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 Katsuhisa Minami. It was serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Weekly Young Magazine is a Japanese weekly anthology magazine published in Tokyo each Monday by Kodansha. The magazine was started on June 23, 1980 and is targeted at the adult male ( ''seinen'') demographic. It was published bimonthly (under the title ), on the seco ...

'' from November 2014 to November 2019, with its chapters collected in 22 ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. A

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

film adaptation premiered in Japan in June 2019 and a sequel premiered in June 2021. As of October 2022, the manga had over 20 million copies in circulation, making it one of the

best-selling manga series The following is a list of the best-selling Japanese manga series to date in terms of the number of collected ''tankōbon'' volumes sold. All series in this list have at least 20 million copies in circulation. This list is limited to Japanese ...

. In 2017, ''The Fable'' won the 41st

Kodansha Manga Award is an annual award for serialized manga published in the previous year, the event is sponsored by the publisher Kodansha. It is currently awarded in three categories: '' shōnen'', '' shōjo'', and general. The awards began in 1977, initially w ...

for the General category.

Media

Manga

''The Fable'' is written and illustrated by . The series ran in

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

'' from November 1, 2014 to November 18, 2019. Kodansha collected its chapters in twenty-two ''

'' volumes, released from March 6, 2015 to June 5, 2020. A sequel, titled , started in ''Weekly Young Magazine'' on July 19, 2021. Its first volume was released on November 5, 2021. A spin-off, also titled ''The Fable'', but written in ''

hiragana is a Japanese syllabary, part of the Japanese writing system, along with ''katakana'' as well as ''kanji''. It is a phonetic lettering system. The word ''hiragana'' literally means "flowing" or "simple" kana ("simple" originally as contrast ...

'' (ざ・ふぁぶる) instead of ''

katakana is a Japanese syllabary, one component of the Japanese writing system along with hiragana, kanji and in some cases the Latin script (known as rōmaji). The word ''katakana'' means "fragmentary kana", as the katakana characters are derived fr ...

'', was published on ''Comic Days'' online platform from March 6, 2018 to February 26, 2019. A collected ''tankōbon'', which also includes other stories by Minami, was published on June 5, 2020. In March 2022,

Kodansha USA Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...

announced they licensed the series for English publication.

Volume list

''The Fable: The Second Contact''

Live-action films

A live-action film adaptation directed by Kan Eguchi premiered in Japan on June 21, 2019. The film stars

Junichi Okada is an actor and a former member of Japanese boy band V6, which was under the management of Johnny & Associates. He joined Johnny & Associates at the age of 14. Music career In the summer of 1995, Okada participated in ''Johnny's Pre-School'' ...

as Fable. A sequel film, titled , was originally announced to premiere on February 5, 2021, however, in January 2021, it was announced that it would be postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, and it premiered on June 18, 2021.

Reception

''The Fable'' won the 41st

for the General category in 2017. Alongside '' Blue Period'', the series ranked #14 on

Takarajimasha is a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo. It is known for publishing subculture-oriented fashion magazines aimed at teens, fashion magazines in general, as well as guide books. History The company was founded on September 22, ...

's ''

Kono Manga ga Sugoi! is an annual reference mook series published by Takarajimasha since 2005 featuring yearly rankings and reviews of manga. The rankings are compiled by surveying people in the manga and publishing industry. The series is part of Takarajimasha's ...

'' list of best manga of 2020 for male readers. As of January 2021, the manga had 8 million copies in circulation. As of March 2022, the manga had 15 million copies in circulation. As of October 2022, the manga had over 20 million copies in circulation.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fable, The Drama anime and manga Kodansha franchises Kodansha manga Seinen manga Thriller anime and manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General) Japanese thriller drama films