Give the raws a like.
Link to buy the digital volumes.
Link to buy the physical volumes.
Igarashi's comments for chapter 20.1:
Starting with volume 4 volumes will only be sold digitally. I'm deeply sorry to those who wanted to have a physical copy. I hope you can enjoy it in a digital format all the same.
I know this is an inconvenience to those who collect physical copies and I cannot give enough of an apology. It's all because of my own shortcomings as an author. When my editor told me volume 4 onwards might be digital only, I thought to myself "Maybe I should just wrap things up with volume 4 then!!" Thankfully I was told "Keep going~ You can draw more~" and since I'm allowed to continue I might as well! So AriSaku isn't finished yet. My motto is to be opportunistic, after all...
The spread this chapter is a reference to Shimomura Kanzan's Yoroboshi: a cherry tree. I drew in all the cherry blossoms but when I applied the screentone they became smushed into white blobs and I cried. I'll touch it up more for the volume release. I did so much research of Mikuma style cherry blossom paintings too. They're all blobby now... It's so frustrating...
After how much I hated drawing the backgrounds in chapter 19 the backgrounds for the first half of 20 were so so so much fun... I never realized it was the backgrounds that influenced my motivation so much... This was much better...
In Kasumi's monologue here, she originally added thoughts in parentheses, but my editor suggested not to since Kasumi is trying to write neatly and properly. And I had to hit myself, "Ahhhh! You're right!" Just a little behind the scenes story. I tend to follow my feelings during the storyboarding phase and I'm always having to be saved by critique.
While drawing the first half of chapter 20 I had the song JAM by The Yellow Monkey in my head. Specifically the part that goes, "On a night like this, I want to see you, I want to see you, I want to see you."
The first half of chapter 20 is pretty much a shoujo manga!!!!!!!!!!!! It's totally a shoujo manga!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But in the background while drawing this chapter I was watching Ran-tan's Yakuza playthrough and The Mandalorian so this chapter is secretly made of yakuza, KimuTaku, and bounty hunters.
When I heard from my editor AriSaku would go digital only with volume 4, I personally thought "Oh well it's just business. If anything I'm lucky to keep going." That didn't hurt me. But the guilt I feel towards those collecting the physical books is soooooooooo devastating. It's crushing, the feeling that I betrayed their support, that I'm so worthless I can't provide them books on their shelf anymore. It's my fault for being such a pitiful author. I'm sorry.
The terror of failing to provide for your customers in business. All I can do anymore is keep working hard so you can enjoy the manga to the end, so I'll keep approaching my art with absolute sincerity. "Eh!? What you were doing all this time was meant to be sincere!? What about the box cutter!?" I was sincere about that too!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm always trying to do everything absolutely seriously... Why won't you believe me!? Believe me!!!!
This all happened because of my own failings as an author, so there is no reason readers should blame themselves. I don't want you to feel like you should have supported me more. Manga is there to be entertaining and it's wrong for the consumer to feel responsibility towards or burdened over a manga's success. Even if there's a trend these days to push hard for your favorites, once it becomes a sense of obligation I have to think that's just wrong? All you really need to do is be entertained.
BIG RAMBLE ABOUT BUYING MANGA YOU CAN JUST SKIP
Respectfully I disagree with Igarashi's final sentiment. In regards to western fans that is. No offense but the western manga fandom is held captive by a sense of learned helplessness I've noticed ever since I got into the hobby as a middle school weeaboo. Whenever a manga reaches an untimely end, there's all these cries of "How could Japan let us down?" and "Japan has shit taste!" But did these people buy the manga themselves? Did they give any support or did they push responsibility onto someone else?
And this was fair enough before digital copies when shipping was a much more complicated process. Today a western reader can buy copies of the manga just as easily as Japanese readers, and cheaper than they likely realize. Localized copies run up to 20 bucks per volume but digital Japanese copies can be just 5 dollars and frequently go on sale.
I understand someone as sensitive as Igarashi would feel worse if readers felt obligated over what she believes are her own personal failings, but there remains an inherent obligation on the part of patrons if any creative industry is to keep running. The starving artist isn't a meme. And in this age of overstimulation and AI slop it's easier than ever for artists to slip through the cracks.
I always emphasize to never spend beyond your means. Money's tight for many right now and there's no need to force yourself into unnecessary expenditure. But every sale does make a difference. Manga operate on razor thin margins where the difference between a volume 3 axe and a longrunning series could have been 100 extra copies sold at the right moment. A part of why I do what I do is bringing that awareness to western audiences. I wouldn't translate something I didn't think was worth supporting.
And official localized releases are nearly always too little too late. The truth is they make practically no difference to a manga's success. Either it was already failing and the publisher picked up the license for dirt cheap or it was already profitable and they wanted to ride its success. Their sales go through so many middlemen that little reaches the original author. By all means, buy a localized copy to have something physical you can actually read. But never wait on an official localized release if all you want is to support the series.
Now mind you there is no guarantee AriSaku is being axed. Japan's economy, like all ours, is in a downturn and publishers are turning away from physical copies. It just means success margins are shifting and AriSaku slipped a bit underwater. But this can be disheartening for a mangaka and Igarashi has already wondered if she should just end the manga.
I'll admit this is a bit of hysteria. But I've also been on this rodeo enough times (seriously numb to it by now) to know, if you see a single warning sign a manga is about to be axed, you treat it like DEFCON 2. Japanese mangaka notoriously keep a stiff upper lip until it's too late. The shikata ga nai spirit runs deep and it's seen as shameful to ask for help. So if an overreaction is triggered in trying to be helpful I believe it's worth it. If we're wrong the worst that happens is a good manga sells well. Okay ramble over.
...Anyway! I guess this topic may dominate discussion of the chapter. I'm really sorry about that.
Haruyo's so precious.
last edited at Sep 27, 2026 9:37AM
