For the last two weeks, volume 6 of Ultimo has made it onto the New York Times Best Selling Manga chart list. For two straight weeks it has been in 9th place. This is holding well against other popular titles such as Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, and Sailor Moon. Outside of the first volume of Ultimo, this is the only other volume to reach this list. This volume contains the chapters not included in Viz’s Shonen Jump magazine.
(Source: Anime News Network)
Today, Ultimo volume 6 was released in English and contained the first four new chapters to be released since it’s removal from Shonen Jump. With this new volume there were some changes to the Ultimo releases by Viz. The biggest change is that Ultimo has now changed imprints with Viz from it’s “Shonen Jump” line to it’s “Shonen Jump Advanced” line. As such this volume has an increased age rating from “Teen” to “Teen Plus,” which brings the recommended age to 16 and up for “fantasy violence and adult themes.” For more info on their rating system, check out their website.
Another slight change was there was no preview for volume 7 of the manga. As it is just recently published in Japan and the volumes are often done months in advance of their actual printing, there was not enough time to provide a preview. As such, there is no set release date for the 7th manga volume. However, it is very likely that it will be sometime in early 2012.
A complete review of Ultimo volume 6 will be published shortly on Shaman King Nation.
On September 2nd, the 7th volume of Karakuri Dôji Ultimo (機巧童子ULTIMO 7巻) will be released in Japan. It is expected to have four chapters in the volume, chapters 26-29 of the Ultimo story. It will retail for 460 yen. The cover of the volume has not been released and will mostly surface towards the end of the month.
Four days later on September 6th, the 6th volume of Karakuri Dôji Ultimo will release in the United States by Viz Media. It will cost $9.99USD and have an ISBN of 1421541211. This will be the first volume that will contain new Ultimo chapters since it’s cancellation from Viz’s monthly Shonen Jump magazine. Right now there is no announcement of when volume 7 may be released in English. However it will most likely be between December 2011 and February 2012. The image of the cover of volume 6 of Ultimo is posted on the left.
Also, volume 3 of the Ultimo manga will go on sale in Spain in September. There is no exact release date for this volume and a finalized cover has not been released. It will sell for 7.95 Euro.
Shaman King Nation will have a review of Ultimo volume 6 early next month (or eariler).
(Image Source: RightStuf)
With Viz’s new faster volume release schedule, Ultimo volume 4 was released today in the USA. It is $9.99 for chapters 13-16. The ISBN is 978-1421539522 and is 200 pages. Viz’s summery:
Karakuri New Dawn Yamato wakes up again on the 21st century day that he first encountered Ultimo, and soon learns that he was sent back in time and it’s up to him to prevent total world annihilation. But does he really have the ability to stop the apocalypse–and save Ultimo!–in just 24 hours? On a breakneck tour to meet up with all the dôji, Yamato gets into a skirmish with Iruma and Jealousy and must again go back (way back) in time to make things right…
Being released later on March 4th, is Ultimo volume 6 (機巧童子ULTIMO 6巻) in Japan. It will be priced at 460円. It will be 194 pages and the ISBN is 978-4088702025. The final cover image is shown on the left. It will contain chapters 21 through 24. These chapters have not yet been released by Viz in English.
In other Ultimo news, Ultimo chapter 26 will be released in JumpSQ next month. This chapter will feature a color page.
In a previous news story, Takei commented that he has drawn some card artwork for the new series, Cardfight!! Vanguard. Shown on the left is the card that Takei drew. This creature has been featured in the Anime series (which can be seen on Crunchyroll), though doesn’t follow Takei’s exact design. More information about the card (in Japanese) can be found on the official website.
Sources: Negative Syndicate, Bushiroad Inc.
On April 4th, the second wave of reprint volumes will be released in Japan. Volumes 3 and 4, as listed below, are the two volumes to be released on this date. It is expected that Volume 3 will contain “Last Word Vol 2,” and both volumes to contain new Shaman Files. There has been no new updates on any additional extras in these volumes.
シャーマンキング 完全版 3
Shaman King Kang Zeng Bang 3
ISBN: 9784088742052
Format Size: A5
Pages: 232
Price: 1,000yen
シャーマンキング 完全版 4
Shaman King Kang Zeng Bang 4
ISBN: 9784088742059
Format Size: A5
Pages: 236
Price: 1,000yen
Based on the images from “Last Word” Volume 1, we can assume, the following:
Volume 5: Horohoro
Volume 6: Tamao (possibly doubled with Manta)
Shaman King Kang Zeng Bang volumes 3 and 4 will go on sale this Friday in Japan. Shaman King Nation will have updates from these volumes, as well as a comparison and review of Volumes 1-2 next week.