Series launched in 2015, inspired anime adaptation in 2020
Image via Amazon
©Sou Hamayumiba, Houbunsha
The official X (formerly Twitter) account of Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara magazine announced on Thursday that Sou Hamayumiba’s Dropout Idol Fruit Tart (Ochikobore Fruit Tart) manga will end in three chapters. Houbunsha will publish the manga’s final chapter in Manga Time Kirara Carat’s September issue, which it will release in July. To commemorate the manga’s final chapter, the magazine plans to include a special feature of pages filled with messages sent in by the readers.
The manga’s story begins when first-year high school student Ino Sakura heads to Tokyo to pursue becoming an idol. She teams up with fellow Nezumi Dorm residents — unpopular former child actor Roko, musician HAYU, and model Nina — to form the new idol unit Fruit Tart. These dropout idols get back on their feet and enter the world of show business to prevent their dorm from being demolished.
The story debuted as a one-shot manga in Manga Time Kirara Carat in 2014. The manga then launched as a series in 2015. Houbunsha published the manga’s eighth compiled book volume in December 2024.
The manga inspired an anime adaptation in 2020. Funimation streamed the series, and also produced an English dub in 2021.
Hamayumiba launched the earlier Hanayamata manga in Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward magazine in 2011 and ended it in 2018. The 10th and final compiled book volume shipped in April 2018. That manga inspired a television anime by Madhouse in 2014, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired in Japan. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime, and released it with an English dub on home video in 2016. The manga also inspired several smartphone apps, as well as a PlayStation Vita game in 2014.
Sources: Manga Time Kirara magazine’s X/Twitter account, Oricon via Otakomu
