuses in the industry.

One criteria I will apply however will be that the manga must have made a return. All too often we see manga series such as Nana or Highschool of the Dead go on hiatus to seemingly never return. While there are many reasons why this might be the case, the death of Daisuke Satō who wrote Highschool of the Dead for instance, I want to pay particular attention to series that did eventually manage to leave hiatus.

Starting off, one of the most fascinating hiatuses that I’ve ever come across is the Rumiko Takahashi series “One-Pound Gospel”. Originally starting in 1987, the series ultimately took until 2006 to see its final chapter. This all seems fine until you notice that the series is only four volumes long! Apparently, Rumiko Takahashi worked through about three quarters of the series before going on hiatus to focus on her other series such as Ranma 1/2 and Inuyasha. Ultimately, she returned to One-Pound Gospel and finished the story but I’m always fascinated by how long she took to finally complete the series.

Another one of the more interesting manga hiatuses would be Rei Hiroe’s “Black Lagoon”. While I am, admittedly, more familiar with the anime series, I have recently begun picking up the Black Lagoon manga now that it has seemingly returned from hiatus. Black Lagoon ran pretty consistently until 2010 when it was announced it was going on hiatus. It returned in 2013 and ran until early 2014 when it would go on hiatus again until 2017. Apparently part of this delay was due to work on an anime series called “Re:CREATORS” for which Rei Hiroe developed the concept and the character designs. Since then, he has been working consistently, albeit on a bimonthly basis and with some chapters much shorter than others, and I’m looking forward to seeing the continuing adventures of Rock, Revy and the Lagoon Company.

Another notable hiatus was with the series “From Eroica with Love”, a series written by Year 24 Group mangaka Yasuko Aoike. Running from 1976 to 2012, the series saw a hiatus of six years between 1989 and 1995 before eventually returning. The series may have also seen a hiatus in the mid-2000s although I’ve been unable to confirm this. While hiatuses can cause a series’ popularity to dwindle, From Eroica with Love managed to persevere throughout its run and complete its story.

Finally, I would like to draw attention to a series called “Golgo 13”, one of the bestselling manga of all time. Recently, author Takao Saito took a brief hiatus from writing the series. This might seem insignificant until you realise that it was the first hiatus he had taken since the series began in 1968! While many hiatuses are noteworthy for their length, I believe this hiatus was more notable because it highlighted how persistent and diligent Takao Saito has been throughout his career!

I’ve noticed that many are quick to criticise manga hiatuses but it’s important to remember that there is always a reason that a manga might go on hiatus whether it be for health reasons, to work on other manga or projects, to simply recover mentally etc. Nonetheless, I find the stories of many hiatuses within the manga industry fascinating and I would love to learn more about them. Let me know your thoughts on some of the most interesting manga hiatuses, what manga hiatuses you have found particularly interesting, your thoughts on hiatuses overall and any additional information you might have on the topic.

Hopefully you have found this article interesting and informative and, if you wish to seek any of the works I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs!