News: Yuhki Kamatani to Create Spinoff Manga for Rhapsody Music Anime Project

The August issue of rockin’on group’s CUT magazine published in advance the first chapter of Yuhki Kamatani‘s spinoff manga of the Rhapsody music anime project on Wednesday. The manga will start its regular serialization on the LINE Manga app this fall.

The spinoff manga will center on the point of view of Junya Tōsaka, the music label owner from the Rhapsody anime story.

The project’s anime features the bands’ stories through animation, and the bands’ voice actors perform music on stage. The anime does not play at movie theaters or traditional stage theaters, but on a giant LED screen installed at a live concert venue. Since July 2, regular performances are being held at the harevutai Live House venue in Ikebukuro, Tokyo.

The tagline of the project is, “…Rock is a story of grief and hope.” The story depicts the dedication and drive of four bands under the Rhapsody label: the four-member rock band Pink Flag with personal trauma, the loud rock band Haru no Jūjika (Spring Cross) of high school students, the folk unit Bluebird composed of childhood friends, and the EDM brother duo System of Romance (SOR).

Kamatani ended their Hiraeth: The End of the Journey manga in May 2022. Kamitani launched the manga in Kodansha‘s Morning two magazine in October 2020. Kodansha published the third and final compiled book volume in Japan in August 2022. Kodansha USA Publishing is releasing the manga in English digitally.

Kamatani published the 14-volume Nabari No Ou manga in Square Enix‘s Monthly G Fantasy magazine from 2004 to 2010. Yen Press released the manga in English. The manga inspired a television anime series in 2008, and Funimation released the anime in North America in 2009.

Kamatani launched the Our Dreams At Dusk: Shimanami Tasogare manga in the first issue of Shogakukan‘s seinen magazine Hibana in March 2015, and moved it to the Manga ONE app when Hibana ended serialization in August 2017. The manga ended with the fourth volume in 2018. Seven Seas released the manga in English.

Sources: CUT August issue, Rhapsody music anime project’s Twitter account (link 2)