Promised Neverland, Monogatari Creators Craft Sequel to Manga by Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure Creator

Cool Shock B.T., one of Hirohiko Araki's pre- Jojo's Bizarre Adventure works, will get a new one-shot manga sequel from The Promised Neverland artist Posuka Demizu and Monogatari's writer NISIOSIN.

The new all-star project was announced on Araki's official Twitter account. Cool Shock B.T. was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump from September to November 1983 and told the story of a magician who solves mysteries. Cool Shock B.T. was a sequel to Mashonen B.T., which was Araki's first serialized manga. The series is notably lighter in tone and features less gore than Araki's most famous work, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, which would begin its on-going saga three years later in 1986. Demizu and NISIOSIN's series will be set 60 years after the original story.

In addition to the new Cool Shock B.T. manga, Demizu recently reunited with The Promised Neverland writer Kaiu Shirai for another one-shot manga story, DC3. The new work was released to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the debut of the duo's original hit. The Promised Neverland centers on a group of small children who live seemingly normal, happy lives at a rural orphanage until they realize their caretakers and the world around them are not as benevolent and peaceful as they seem. The Promised Neverland quickly became one of Weekly Shonen Jump's newest hits, with over 32 million copies in circulation. The series was adapted into a two season anime by Wonder Egg Priority studio Cloverworks; while the first season was positively received, the second season was widely panned due to its sudden divergence from the source material and rushed pacing.

Writer NISIOSIN is best known for their work on the critically acclaimed Monogatari novel series, which received widespread critical acclaim for its character development and psychological themes. A similarly praised anime adaptation began airing in 2009 and was produced by Shaft, the animation studio that was also behind other critical darlings such as Puni Puella Madoka Magica and March Comes In Like A Lion. The anime ran for three seasons and was followed up with a trilogy of prequel movies, entitled Kizumonogatari, which were released from 2016 - 2017.

Araki, meanwhile, is working on the next part of his on-going Jojo's Bizarre Adventure series. Part 8 of the long-running epic, Jojolion, recently concluded in August, after which Araki announced that the series would continue with Part 9, following a short a break. The Jojo's Bizarre Adventure anime series will debut its fifth season this fall, which adapts the Stone Ocean arc (Part 6) and will air new episodes on a monthly basis exclusively on Netflix.

Source: Twitter