News

Jun Maeda's Heaven Burns Red Smartphone Game Gets 4-Panel Manga This Fall

Kadokawa announced on Saturday that a four-panel manga based on Jun Maeda's (Kanon, Air, Clannad, Angel Beats!) Heaven Burns Red smartphone game will launch on Kadokawa's G's Channel website and on the game's official Twitter account this fall. Manga artist Yū Tsurusaki will draw the four-panel manga.

Kadokawa will also publish the Heaven Burns Red Comic Anthology on September 27. The comic anthology will feature a cover illustration by P Goto, and stories from eight manga creators including Juri Misaki and Sakaki Yoshioka. A special program will stream on G's Channel website on August 31 at 8:00 p.m. JST to celebrate the comic anthology's release.

The Heaven Burns Red game launched in February 2022. The game was previously slated to launch in 2020 for iOS and Android devices, but was delayed to mid-2021, and then delayed again to a general 2021 window, before the latest delay to February 2022. The game is Maeda's first completely new game in 13 years.

Key and WFS are credited with the original concept, and they are collaborating to produce the project. Maeda is providing the main scenario for the game. Yuugen (Outbreak Company) is providing the main visual and character designs based on Na-Ga (Angel Beats!, Little Busters!), Fumuyun, and maroyaka's original designs. Maeda is also producing the music for the game and providing the theme and insert songs with Nagi Yanagi (Waiting in the Summer, IRODUKU: The World in Colors songs).

In the story, mysterious life forms called "Cancer" are attacking Earth, and the planet is on the verge of a true crisis. Humans tried to fight back with their weapons, but those weapons were ineffective, and the Cancer kept gaining ground, and countries disappeared in the horrors of the war. Now, the Cancer control the majority of land on the planet. With humanity on the brink of extinction, they develop a new weapon called Seraph. Only those who wield the Seraph can defeat the Cancer. Soon, a Seraph Corps is established, and the women in the squads carry the weight of humanity's hope on their shoulders. Ruka Kayamori is one such person, a member of the 31A Squad. She puts everything she has into fighting against the Cancer.

Tsurusaki and Shin Ikezawa launched their Life with an Ordinary Guy Who Reincarnated into a Total Fantasy Knockout (Fantasy Bishōjo Juniku Ojisan to) manga in Cycomi in November 2019, and Shogakukan published the manga's 10th compiled book volume on July 19. Seven Seas licensed the manga and will publish its first volume digitally and in print in September.

The manga inspired a television anime that premiered in January 2022. Crunchyroll streamed the anime as it aired in Japan, and also streamed an English dub.

Sources: Kadokawa, Comic Natalie