Hikaru Nakamura’s long-running manga Black Night Parade has officially come to an end. The final chapter appeared in the November issue of Ultra Jump, which hit shelves in Japan on Monday, closing the book on a series that has been running for nearly a decade. And fans should not despair just yet, because Nakamura’s official X account confirmed that the manga will get a side story and a major announcement in the next issue of Ultra Jump on December 18.
Black Night Parade (Credits: Seven Seas Entertainment)
The dark Christmas comedy launched back in November 2016 in Shueisha’s Weekly Young Jump before moving its serialization to Ultra Jump in 2019. Along the way, the series picked up readers on a string of digital platforms, including Shonen Jump+, LINE Manga, pixiv Comic, and Nico Nico Seiga, making it one of the more widely distributed manga of its era.
A Dark Twist on the Holidays
The story follows Hino Miharu, a dead-end convenience store worker spending yet another Christmas alone. His life takes a strange turn when he encounters a Santa Claus dressed in black, the darker counterpart to the familiar jolly figure in red. While the red Santa handles Christmas for good children, the black Santa takes care of the holiday for the bad kids, and as a name on the naughty list, Miharu gets swept away into his service.
What sounds like a nightmare job offer turns out to have its perks. The pay and benefits are surprisingly great, and his new co-worker is undeniably cute, but whether this gig becomes Miharu’s dream job or a Christmas horror story has been the driving tension of the entire run.
Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the manga in English in both digital and print formats, giving international readers full access to the completed story.
Twelve Volumes and a Film Adaptation
Shueisha published the first compiled volume in December 2016, and the 12th and final volume is set to release on December 17, just one day before the Ultra Jump issue carrying the side story and big reveal. The series also made the jump to live action, with a film adaptation opening in Japan in December 2022.
Nakamura is far from slowing down. She is currently drawing Saint Young Men, the beloved slice-of-life manga about Jesus Christ and Gautama Buddha living as roommates in a Tokyo apartment, a series that has been running since 2006 and has inspired anime DVDs, an animated film, and a live-action adaptation. Her earlier work, Arakawa Under the Bridge, spanned 14 volumes and spawned two anime seasons plus live-action projects.
With a side story and a mystery announcement landing on December 18, it seems Black Night Parade may have one last Christmas gift in store for its readers.
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Source: Anime News Network — read the full story there.
