Kentarō Okamoto, known for the survival manga Are You Lost? (Sōnan desu ka?), is set to launch a new manga titled Okōcha of the Living Dead (Tea of the Living Dead) in Futabasha’s Manga Action magazine. The announcement came with a prologue “episode 0” chapter, already available online, hinting at a unique take on the zombie genre.
Delving into “Okōcha of the Living Dead”
The new series, Okōcha of the Living Dead, is a collaboration with artist Katami Shoulder, with Okamoto handling the story. It features an airheaded rich girl and her dependable butler, Kamishiro, as they navigate a world where a zombie virus exists but hasn’t led to a complete apocalypse, allowing people to still lead relatively normal lives. This premise suggests a blend of slice-of-life and subtle survival elements, distinct from typical high-stakes zombie narratives.
The manga’s “episode 0” chapter was published in the 23rd issue of Manga Action and is also accessible on Futabasha’s Web Action website. The full serialization is slated to begin in the magazine’s subsequent issue on December 2.
Kentarō Okamoto’s Previous Works and Style
Okamoto gained recognition for Are You Lost?, which he co-created with Riri Sagara. This manga, which ran in Kodansha’s Young Magazine from January 2017 to March 2022, focused on four high school girls stranded on a desert island and their ingenuity in survival. The series was compiled into 10 volumes and even inspired a television anime adaptation that premiered in July 2019. Kodansha USA Publishing released the manga digitally in English.
Following Are You Lost?, Okamoto and Sagara also collaborated on a one-shot manga, Sonna Hiroki mo Isekai e, which later received a full serialization in Young Magazine from August 2022 to August 2023, concluding with three volumes.
Okamoto’s new project marks a return to a potentially perilous world, albeit with a fresh, less frantic approach to survival than seen in Are You Lost? The shift from a deserted island to a world coexisting with a zombie virus demonstrates his versatility in exploring different survival scenarios and character dynamics. This new venture is likely to captivate fans of his previous work while offering a distinct narrative experience.
