On November 1st, in the Nakayosi (なかよし) magazine’s December 2020 issue a new Shaman King spin-off manga has been announced titled SHAMAN KING & a garden. The story is written by Hiroyuki Takei (The Super Star), the layout/composition is done by Jet Kusamura (Red Crimson, Marcos), and the manga will be drawn by Kyo Nuesawa. Kyo Nuesawa has previously worked on manga oneshots in Jump SQ Rise such as Oma. A preview of his artwork can be found here for that work from Summer 2019 and another oneshot from Spring 2020 here.
The story of & a garden is described as the following from the official webpage (with a rough English translation):
The girls’ spinoff of the legendary megahit series “Shaman King” is now serialized!!!!!
“Have you ever heard of a shaman? It’s the link between this world and the next—–.”
Kanna, the daughter of a rich family, Matilda, a which, and Marion, an orphan, all possess the powers of a shaman. With their special powers as shamans they are feared as “monsters” from those around them and they struggle with loneliness in their small world. That is until they meet the overwhelmingly powerful shaman named Hao…
This is the story on how three girls from different backgrounds come together to fight back.
The official backstory of these three girls of the Hanagumi from “Shaman King” will now begin!!!
The series will begin it’s serialization in the Nakayosi magazine starting in the January 2021 issue being released on December 1st, 2020 in Japan. Nakayoshi is a typical “girls magazine” published by Kodansha, which is currently publishing the Cardcaptors Sakura: Clear Card manga.
The print edition of the magazine will also contain a pack-in bonus of a bag featuring Hao from Shaman King, which was previously drawn by Hiroyuki Takei. The magazine can be purchased digitally from digital bookstores such as Bookwalker in Japanese. A free preview is also available, which may contain the preview ad. Hiroyuki Takei originally posted this image of Hao on his official Twitter (no longer in use) on August 23rd, 2016 (shown right).
Back on March 13th, 2020, the official Twitter for the magazine posted this hand-drawn image of the Hanagumi from Hiroyuki Takei. His editor for Shonen Magazine Edge has noted that Takei always leaves little drawing for the places that he visits.
Jet Kusamura, who will be doing the layouts/composition for the manga has been on break from his Shaman King: Marcos manga. This break was likely to do the starting work for this new spin-off as the 5th chapter mentioned a new collaboration was in development.
