From Pharmacy to Dig Site
Natsu Hyūga (日向夏), the author behind The Apothecary Diaries, has another light novel getting the manga treatment. Japanese manga news site Comic Natalie reported that Volume 1 of Nazotoki Iseki Hakkutsu-bu (なぞとき遺跡発掘部), an archaeology mystery manga drawn by Isuzu Shibata (柴田五十鈴), went on sale in Japan on June 18.
The manga adapts Hyūga's light novel of the same name, originally published in three volumes under Shogakukan's Bunko imprint. The series is currently serialized on Shogakukan's Yawaraka Spirits, the publisher's web manga platform that also hosts titles like Mysterious Disappearances and No Longer Allowed in Another World.
A Broke Student and Her "Ikemen Gorilla" Senior
The story follows Akari Tanaka (田中灯里), a cash-strapped university student majoring in archaeology, and her senior Koga (古賀). Akari has affectionately dubbed Koga her "Ikemen Gorilla" (roughly: "hot-guy gorilla"), and the pair tackle mysteries tied to archaeological sites.
Hyūga set the series in Fukuoka, her home prefecture. Local landmarks and regional specialties feature throughout the story. The excavation setting lets Hyūga weave historical puzzles into the cases Akari and Koga investigate.
Looking Ahead
Volume 1 of the Nazotoki Iseki Hakkutsu-bu manga is available now in Japan, and the series continues its run on Shogakukan's Yawaraka Spirits web platform. The first chapter can be read for free on the Yawaraka Spirits site.
No English-language release has been announced for either the manga or the original light novel. Hyūga's other work, The Apothecary Diaries, is widely available in English through multiple publishers, but no word yet on whether Nazotoki Iseki Hakkutsu-bu will follow.