Hideo Shinkai’s Earthchild (Chikyu no ko) manga came to an end with its chapter 27 in Weekly Shonen Jump’s issue #40, which released on Monday, Sep 5, 2022.

The manga, which had a premise of supernatural romance, with a focus on family bonds, began serialization in the magazine on Feb 21, 2022, with simultaneous English release by Manga Plus and Viz Media. The chapters of Earthchild have been collected into two tankobon volumes.

The third and the final volume of the manga will be published on Oct 4, 2022.

The plot of Earthchild is described by Manga Plus as follows;

A regular person falls in love with a superhero who protects Earth! In terms of circumstances, ability, experience–they are from two different worlds, but they get to know each other, support each other, and then… A unique love story on a planetary scale now begins!

Earthchild is the second manga to have come to an end in two weeks in Weekly Shonen Jump, with Gen Oosuka’s Doron Dororon too having come to an end previously.

While many readers thanked Shinkai for his work on Earthchild, the others were critical of how the story turned out to be.

“Excellent final message from this series. Children’s way of thinking will continue to develop and change as they grow. They weren’t meant to be their parents’ clones and don’t have to follow them all the. They should be allowed to create their own path. Good job Reisuke and Kareri for realizing that,” a Manga Plus user commented on the final chapter.

“I thought we would see Mamoru’s destiny day! it’s sad that it ended, but I appreciate the work. it was nice to read about family bonds through all the chapters. Nice work sensei! shame I couldn’t see more. The final leaves a warm feeling in my chest,” another user wrote.

“This series should go into writing 101 textbooks. Outlining your story is important people, don’t be like Earthchild and ruin a good premise by making stuff up as you go,” a user commented, pointing out the flaw in the manga.

Before Earthchild, Shinkai worked on the Soul Cather (S) manga, which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2013-2014, before being transferred to Shonen Jump NEXT!!

Source: Weekly Shonen Jump, Manga Plus

CHIKYU NO KO © 2022 by Hideo Shinkai/SHUEISHA Inc.