With the Radiant Season 2 anime coming to a close soon in March 2020, many anime fans are probably turning their attention to Radiant Season 3. But where is the anime’s story in comparison to the Radiant manga by writer/artist Tony Valente?
Unlike most shonen-style manga series, the Radiant manga series is a French manga (or manfra) that started in 2013. Valente chose the manga format over French comics because the latter has less space, and the “story is seen from an exterior point of view, so you don’t have as much insight.”
The manga creator also wanted readers “to be very close to the characters and be inside their mind,” to be able to “live through the characters.”
“I’m a reader of Shonen Jump and I really enjoy them,” said Valente. “My favorites are Dragon Ball, Naruto, and One Piece. When I think about making a manga, I don’t see a reason as to why I can’t do a Shonen Jump-like manga. I wanted to tell a similar type of story to please the type of reader that I am.”
As of January 31, 2020, the Radiant manga will be up to Volume 13 in French. Based on history, Radiant Volume 14 should come out in the second half of 2020.
Valente spent 10 months working on the first manga volume, but he now releases two volumes per year. In a 2019 interview at Angouleme International Comics Festival, he said he had hoped to release three volumes in 2019, but that plan apparently didn’t pan out.
Radiant: Patrem Inquisitor spin-off manga planned for the future
So far, there have not been any Radiant manga spin-off series. But Valente is hoping to eventually do a small prequel that “enriches the world of Radiant.”
“I’ve wanted to work on the story of the Patrem Inquisitor, who is the dude that started the inquisition movement in the world of Radiant, and I want to make this spin-off,” Valente said.
“I don’t know if it would be a chapter, a volume… In my opinion, maybe not a series, but I would like to make something solid and not just three pages. But it’s still within the Radiant universe.”
Radiant manga’s ending is many years away
It takes years for an anime project to be developed. Valente said that NHK and Toei Animation both started discussing producing the anime adaptation in 2016. Toei eventually dropped out, and NHK obtained the rights at Japan Expo 2017. The anime wasn’t announced publicly until January 31, 2018.
The Radiant manga’s ending is probably nowhere in sight, which is good news for anime fans. While the Radiant creator has not said how many volumes he has planned, in the 2019 interview, Valente did mention that he was not even at the half-way point.
“I’m not even at the half-way point of my series I think, and with 11 completed volumes, if I can carry on at this rate, with as much drive as I have, and that readers are still there, it’s far from the end. Really far,” he said.
To put the anime adaptation in perspective, the second season covered the story events up through Volume 10. Based on Valente’s comments, there should be plenty of stories left for the Radiant Season 3 anime and beyond. Stay tuned!