This Monday Aragane no Ko (“Diamond in the Rough“) author Sasaki Nao revealed on their Twitter account the series will end in about three chapters from now, after entering its final arc in its 57th chapter on May 3.
[https://twitter.com/sakinao1124/status/1706317877064687778]
“The storyboard is several chapters ahead of the manuscript, so I’m starting to feel sad because there are only about three chapters left until the final one. To think it didn’t hit me until now because I didn’t have to worry whether or not I’d get to write a proper ending anymore. I’m going to put my heart and soul into every line until the end.”
Aragane no Ko began serialization on the Shounen Jump+ website on November 25, 2020, reaching eight tankoubon volumes so far, the last of which is due on October 4, 2023. It is being published in English on Shueisha‘s MANGA Plus website and is also licensed in France by Kana, and in Italy and Spain by Panini Comics.
In this world, people’s daily lives revolve around the use of ores, and above them gemstones and the mysterious powers they hold. Ore craftsmen, who can use their inner strength to manipulate ores and draw out a gemstone’s power, are an organized and well-respected institution. Kai, however, doesn’t share this opinion: when he was younger, a nameless craftsman attacked his village with a strange fog that turned flesh to stone and caused it to grow rare gemstones within; his family was petrified completely, while he only lost his left foot to it. After years of being exploited and abused, things finally change when he meets clumsy but good-hearted craftsman Akeboshi, who takes him as his apprentice and sets out to prove Kai’s not the worthless pebble he was taught to believe.
