Sad news for fans that have been waiting for months to see the continuation of Sekai Project’s manga series GATE (Japanese title: Gate: Jieitai Kano Chi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri). In May 2016, North American visual novel localizers Sekai Project released the first volume of GATE, intending to release future volumes in a timely fashion. In 2018, the company posted an update stating that print quality issues were the chief cause of the extended delays in releasing volume two.
On January 1st, 2021, however, it was revealed by Sekai Project that while they have finally shipped out the second volume to everyone who pre-ordered it, they are effectively abandoning the project and will not be releasing any further volumes of the series. This is a crushing blow for fans but at least they have other Manga series to look forward to finishing later this year.
In a blog post, the company apologized profusely and openly admitted that they “dropped the ball on this project,” stating that when they first launched their manga initiative, they had no idea of the ordeal they were getting themselves into. They continued on in the post, saying that if any other company wants to take on the project of translating and localizing the manga for an English release, that company can do so with Sekai Project’s full blessing and cooperation. This is obviously not going to go down as one of the most epic manga moments of 2021.
GATE started as a light novel series written by Takumi Yanai and illustrated by Daisuke Izuka and Kurojishi. It began its publication run in Japan by Alphapolis in 2010 and eventually released nine volumes split into two “seasons” (not counting the side stories that were released). The manga adaptation first launched in 2011 and, as of December 2020, has eighteen compiled volumes. An anime adaptation produced by studio A-1 Pictures began airing in 2015 with a second season airing in 2016. Crunchyroll simulcast both seasons and eventually licensed and released them for fans to enjoy at home via Sentai Filmworks.
Fans should take no joy in this news. While some people might take a schadenfreude approach to this, it really shouldn’t be fun to see a company that meant well stumble like this. With any luck at all, however, Sekai Project has learned from these mistakes and will focus on the things they are already so good at. Maybe they can try again in the future, but for now, it's time to let them lick their wounds and regroup themselves. With any luck at all, another company will pick up the mantle of this series and attempt to give it the release that it properly deserves.
Source: Sekai Project