Highschool of the Dead was a successful anime in 2010. However, after its manga writer fell ill and went on hiatus, very little has been seen.
high school of death premiered almost 12 years ago in Japan. The anime, which follows the journey of a group of teenagers trying to survive a zombie apocalypse, was generally well received by critics and has now become infamous for its graphic violence, bizarre sense of humor, and blatant sexualization of its characters. .
However, after only one season (which ends on a cliffhanger), many fans have wondered what happened to prevent this NSFW series from being renewed. For those who weren’t around at the time, or didn’t have a chance to research the series, it can all seem pretty confusing.
Written by Daisuke Satō and Illustrated by Shōji Satō, high school of death debuted in the September 2006 issue of Fujimi Shobo’s monthly dragon age magazine. By 2007, Shobo and Shoten began producing tankobon volumes of the published chapters and continued to do so until 2011. By the time the seventh and final tankobon was released, the manga had over three million copies in circulation in Japan. The series became so popular online through the use of scanlations that its authors included an English message within the printing of the magazine’s fifth chapter, requesting that readers purchase the manga when it becomes available.
When high school of death was released in English, its second volume rose to fourth place on The New York Times best-selling manga list, beating such classics as naruto and Blue Exorcist. It continued to be well received in Japan and repeatedly appeared at the top of the Oricon sales charts. In short, lack of sales or interest was not the reason for High School of the Dead untimely ending. Both the manga and anime were huge successes, with fans eagerly anticipating what would come next.
Unfortunately, the manga’s writer, Daisuke Sato, fell ill in 2008, which made the production of the series increasingly difficult to manage. That led to the manga being put on hold until 2010, the same year. high school of deathThe anime adaptation of aired in Japan, though even after the writer’s return, little else was created. In April 2013, high school of death received a brief return through the release of a single chapter; however, none of the main characters were present. Instead, the chapter showed police clearing out the school and a group of other survivors contained within it.
Unfortunately, in 2011, Sato was diagnosed with ischemic heart disease and his condition progressively worsened over the following years. Shortly after the release of High School of the Dead now the final chapter, the manga was put on hiatus once again. Sato passed away in 2017 at the age of 52.
In 2019, high school of death Co-creator Shouji Sato was interviewed by Comic Natalie, where he addressed his friend’s death and why the series was not going to continue. “Foreign fans who don’t know the details of the situation say, ‘Draw a sequel right away,’ but it’s not that easy,” he said. “We are sad that the work has stopped in the middle, but just thinking about Daisuke Sato makes me think that I cannot carelessly get involved.”
While fans are no doubt saddened that high school of death won’t be revived anytime soon, it’s honorable that Shouji Sato sees Daisuke as an integral part of creating the manga; it is a respectful decision to keep the series as part of his legacy. Although the story of what happened to this series is off-putting, fans can still go back and read the manga or watch the 2010 anime. It’s still just as weird and controversial as it was in 2010 and is well worth a watch for anyone who still loves it. have not experienced it.
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