A series of eight different posters at major train stations throughout Tokyo is announcing this week that Kaiji manga creator Nobuyuki Fukumoto is ending his signature work Akagi -Yami ni Oritatta Tensai- after 27 years on February 1, 2018. The posters are on display from Monday to next Sunday at 15 major stations on the Japan Railway's Yamanote line in Tokyo.

The Akagi manga series begins on one stormy night, when Nangō is playing a game of Mahjong with the local yakuza. Soon, he finds himself on a losing streak. If Nangō loses, he will have to pay with his life. Suddenly, a young teenaged boy, Shigeru Akagi, barges in, drenched from the rain. After watching a couple of games, he offers to replace the struggling Nangō. At that moment, a new legend is born.

Fukumoto launched the manga series in Takeshobo's Kindai Mahjong magazine in 1992. Takeshobo published the 33rd compiled book volume in December, and the volumes collectively have 12 million copies in circulation worldwide.

The manga inspired a 2005 television adaptation by anime studio MADHOUSE, and Crunchyroll streamed the anime starting in 2013. The manga also inspired a live-action television series in summer 2015, and Crunchyroll streamed that series as well. Starting with the first three volumes on Wednesday, the manga is getting a reprint with new cover designs by Fukumoto.

Fukumoto's gambling manga Kaiji also inspired two television anime and two live-action films.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web