Kodansha, the publisher of shonen fashion manga Smile Down the Runway, announced that the series will conclude this summer.
According to Anime News Network, Kotoba Inoya's manga about a pair of fashion industry underdogs only has three chapters left in its story. Inoya's debut work, Smile Down the Runway has been serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine ever since 2017. The 190th chapter of the story was published in the most recent issue of the magazine, and the final collected volume containing the final chapters of the series is scheduled to be released in Japan on Aug. 17.
Smile Down the Runway tells the story of two teenagers who both want to work within the fashion industry but are held back by different circumstances; Ikuto wants to be a fashion designer, but his family is too poor to afford the materials and equipment he needs to create clothing. Chiyuki, meanwhile, has been training to be a runway model her whole life, but does not meet the industry-standard height requirement and is unable to find any designers willing to tailor clothing specifically for her small stature. The two team up to overcome their individual problems and make a name for themselves within the competitive world of couture fashion.
The manga was adapted into an anime series in 2020 by Ezo'la, a relatively new animation studio that released its first anime in 2018. The Smile Down the Runway TV series was licensed for distribution outside of Asia by Funimation, which also produced an English dub of the series that was streamed simultaneously with the release of new episodes in Japan. The anime is currently available for streaming on both Hulu and Funimation.
Source: Anime News Network
