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He's Expecting's Eri Sakai Launches Manga Based on Natsuo Kirino Novel

The March issue of Shueisha's Cocohana magazine revealed last Friday that Eri Sakai will launch a new manga titled Tsubame wa Modotte Konai (The Swallow Won't Return), based on Natsuo Kirino's novel of the same name. The manga will launch in the magazine's next issue on February 28. Sakai posted a photo of the announcement on her Twitter account.

The novel's story centers on Riki, a 29-year-old woman who quits her caregiving job in her Hokkaido hometown and moves to Tokyo to work at a hospital, but the exhausting and irregular job leaves her with financial problems. She hears of a high-paying side gig her colleague Teru. She heads to the Japanese branch of Arte, a specialized American assisted reproductive technology clinic to become a surrogate.

Kirino published the novel in March 2022. The novel won the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize for outstanding popular fiction.

Sakai published the He's Expecting (Kentarō Hiyama's First Pregnancy) manga in Kodansha's Be Love magazine in 2012, and Kodansha published one compiled book volume for the manga. Kodansha USA Publishing licensed the manga and publishes it digitally. The manga inspired a live-action series in April 2022.

Sakai also recently launched a new manga titled Shōsansei no nai Nigorikawa (Unproductive Nigorikawa) in Futabasha's Jour magazine on Janaury 4.

Source: Cocohana March issue