'Ikebukuro West Gate Park' Mystery Novel Gets TV Anime in 2020

by Vindstot
Sep 2, 2019 12:16 AM | 14 Comments

Publishing company Bungeishunjuu announced a television anime adaptation of Ira Ishida's urban mystery novel series Ikebukuro West Gate Park on Monday. The anime series is being produced by animation studio Doga Kobo (New Game!, Touken Ranbu: Hanamaru) for a 2020 debut.

Synopsis
Living in an area known for its juvenile crime, 21-year-old Makoto is a friend of King, the leader of a youth gang called the G-Boys, though he himself does not want to join as a member. Known for his cool head and ability to get things done, Makoto becomes a key trouble-shooter for the gang by diffusing tense situations and keeping his friends out of harm's way. However, the death of his girlfriend and an escalating turf war with a rival gang threaten to be more than Makoto can handle. (Source: AsianWiki)

Bungeishunjuu began serializing the novel in its All Yomimono magazine in late 1997 and published the first hardcover volume in 1998. The novel's first season ended with the 10th volume in 2010. The second season began three and a half years later in 2014. The 14th volume shipped in September 2018, with the 15th volume scheduled for a September 12 release (pictured right). The novel series has a cumulative 4.2 million copies of its volumes in print.

Sena Aritou serialized the first manga adaptation in Young Champion magazine between 2001 and 2004. Akita Shoten published the manga in four volumes.

Masashi Asaki ran the IWGP Denshi no Hoshi manga in Weekly Shounen Magazine in 2006 and the two-volume Ikebukuro West Gate Park R manga in Young Champion in 2008-2009. Shou Kitagawa drew the latest manga adaptation in web manga portal Manga Kingdom in July 2015. The single compiled volume was published electronically in January 2016.

Digital Manga Publishing released all four volumes of the first manga adaptation in English between September 2004–2006.

The novel series inspired a 2000 drama series on TBS, as well as a 2003 live-action special titled Ikebukuro West Gate Park: Soup no Kai.

Source: Oricon News

Ikebukuro West Gate Park on MAL

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14 Comments Recent Comments

This is great news. I really liked the drama version, always wanted to read the manga but never found it. I hope it'll be good.

Sep 5, 2019 6:12 AM by guddi

caio_brb said:

ChaosSaviour said:
Street gang manga that are about the "politics" of it perhaps? Gonna keep this anime on my mind when it aired

It's based on a novel. The title literally says it lol

I don't even remember why i said manga, lol. Well, street gang novel instead then

Sep 3, 2019 2:00 AM by ChaosSaviour

ChaosSaviour said:
Street gang manga that are about the "politics" of it perhaps? Gonna keep this anime on my mind when it aired

It's based on a novel. The title literally says it lol

Sep 3, 2019 1:56 AM by brzzcode

Woah speak of the devil I just picked up volume 1 of the manga at a local resale bookstore yesterday. The cover looked dope so I thought I'd give it a shot at a mere $3.

Sep 2, 2019 11:06 AM by lanblade

One of the greatest jdramas of all time, kind of shocked there is going to be an anime 20 years later. Had no idea there were still novels coming out, so hopefully this will be a real adaptation to promote them and not some half-assed anniversary thing.

I can only hope it is adapted well - it will be unlike what a lot of people are used to seeing in anime.

Sep 2, 2019 10:47 AM by Plate

Whoa, to have Doga Kobo do this type of stuff is pretty exciting to see!

Sep 2, 2019 8:31 AM by GoldenDevilGamer

Pretty weird to see Doga Kobo going outside of their usual Comedy/Romance/CGDCT stuff. I know its not their first time but its been a while since they went outside of their confort zone.

Definitly looking forward to it.

Sep 2, 2019 8:25 AM by DatRandomDude

That synopsis kind of reminds me of Kamiasama no Memochou, probs gonna watch it if it's similiar to that one...:)

Sep 2, 2019 4:22 AM by Klefki_of_Awsome

this sounds really good! Bonus point when the protagonist already had a girlfriend and is not a shy innocent kid (rip to the gf tho)

Sep 2, 2019 4:05 AM by ToG25thBaam

Doga Kobo ... adaptation of urban mystery novel ... OK. However, remembering that Plastic memories are one of my favorite romantic animes, I canl give them a chance.

Sep 2, 2019 3:51 AM by RobertBobert

Street gang manga that are about the "politics" of it perhaps? Gonna keep this anime on my mind when it aired

Sep 2, 2019 2:33 AM by ChaosSaviour

Oh, this is interesting! Doga Kobo handling a Mystery series, how often do you see that?

I’ll keep my hopes within check for now.

Sep 2, 2019 2:06 AM by _MushiRock11_

Interesting, i like msytery so i'll keep an eye on this one! :)

Sep 2, 2019 1:30 AM by Dauphine

Any new mystery themed series I’m always excited for as it’s one of my favourite anime genres! ^_^

Sep 2, 2019 12:18 AM by Ken39Whistle