Per 玩具人 TOY PEOPLE, the crime thriller Manchuria Opium Squad officially returned to serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine on October 5, with manga artist Tsurushima taking over the artwork from the late Shikako.

Alongside the comeback, the official team announced the series is getting an anime adaptation, though the studio, production staff and voice cast will be revealed later via the official website. Writer Tsukasa Monma, Tsurushima and Shikako's family each released messages to mark the moment.

The manga went on indefinite hiatus in late 2025 after illustrator Shikako died from illness, and TOY PEOPLE reports fans were left devastated, with a restart considered extraordinarily difficult.

Tsurushima, who worked beside Shikako as an assistant on Kingdom, admitted he was initially at a loss: 'His death was almost more than I could bear.'

Monma recalled that Shikako had asked that the series continue if anything happened, and after seeing Tsurushima's pages thought, 'The story really is continuing.' Tsurushima promised readers, 'I will put my heart into every line I draw.'

According to TOY PEOPLE, Manchuria Opium Squad follows Isamu Higata, a Kwantung Army soldier who loses sight in his right eye on the battlefield and, desperate to save his gravely ill mother, secretly begins producing opium — a choice that sends both his life and Manchuria's fate down a radically different path.

The series began on Comic DAYS in April 2020, moved to Weekly Young Magazine in September 2021, and its collected volumes have surpassed 3.5 million copies. To celebrate the return, Yanmaga Web and Comic DAYS offered all 217 chapters free through October 11.

No premiere window for the Manchuria Opium Squad anime has been confirmed, and TOY PEOPLE cautions that its historical setting and difficult subject matter will make adaptation no simple task, while hoping it captures the manga's richly constructed world.

Anime News Network separately reports a wave of manga adaptations: Aniplex announced Kokamumo's slice-of-life comedy Null-Meta gets a TV anime in 2027, directed by Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2's Kai Ikarashi at studio Soigne, and TOHO Animation has Happy Kanako's Killer Life debuting next April under Gintama's Shinji Takamatsu.