The release of the next chapter of the Jujutsu Kaisen manga has been delayed by one week while creator Gege Akutami recovers from a bout of poor health.
The delay was announced on the official Twitter account for the series, which stated, "Jujutsu Kaisen was scheduled to be published in Weekly Shonen Jump No. 15 (released on Monday, March 14), but the release was suspended due to the poor physical condition of Akutami-sensei." The message went on to reassure fans that Akutami is now recovering from their unspecified condition, and that the next chapter of the series will now be released on March 19.
週刊少年ジャンプ15号(3月14日(月)発売)に掲載予定でした『呪術廻戦』ですが、芥見先生が体調不良のため、休載させていただきます。⁰なお、現在は体調を回復されており、次号の16号(3月19日(土)発売)から連載再開いたします。
— 呪術廻戦【公式】 (@jujutsu_PR) March 10, 2022
よろしくお願いいたします。
The popular manga series previously went on hiatus for about two months in 2021. The given reason for that break was also Akutami's health, though the author seemed to express more concern about the manga's schedule than their own well-being at the time. "I have been asked by the editorial department to take a break from the series," Akutami said at the time, adding, "But I don’t want to slow down the weekly serialization of Jujutsu Kaisen since I’d like to draw the end of the series as soon as possible.
Concerns over the health of manga creators have been heightened since the unexpected death of Berserk creator Kentaro Miura in 2021. Manga artists have been known to work grueling schedules in order to meet the industry's tight deadlines. In addition to Akutami, numerous other popular manga creators have taken short hiatuses throughout the last year, including My Hero Academia creator Kohei Horikoshi.
Jujutsu Kaisen is currently one of Japan's biggest anime and manga franchises. Akutami's manga topped the best-sellers list for 2021, outperforming older series such as My Hero Academia and Koyoharu Gotouge's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba with a whopping 30 million copies sold in that year alone. In the four years since its debut, the manga has achieved a total global circulation of over 60 million copies. The series recently released its first movie, Jujutsu Kaisen 0, which opened in late December to the second best opening weekend in Japanese film history. The movie is now the highest-grossing Japanese film to be released in 2021, and is already of the top 10 highest-grossing anime films of all time.
Jujutsu Kaisen 0 will premiere in select theaters in the United States and Canada on March 18. Akutami's manga is available in English in both print and digital formats from VIZ Media, while the anime series is available for streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.
Source: Twitter
