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Kemono Jihen author goes on hiatus as she mourns her brother: “We were able to spend plenty of his final moments together as a family”
Following the death of her brother in August, Kemono Jihen creator Sho Aimoto is going on a brief break.
NewsbyTrent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer
Published on Tue Sep 01 2026
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As the Kemono Jihen manga is nearing its 10th anniversary in December 2026, it is also reportedly set to end when the next volume is released. However, fans will have to wait a bit longer to get to that final chapter as Kemono Jihen is going on hiatus following the death of creator Sho Aimoto’s brother.
Sho Aimoto announced that her brother passed away in August, which, understandably, has made working on the Kemono Jihen manga difficult. That is why the mangaka made the difficult decision to delay the upcoming chapter of Kemono Jihen by a month.
In a post on social media, Shueisha’s Jump SQ magazine confirmed that Kemono Jihen will not appear in the October edition of the magazine, which is due out on September 4, 2026. They did confirm that it was scheduled to return from hiatus in the November issue, which will be on sale in early October.
That post didn’t give a reason for the break, but Sho Aimoto cleared up any confusion in her own post,which confirmed that it was due to the death of her brother, which happened on August 15, 2026. Aimoto explained that her brother had taken a turn earlier in the month and she had returned home to spend as much time with him as possible before he passed. That has made taking an extended hiatus necessary.
Kemono Jihen recently published its 25th volume. At the time, it was confirmed that the 26th volume will be the last. Although we’re sure that Sho Aimoto is eager to wrap up the story she started in December 2016, we’re hoping that she takes all the time she needs to mourn her brother and be there for her family.
Each week, Popverse’s resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say “greatest,” in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included…
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Trent Cannon: Trent is a freelance writer who has been covering anime, video games, and pop culture for a decade. (He/Him)
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