With so many highly anticipated animes getting ready to premiere in the Summer 2022 season, it can be harder and harder to keep up with all the new manga coming out as well. While it may feel like there’s a new series starting every other week, none are probably going to be quite as unique as Moebana.
If you haven’t heard of the series, that’s probably because it was only recently announced as the new upcoming story from mangaka Yokoyama Hidari.
The first chapter of Moebana will be available starting on June 30, 2022, on the Jump + app.
What will Moebana’s story be about?
While not a lot is known about this new series just yet, there has been some information about the plot released so far.
According to this release announcement found on Twitter, Moebana is going to be a “youth drama about boys doing Ikebana Flower Arrangement Art”. It sounds like an interesting and unique concept that will surely attract multiple readers.
Despite what could be perceived as a more shojo subject matter, the upcoming manga series is categorized as a shonen. This means it’s geared towards a younger male audience the same way series like One Piece and My Hero Academia technically are.
What is Ikebana?
If you’ve never heard the term “Ikebana” before, you’re surely not alone. While many people have heard of, maybe even purchased, or created flower arrangements, Ikebana refers to a specific Japanese practice.
In Japan, Ikebana is the art of organizing cut stems, leaves, and flowers in some type of container, often a vase, to create a beautiful arrangement.
This is a skill that usually takes three to five years to master, and involves learning many different types of fastening and positioning techniques to get the arrangements just right.
Within the art of Ikebana, there are several different arrangement styles. Some of the most common include:
- Heika: this is the most basic and utilizes tall vases
- Rikka: which means standing flowers
- Shoka: which means living flowers
- Seika: which means flung flowers
- Moribana: arrangements made in shallow containers
Who is Yokoyama Hidari?
If you’ve never heard of Yokoyama Hidari, you surely will soon. While Moebana seems to be their first serialized series, they are not totally new to the world of publishing.
Prior to Moebana, they released several one-shots in both Jump SQ and Jump +.
Their titles include Ken no Hanazono, Noroi Idol Ichinmatsu-chan, Banchou no Juuhachiban, Kanpachi no Tendon, and Ore no Ji.
