is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Taiyō Matsumoto is a Japanese manga artist from Tokyo. He has won several awards, including the Shogakukan Manga Award, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize and Eisner Award. ''Ping Pong'' and ''Blue Spring'' have been adapted into live-action feature films. Ani ...

. It was serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Monthly Ikki was a monthly ''seinen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan. It tended to specialize in underground or alternative manga, but it had its share of major hits as well. The magazine started in 2000 as a spin-off of Shogakukan's ''Weekly Big ...

'' from November 2000 to January 2005. Shogakukan compiled its chapters into eight '' wideban'' volumes. In North America,

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

released the series' first two volumes in 2002 and 2003, but due to low sales it was discontinued. Viz Media will republish the manga in an omnibus edition in both print and digital formats starting in July 2021.

Publication

''No. 5'', written and illustrated by

, began in the first ever issue of

's ''Spirits Zōkan Ikki'' (re-branded as ''

'' in 2003), released on November 30, 2000. The series finished in the March 2005 issue of ''Monthly Ikki'', published on January 25, 2005. Shogakukan collected its chapters into eight '' wideban'' volumes, released from November 30, 2001, to February 28, 2005. Shogakukan would later re-released the series into four deluxe volumes from November 30 to December 26, 2005. In North America,

announced the license of the series in December 2001. A preview for the then forthcoming first volume was published in the January 2002 issue of ''Pulp''. Viz Media published the first volume on April 5, 2002, and the second on August 13, 2003. After having released these two volumes, Viz Media ceased the series' publication due to low sales. In 2011, the series was completely available in English language via the ''No. 5'' app on

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. In October 2020, Viz Media announced that they would re-publish the series in a four-volume deluxe edition, in print and digital formats, released from July 20, 2021, to April 19, 2022. The manga was also licensed in France by

Kana The term may refer to a number of syllabaries used to write Japanese phonological units, morae. Such syllabaries include (1) the original kana, or , which were Chinese characters (kanji) used phonetically to transcribe Japanese, the most pr ...

Volume list

Note: All chapters titles are written in English on the original Japanese release.

Reception

''No. 5'' was one of the Jury Recommended Works at the 7th

Japan Media Arts Festival The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition. Based on judging by ...

in 2003.

References

External links

* * {{Pulp Manga Manga series Science fiction anime and manga Seinen manga Shogakukan manga Taiyō Matsumoto Thriller anime and manga Viz Media manga