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Yowamushi Pedal Manga Gets Novel Series Adaptation
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins
Children's book publisher Iwasaki Shoten is working with manga publisher Akita Shoten to publish a series of novels that adapt Wataru Watanabe's Yowamushi Pedal manga series. The first two novels will ship in Japan on October 15. The next novel in the series will then ship in February 2020. Shin Suketake is writing the novels.
The novels will also feature panels from the manga as illustrations, and illustrations at the back of the book will explain bicycle racing. The two publishers are collaborating on the novel adaptation to fight against aliteracy. The series is aimed at elementary students who have not yet read Yowamushi Pedal, and for those who do not normally read manga.
Wataru Watanabe launched the original Yowamushi Pedal manga in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine in 2008. The story of the original manga centers around Sakamichi Onoda, an otaku at Sōhoku High School. He loves anime and games so much, that he would ride his commuter bicycle to and from Tokyo's Akihabara shopping district in a 90-kilometer (about 60-mile) round trip over steep slopes after school. Onoda's life changes when he encounters his school's cycling team, and he ends up joining the competitive sport of bicycle racing. Yen Press is releasing the manga in English.
The manga has inspired four anime seasons, anime compilation films and new films, several live-action series, spinoff manga, a spinoff novel, video games, and a popular series of stage plays.
Sources: Iwasaki Shoten, Anime Hack