That’s right, the six ikemen characters in the comedic high-school romance series “Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun” (lit. Monthly Girls’ Nozaki-kun) are forming their own 6-men idol unit! And no, it’s not an overdue April fool’s joke. With the ‘idol-boom’ nowadays, it really is not surprising, is it?
The formation of this idol unit is to commemorate the 100th chapter serialisation of the popular 4-panel web-comic written and illustrated by mangaka Izumi Tsubaki in the monthly ‘Gangan Online’ magazine distributed in both digital and paper (hard-copy) formats under the manga publishing arm/branch of major contents producer Square Enix. On top of this, the 10th compiled manga tankoubon volume of the series will also be officially released for sales in bookstores nationwide on 21 July 2018 (Saturday).
Gangan Online has set up a special site for commemorating the occasion and is inviting readers and fans to participate in the celebration by voting for their favourite idol member amongst the six – NOZAKI, HORI, KASHIMA, WAKA, MIKORIN and MAYU. The member with the most number of votes at the end of the campaign will be selected as the unit’s centre and lead personality. Fans may head on over to the special voting page and cast their vote for the member of their choice, and stand the opportunity to win some attractive original idol goods in the process.
On top of the online activities, plans for a physical ‘Nozaki-kun Idol Café’ in collaboration with Anime Paradise Café in Ikebukuro are also under way. The café will operate for a limited two-months period from October to December 2018 and there will be special thematic menus created based off each idol member’s image as well as a selection of original goods available at the café. More information will be released to the public as the production team crystallise details. Fans are welcomed to visit the official Café website or follow the various official social media sites for the timeliest updates.
Lastly, series creator Izumi Tsubaki has also announced via her Twitter post that the special collaborative edition of the manga’s tankoubun volume 10 with ACG goods retail-chain Animate will come bundled with a two-pieces A4-size clear folders set printed with the autographs of fictional characters ‘Idol Mikorin’ (based off the series’ actual 2018 April fool’s joke ) and mangaka ‘Yumeno Sakiko’ (the pseudo pen-name that the series’ main character Nozaki-kun took on for his mangaka profession).
“Gekkan Shoujo Nozaki-kun” tells the story of a high-schooler Chiyo Sakura and her crush for her schoolmate Umetaro Nozaki – not knowing his secret profession as a mangaka until the day she confesses to him… fans who are interested may find out more here.
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