Masaya Tsunamoto is stepping into a very different kind of pitch.
The writer best known for the long-running football manga Giant Killing is launching a new series with artist Demo titled Shūgaku Ryokō ~Kyoto・Nara 4-paku 4-nichi — basically, School Trip ~Kyoto・Nara 4 Nights & 4 Days. The manga will begin in the August issue of Akita Shoten’s Bessatsu Shōnen Champion, which goes on sale in Japan on July 15.
For Malaysian and SEA manga fans who mainly know Tsunamoto through Giant Killing, this one is interesting because it is not another straight sports story. The setup leans into sci-fi mystery with a school-trip hook, which is a very anime/manga-friendly premise: classmates, buses, Kyoto, Nara, and one student quietly dealing with something nobody else can understand.
The story follows second-year students from Seian Academy as they head to Kyoto on October 8 for their school trip. While everyone else is chatting and enjoying the bus ride, a student named Takeuchi is sitting there with a heavy expression. His classmates have no idea that he is already caught inside a strange supernatural phenomenon that only he seems to recognise.
That is a solid hook, bro. Kyoto and Nara are already loaded settings for Japanese pop culture fans — temples, old streets, school excursion energy, and that slightly eerie “something ancient is watching” vibe. For SEA readers who grew up watching anime school trips but never actually went on one, this kind of setting lands immediately. It is familiar enough to be comfy, but flexible enough for mystery, horror, or sci-fi twists.
Artist Demo also shared the announcement on X, saying the preview for the new serialization appeared in the latest Bessatsu Shōnen Champion issue and expressing excitement about working with Tsunamoto.
Tsunamoto has been busy on the sports manga side too. He and illustrator Isao Tanishima launched the ongoing football manga Mr. CB in Akita Shoten’s Young Champion magazine back in 2018. The series is still running, with its 18th compiled volume scheduled for release in Japan on June 19.
The same duo also worked on Atlanta 1996, a special manga project connected to the 1996 Olympics. That project first appeared in Young Champion in July 2024, focusing on Mamoru Yoshinaga from Mr. CB as he looks back on memories from the Atlanta Games. After a “pre-start” story in October 2024, the manga began serialization in March 2025.
Of course, Tsunamoto’s biggest name internationally remains Giant Killing, created with artist Tsujitomo. The manga began in Kodansha’s Weekly Morning in 2007 and is still going strong, with Japan receiving its 69th volume this week. It also inspired a 2010 TV anime, which Crunchyroll streamed during its original broadcast period before later removing it from the platform in November 2012.
English readers can still follow the manga digitally through Kodansha USA Publishing, which began releasing Giant Killing in English in 2017 and has released up to volume 54 as of April 14.
For Malaysian fans, the main thing to watch is whether Shūgaku Ryokō gets picked up digitally or eventually translated. Tsunamoto has already proven he can write long-running character drama with tension and momentum. Seeing that skill applied to a mystery built around a Japanese school trip could be properly interesting — especially if it balances grounded teen dynamics with weird sci-fi stuff.
Source: Anime News Network