Gunnm Goes on Indefinite Hiatus

Gunnm (known in America as “Battle Angel”) manga creator Yukito Kishiro has announced an indefinitate hiatus for his work on the current Gunnm: Last Order manga serial. Kishiro states that while working on the manga’s 100th chapter and the latest cover for Ultra Jump magazine, a Shueisha editor called to ask him to make three small dialogue revisions in the original Gunnm manga series before its upcoming reprint. Two instances of use of the Japanese word “hakkyo” (to go mad) in volumes 1 and 4, and a singular use of the English word “psycho” in volume 3 had been deemed inappropriate because of their implication of medical schizophrenia. Kishiro pointed out that similar Japanese words also used in the manga were still considered acceptable; the request for alterations may interfere with his ability to meet his deadline for his current work; and the alterations to his original work would cause him to refuse future republications. The Shueisha editor acknowledged the potential problems and still requested the changes. Kishiro states that he made the changes as requested and still finished his current work on time, although in retrospect he regrets having agreed to the changes but would also have regretted refusing a publisher’s request. However, Kishiro continues to say that, seemingly in response to this unpleasant no-win situation, effective immediately he’s taking a break from work on the current series and may never return to it.

This is a sad situation. It’s not clear if Kishiro is being spiteful or if Shueisha’s request has frustrated him enough to force him into taking a vacation. The original request does seem excessive and irrational since the series has already been published at least three times before with the “offensive” dialogue intact (magazine serialization, tankouban, “complete” edition), and the requested censoring seems arbitrarily selected.

Source: Eastern Standard blog