Penerbit Clover, the novel imprint of Indonesian comics publisher m&c! is publishing the Bungo Stray Dogs novel Osamu Dazai’s Entrance Exam in Indonesia with the title Seleksi Masuk Osamu Dazai. The book is included in the list of new comic book releases for 8 June 2022. According to the product page on Gramedia.com, the suggested retail price for the book is IDR 98000 (about US$ 6.8).
Taking place before the start of the main story of the manga, the book recounts Osamu Dazai joining the Armed Detective Agency The manga author and illustrator, Kafka Asagiri and Sango Harukawa also wrote and illustrated the book, respectively. The synopsis of the novel as given on the Gramedia.com product page is as follows:
Doppo Kunikida is the strict and idealistic detective of the “Armed Detective Agency”, an agency equipped to resolve dangerous cases that neither the police nor the military can handle.
Everything in his life has conformed to his idealism… until he is set to team up with the suspicious, eccentric, suicide-obsessed new member of the Agency, Osamu Dazai.
How do these opposite individuals become the top supernatural-powered detective pair in Yokohama?
Bungo Stray Dogs is a manga series written by Kafka Asagiri and drawn by Sango Harukawa, serialized in Kadokawa’s Young Ace magazine since 2012 and has been collected into 21 volumes at the time of this writing. The supernatural battle manga features characters named after real life literary figures from Japan and other countries, possessing special abilities inspired from the works of those authors. The main character of Bungo Stray Dogs is Atsushi Nakajima, an orphan who joins the Armed Detective Agency, a group of people with special abilities based in Yokohama, after encountering their members Osamu Dazai and Doppo Kunikida when they are investigating rumors about a white tiger loose in the city. The story sees Atsushi and the Agency become involved in conflicts with various organizations of special ability users. The manga itself is going to be published in Indonesia by Elex Media Komputindo.
The manga has been adapted into anime series directed by Takuya Igarashi (Ouran High School Host Club, Star Driver) at Studio BONES. The anime first aired in two parts in spring and fall of 2016, with a third season airing in spring 2019. The anime was shown in Southeast Asia by Aniplus Asia, while Netflix streams the second and third season. Igarashi also directed the anime film titled Bungo Stray Dogs: DEAD APPLE, which premiered in Japan on 3 March 2018. The anime film was also screened in Indonesia in May 2018.
The series have spawned various manga and novel spin-offs, including a gag 4-panel manga Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! by Neco Kanai, which had its own anime adaptation in winter 2021; a manga adaptation of the DEAD APPLE film by Ganjii; and a spin-off novel Ayatsuji Yukito VS. Kyōgoku Natsuhiko by Kafka Asagiri that has its own manga adaptation by Oyoyo; to name a few. There are also stage plays based on the series and a live action film featuring the stage play cast based on the novel Bungo Stray Dogs: BEAST, which reimagines the main character Atsushi Nakajima as a member of the Port Mafia while his Port Mafia rival Ryuunosuke Akutagawa is a member of the Armed Detective Agency.
Penerbit Clover is a novel imprint of m&c! publisher, an Indonesian comics publisher under the Kompas-Gramedia group. Other than publishing manga, m&c! publisher also publishes Disney comics magazines, and books, Hong Kong martial arts comics, as well as Indonesian comics under the Koloni imprint.
The Indonesian Anime Times
