Updated: April 24th, 2024 including information about Shungiku Nakamura’s other series — Sekaiichi Hatsukoi
I got hooked on Shungiku Nakamura’s Junjou Romantica manga series after I had binge-watched all three seasons of the anime series adapted from it, and fell in love with Usagi-san and Misaki.
A BL anime that is one of my all-time favorites, and a manga series I binge-read all the way through in just two days.
Like many people when starting the manga, though, before I started reading it I wanted to find out if the Junjou Romantica manga series is finished?
If so, how many Junjou Romantica volumes are there? And do they differ in number whether you buy the Japanese or the English versions?
If you are as similarly obsessed as I am, here then is what you need to know about the future of the Junjou Romantica manga series.
Is it finished already and, if not, how many volumes have been published in Japanese and English so far?
Has the Junjou Romantica manga now ended?
The answer to this question is actually two-fold, as it depends whether you are reading the manga in English or in Japanese.
If in English, the unfortunate truth is, yes, the Junjou Romantica manga is finished.
At least, that is, its English language versions ended publication in May, 2011 after American distributor and publisher TokyoPop initially shut down after losing several licensing deals due to a series of disastrous management decisions.
In other words, English language readers of Junjou Romantica got screwed because the executives at the American branch of TokyoPop were unable to run the company in a manner that kept it financially solvent.
With no other publishers in America seemingly willing to pick up the Boys’ Love manga series, which makes no sense to me as it is one of the most popular BL manga of all time, for those wanting to read Junjou Romantica in English then, you can only legally read it up to Volume 12.
Related: Junjou Romantica Act 1 — Character analysis of Usagi-san — there’s a chink in that armor
If you can read Japanese, however, the manga series is still ongoing.
How many volumes of Junjou Romantica are available in Japanese versus English?
Chapters of the manga are currently published in the magazine Emerald three times a year, with new compilation volumes also consistently coming out.
Volume 25 of Junjou Romantica was released in Japanese in September, 2020 with Volume 26 coming out in Japanese in August, 2021, and Volume 27 on September 1st, 2022.
Volume 28 hit Japanese shelves on September 1st, 2023.
Oh, and interestingly, if you can read German, you can still buy the manga in German, with Volume 27 coming out on November 28th, 2023, and Volume 28 likely on its way soon.
As I currently live in Austria, I have managed to grab the last 15 volumes in German so far, and will continue to add to my Junjou Romantica manga collection that way going forward.
For those of you who want to read the manga in English, however, your options are, unfortunately, very limited with only non-official “fan translated” copies currently available online.
Although, you could do what I just did and message Viz Media begging them to license the series.
Come on, it’s Boys’ Love’ and there really aren’t any series in that genre as good as this one.
Shungiku Nakamura’s other hit manga series Sekaiichi Hatsukoi
Meanwhile, and thankfully, Shungiku Nakamura other hit Boys’ Love manga series Sekaiichi Hatsukoi was not initially licensed by TokyoPop, so we didn’t also get screwed with that superb series.
Viz Media’s imprint SuBlime is currently publishing Sekaiichi Hatsukoi in English, with Volume 16 of that 18 volume series (so far) coming out last July, and Volume 17 due on May 14th, 2024. (Pre-order here)
SuBlime has also recently run a reprint of several volumes with Sekaiichi Hatsukoi Volume 4 and Volume 5, which were impossible to find before the reprint, now also available.
And yes, I immediately grabbed both volumes to complete my collection.
