Series debuted in May 2025
Image via Amazon Japan
© Shogakukan, Kasuhiko Shimamoto
This year’s 18th issue of Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine announced on Wednesday Kazuhiko Shimamoto’s Vampire-Idol Tagiru manga will end in three chapters.
Shimamoto’s Vampire-Idol Tagiru manga tells the story of a passionate manga artist who writes a story about idols. Something strange happens during a live performance of the idol group that the manga’s main character Tagiru Chisio belongs to.
Shimamoto launched the series in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday in May 2025. Shogakukan shipped the third compiled volume on February 18 and will ship the fourth volume on May 18.
Shimamoto is known for his Hoero Pen manga series that centers around manga creator Moyuro Honoo (a character whom Shimamoto uses as an author stand-in in this and other works) and his struggles in the manga industry. The series began with Moeyo Pen in 1990, then continued with Hoero Pen in 2001, and then Shin Hoero Pen in 2011. The latter two serialized in Shogakukan’s Sunday GX magazine. Shin Hoero Pen ended with 11 volumes. Shimamoto drew a new story titled Hoero Pen RRR set during the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2021.
Shimamoto is also known for other over-the-top comedies such as Honō no Tenkōsei (Blazing Transfer Student) and Anime Tenchō. He is also the creator of Aoi Honō (Blue Blazes), a fictionalized account of Shimamoto’s own college years in the early 1980s, and also stars protagonist Moyuru Honoo. The manga is notable for the inclusion of fictionalized versions of some of the founding members of anime studio Gainax.
Honō no Tenkōsei and Anime Tenchō inspired anime, while Aoi Honō inspired a live-action television series.
Source: Shonen Sunday issue 18
