Norimitsu Kaihō and Kurageso’s Akarui Mirai manga will end in the next issue of Houbunsha’s Manga Time Kirara Forward, the magazine announced on X on Thursday. The final chapter is set for the issue dated October 23.
Kaihō writes the story while Kurageso handles the art. The pair launched the series in Manga Time Kirara Forward in August 2025, and Houbunsha shipped the second compiled volume on July 10 this year, meaning the manga will wrap up with a relatively short run of around 14 months.
What the manga is about
Akarui Mirai centers on Mirai, a girl who is not very good at socialising. A foul-mouthed AI from the future tells her that she is going to die alone if she does not change, though Mirai is not entirely sure how she is supposed to go about making friends. The setup leans on the gap between blunt machine logic and the messy reality of actually getting along with people.
Norimitsu Kaihō’s track record
The ending lands a title from a writer with a long and varied résumé. Kaihō and Sadoru Chiba launched the original School-Live! manga in Manga Time Kirara Forward in 2012 and ended it in November 2019, with the 12th and final compiled volume shipping in January 2020. The pair followed it with Gakkō Gurashi! ~Otayori~, a sequel that ran in the same magazine from June 2020 to August 2021.
Elsewhere in manga, Kaihō worked with writer Makoto Fukami and artist Etorouji Shiono on Deep Insanity: Nirvana, which launched in Square Enix’s Big Gangan magazine in January 2020 and ended in March 2023 as part of the wider Deep Insanity franchise.
He is also well known for writing scripts in anime:
- School-Live!: wrote the anime adaptation of his own manga
- Danganronpa 3: head writer on both anime series as well as the “Hope Arc” special
- Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka: co-writer alongside Makoto Fukami on the adaptation of Fukami’s manga
- Akudama Drive: co-writer on the original anime alongside director Tomohisa Taguchi
- Most recently: wrote Guilty Gear Strive: Dual Rulers
Why it matters
Akarui Mirai is ending with only two collected volumes, which is a short life for a monthly magazine series. That is a common outcome for titles running in magazines built around a specific niche, and it also means the ending is unlikely to leave dangling plot threads given how compact the story has been.
For readers who came to Kaihō’s work through School-Live! or his anime scripts, the appeal of the manga has always been the way it mixes a light surface with darker undertones, and Akarui Mirai applies that same instinct to a story about loneliness and a future self delivering unwelcome advice.
The announcement continues a cluster of endings and final arcs this month. Hiro Mashima’s Fairy Tail Re:Fantasia miniseries reaches its conclusion on September 30, and Negi Haruba’s Go! Go! Loser Ranger! has returned from hiatus and is progressing through its final arc.
Source: Anime News Network, citing Manga Time Kirara’s X/Twitter account
Featured image: Cover art for the Akarui Mirai manga, via Anime News Network.
