In 2013, Noboru Yamaguchi passed away at age 41 in 2013 after publishing 20 volumes of the Familiar of Zero series, short of an intended 22. Last year, Publisher MF Bunko has refreshed the site for Familiar of Zero with news that they planned on continuing the fantasy light novel series based on Yamaguchi's manuscripts, releasing volume 21 on February 25th of this year. Now, following the week's MF Bunko Festival, the final of the planned 21 has been scheduled.

Japanese fans will be getting a chance to read the book on February 24, 2017.

Before he died, Yamaguchi left plots for the last two volumes of the series and the publisher decided to continue the series based on it with a different writer. While the original illustrator Eiji Usatsuka has returned, the identity of the new writer chosen by Yamaguchi has been kept secret, with no credits on the published volume 21. Mantan Web posted a comment from Kadoakawa explaining, "If we reveal the name of the new writer, that will cause preconceptions among the readers. We want them to purely enjoy the story."





Also, this weekend, an audio book version of volume 1 from Audible, read by Rie Kugimiya launch in Japan.

Noboru Yamaguchi is opening in the city library of his home town, Hitachi in Ibaraki Prefecture.

Details are on the series site's special page

http://www.zero-tsukaima.com/special/

The series, about an underperformer at a school for magic who accidentally summons an ordinary Japanese boy, was adapted into four seasons of anime, released in North America by Sentai Filmworks, and a manga series, released by Seven Seas.









via pKjd



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Scott Green is editor and reporter for anime and manga at geek entertainment site Ain't It Cool News. Follow him on Twitter at @aicnanime.