News
Boys Be… Manga Artist Hiroyuki Tamakoshi Reports Cancer Diagnosis
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Manga creator Hiroyuki Tamakoshi announced on Twitter on September 14 that he has been diagnosed with stage 3 cancer, and would begin four months of chemotherapy the next week. He noted that the serialization of his new manga based on Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket will go on hiatus due to the chemotherapy, but he plans to resume it sometime at the start of 2023, noting that he "absolutely" wants to resume the manga.
Tamakoshi expressed worry at the possible numbing side effect of chemotherapy on his hands, and how it might affect his ability to draw. He added that he hates not being able to draw manga, and wants to draw manga until the day he dies. He related how late science-fiction illustrator Shigeru Komatsuzaki told his wife "I can't draw anymore" only three days before passing away, commenting that "that's what I want."
Masahiro Itabashi and Tamakoshi serialized their first Boys Be… series in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in the 1990s, followed by Boys Be...2nd Season and Boys Be...L Co-op. They then started another Boys Be… manga series called Boys Be… 2009 1-Gakki (Boys Be… 2009 Term I) on Kodansha's MiChao mobile comic website in April 2009, and ended it in October of the same year. Itabashi and Tamakoshi then started their Boys Be… Next Season series in a different magazine, Kodansha's Magazine Special, in November 2009, and they ended that series in February 2012. The pair launched the ongoing Boys Be…~adult season~ manga in Kodansha's Evening magazine in August 2012, and chapters are published irregularly. The Boys Be… ~young adult~ manga launched in Kadokawa's Monthly Dragon Age magazine in September 2017, and ended in July 2018.
Tokyopop published most of the Boys Be...2nd Season series, without the "2nd Season" appellation, in North America. Right Stuf first released the 2000 animated adaptation in 2006. The franchise also inspired live-action television series and stage musical adaptations in Japan.
Tamakoshi's new manga based on the Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket OVA launched in Kadokawa's Gundam Ace magazine in June 2021. Kadokawa published the manga's second volume on March 26.
Sources: Hiroyuki Tamakoshi's Twitter account, Nikkan Sports via Otakomu
