Editing Staff Elaborate on Endo and Kobayashi Live! Manga’s Abrupt Cancellation – News

The official X (formerly Twitter) account of Kadokawa‘s B’s-LOG COMIC digital manga magazine revealed more details on Wednesday regarding the abrupt cancellation of Rumiwo Sakaki‘s manga adaptation of Suzu Enoshima‘s Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte (Tsundere Akuyaku Reijō Lieselotte to Jikkyō no Endō-kun to Kaisetsu no Kobayashi-san) light novel series, explaining that numerous actions by the editing staff lead to a breach of trust between the editing staff and the original creator (Enoshima).

The announcement explained that there were incidents of the vertical-scrolling version of the manga being uploaded without going through the proper oversight and permissions, lack of oversight from the original creator regarding the approvals for the compiled book volumes and the special bonus goods, and frequent communication delays with the original creator, all causing the manga creator Sakaki to halt their drawing of the manga. The editorial staff also admitted to leaks regarding the franchise‘s media mix plans, which finally led to Enoshima terminating the licensing contract around the end of April earlier this year.

The B’s-LOG COMIC editing staff then attempted to provide assurances to Enoshima by replacing staff and providing a deadline upon which Sakaki would submit all remaining storyboards up to the manga’s final chapter, which Enoshima initially agreed to. However, Sakaki suffered from health issues, making the deadline to submit the storyboards impossible to meet. Enoshima also began to suffer from some health issues, leading to difficulties to extend the deadline, and finally leading to an end to the licensing agreement.

The manga’s currently released seven volumes will be available while supplies last, but the publisher Kadokawa has no plans to reprint the manga. Furthermore, Kadokawa cannot comment on the continued availability of the digital version, the vertical-scrolling version, and overseas translated versions of the manga, but will make announcements as soon as it is able.

The editing staff reiterated that the blame lies entirely with them for the manga’s abrupt cancellation.

In a post on their X/Twitter account, Sakaki also apologized to fans of the manga, agreeing to the B’s-LOG COMIC editing staff’s account of the matter, and encouraging manga fans to read the original novel.

J-Novel Club is publishing both the original light novels by Suzu Enoshima, and the manga adaptation by Rumiwo Sakaki in English. J-Novel Club describes the manga:

One day, Crown Prince Sieg hears the Voices of the Gods out of the blue. Apparently, his fiancée Lieselotte is a “tsun de rais” villainess destined to meet her demise…and her sharp tongue is just a way of covering up her embarrassment. The prince can hardly contain himself after discovering Lieselotte’s adorable hidden side. Little does he know, the heavenly beings that bestowed this knowledge unto him are actually high schoolers! Can he use their divine prophecy (let’s play commentary) to save his betrothed and avoid a Bad End?!

Sakaki launched the manga in B’s-LOG COMIC in June 2019.

Enoshima serialized the story on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō website from August to November 2018. Kadokawa published the first print volume of the story in April 2019 with illustrations by Eihi, and released the third and final volume in December 2022. Enoshima published a side story on Kadokawa‘s Kakuyomu website in December 2019, and removed the original story from Shōsetsuka ni Narō.

Sources: B’s-LOG COMIC X/Twitter account, Rumiwo Sakaki‘s X/Twitter account

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