Gureishi Yako, the author of the manga Somali and the Forest Spirit, revealed in a twitter thread that they won’t be able to resume the manga currently, because they had no income to pay the assistants that were needed to work on the series.

海外の皆様へ　ソマリの打ち切りに関してです

First of all, thank you for your support. I'm glad you love Somali.
But I'm sorry.
Due to the Japanese manga industry and my lack of ability, I cannot restart Somali now.
Somali was a work that needed a lot of staff.

— 暮石ヤコ@pixivFANBOX開始 (@xxxgreisi) March 10, 2022

According to Gureishi, Somali is a work that needed a lot of assistants. However, they didn’t get enough salary to hire those staff. In the tweet, the author lamented the condition of the manga industry and said that they currently are unemployed.

“Due to the Japanese manga industry and my lack of ability, I cannot restart Somali now,” the author wrote in their tweet. “Somali was a work that needed a lot of staff. And I pay all the wages. The company can’t pay my salary like they do for anime. Now I am unemployed with no money and no income.”

The author revealed that in the manga industry, mangakas are expected to pay for their assistants and that they wanted to do something about this situation.

Gureishi was of the opinion that Somali and the Forest Spirit to start serializing again, the industry customs needed to change, or the series needed more popularity.

“To revive Somali I must own a big studio and be able to pay the salaries of my staff….Please, if the strange customs of this industry disappear, or if my name becomes more popular, the reopening of Somali will be possible,” the author said.

The author requested fans to support the series, saying that they were penniless.

“Somali will not be revived without popularity. I ask you, my fans. Please support Somali. I am currently destitute I would appreciate it if you could spread the word,” Gureishi said in their tweet.

As soon as the Gureishi posted the thread, support started pouring in from fans. They pitched in to donate on the author’s Pixiv FANBOX, while others offered to buy the e-books and volumes from Bookwalker or Amazon.

Somali and the Forest Spirit was serialized online from April 2015 to October 2019 via Tokuma Shoten’s online manga magazine Web Comic Zenyon. It was collected in six tankōbon volumes. The manga officially ended on December 22, 2020 after a long hiatus.

The author’s poor health was cited as a reason for the manga ending at that time.

An anime television series adaptation by Satelight and Hornets ran from Jan 9 to March 26, 2020. Crunchyroll co-produced the series.

Recently, a newbie mangaka had come forward on twitter raising awareness about unhealthy workspace environment and detailing the abuse that was meted out to him by the editorial department of a certain magazine.

Source: Twitter