Manga artist Kazuya Minekura has announced her intention to conclude her long-running Wild Adapter manga series with its eighth compiled volume. The declaration was made via her official X (formerly Twitter) account on Friday, August 8, 2025, coinciding with the manga’s return from a significant nine-year hiatus.
Wild Adapter Resumes After Nine-Year Hiatus
The announcement comes as Wild Adapter resumed its serialization on Ichijinsha’s Ichijin Plus web manga site on August 8, 2025. This marks the first new chapter for the series in nine years, with the 49th chapter having debuted on Ichijinsha’s Zero-Sum Online site in 2016. Fans have eagerly awaited the return of the hard-boiled action series, which has faced intermittent serialization due to Minekura’s health concerns since 2013.
The Dark World of Wild Adapter
Wild Adapter is a Japanese manga series set in Tokyo and Yokohama during the mid-1990s, blending action, mystery, and shōnen-ai themes. The story centers on Makoto Kubota, a young and seemingly carefree gang leader, whose life takes a drastic turn after encountering Minoru Tokitoh. Tokitoh has been exposed to a mysterious drug known as “W.A.” which causes bizarre side-effects, including the transformation of his right arm into a monstrous limb. Together, Kubota and Tokitoh delve into the city’s dark underground to investigate the origins of this devastating drug and uncover Tokitoh’s enigmatic past.
The manga initially launched in Tokuma Shoten’s bimonthly Chara magazine in 2000. It later switched publishers to Ichijinsha in 2011, where it was serialized in Zero-Sum Ward magazine until its cessation in May 2015, subsequently moving to Zero-Sum Online.
Previous Volumes and Adaptations
To date, Ichijinsha has republished the earlier compiled volumes of Wild Adapter, with the seventh volume having been released in July 2015. The series has also inspired two original video anime (OVA) adaptations, released in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Additionally, characters from Wild Adapter have made appearances in Minekura’s Shiritsu Araiso Koutougakkou Seitokai Shikkoubu (Araiso Private High School Student Council Executive Committee) manga and its 2002 video anime adaptation. Tokyopop had previously licensed the Wild Adapter manga for North American release in 2006, publishing six volumes before closing its North American publishing division.
Minekura’s Dedication and Work Ethic
Minekura, known for her prolific work including the Saiyuki series, has often faced health challenges that have impacted her serialization schedules. Despite this, she continues to work diligently, humorously noting on X that she is a “Stone Age person” who still draws storyboards on paper. Her commitment to bringing Wild Adapter to its intended conclusion after such a long journey underscores her dedication to her fanbase and her storytelling.
The planned conclusion of Wild Adapter in its eighth volume marks a significant milestone for fans who have followed Kubota and Tokitoh’s mysterious and dangerous journey for over two decades.
