Dr. Stone Mangaka Apologizes to Fans as Weekly Shonen Jump Delayed Due to COVID-19

Spencer Baculi   |  

Apr 10, 2020

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Weekly Shonen Jump will face a delay to their publishing schedule due to a possible COVID-19 Coronavirus infection at their offices, prompting one creator to apologize to fans for the inconvenience.

On April 8^th, Shueisha announced that they would be delaying publication of Weekly Shonen Jump for one week, due to the possibility that a member of their editorial team contracted COVID-19 leading to a halt on the work of the entire editorial department.

This positive diagnosis led to the publisher issuing a ‘work from home’ order for its staff, starting this past Monday, April 6^th.

Shueisha has stressed that the potentially infected employee was not in a position that was in direct contact with any manga creators.

「週刊少年ジャンプ２１号」発売延期のお知らせ pic.twitter.com/3DhDJNCa5t

— 少年ジャンプ編集部 (@jump_henshubu) April 8, 2020

As a result of this delay, Issue 21, which was set to be released on April 20^th, will now be combined with Issue 22, releasing as a double issue on April 27^th. Issue 20 is still scheduled to release on this coming Monday, April 13^th.

A detailed rundown of the scheduling changes was published in English by Twitter user MangaPlusENG.

🇬🇧 Hey there! Shueisha released today an announcement due to the recent COVID-19 situation, and how will it affect the publication of next Shonen Jump chapters. But don’t worry! We’re gonna easily explain how everything will work for now:

— MANGA Plus (@MangaPlusENG) April 8, 2020

Will we have Shonen Jump chapters this Sunday? Indeed! Issue 20 of Shonen Jump, that will be out this Sunday 12th for us, western people, and on Monday 13th for Japan. That will remain as it was since past weeks 🙂

— MANGA Plus (@MangaPlusENG) April 8, 2020

Now, the change comes NEXT WEEK. We were supposed to have Issue 21 published on Sunday 19th/Monday 20th, but instead, the magazine will take a break this week, meaning we won’t have any Shonen Jump chapters. But don’t fear, they’ll be back!

— MANGA Plus (@MangaPlusENG) April 8, 2020

Issue 21 of Shonen Jump will be renamed as Issue 21/22, a double issue that, no, won’t have double chapters for any series, and it will just be like any other regular issue. This one will be published on Sunday 26th/Monday 27th.

— MANGA Plus (@MangaPlusENG) April 8, 2020

This is the schedule Shonen Jump will have for the next 3 weeks, and from that point on, it’s still unknown/undecided. But don’t worry, since the most possible outcome is for everything to go back to its regular publication! We’ll let you know anything new that comes out!

— MANGA Plus (@MangaPlusENG) April 8, 2020

Following the announcement, Dr. Stone mangaka Riichiro Inagaki apologized to the fans for the delay while also reassuring them that Dr. Stone’s production would not be interrupted:

とうわけでジャンプが一週お休みすることになりました。
不測の事態に備えてストックがないとまずいので、僕の仕事は別に普通に続きますが。再来週、一話ほどお待たせすることになります。ごめんね。

— 稲垣理一郎(リーチロー) (@reach_ina) April 8, 2020