, often shortened to ''Astral Buddy'', is a Japanese

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written by

Kazuma Kamachi is the pen name of a Japanese author who has published over 100 light novel volumes. He is best known for the creation of the ''A Certain Magical Index'' franchise which, as of 2019, has sold over 30 million copies worldwide and has been licensed ...

and illustrated by Yasuhito Nogi, which was serialized by

ASCII Media Works , formerly , is a Japanese Publishing, publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing headquartered in Nishi-Shinjuku, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. It originally formed on April 1, 2008, as a result of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger bet ...

through their monthly magazine ''

Dengeki Daioh is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by ASCII Media Works (formerly MediaWorks) under the ''Dengeki'' brand. Many manga serialized in ''Dengeki Daioh'' were later published in ''tankōbon'' volumes under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comi ...

'' from April 2017 to July 2020. The manga is a

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of ''

A Certain Scientific Railgun is a Japanese manga series written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Motoi Fuyukawa, which began serialization in the April 2007 issue of ASCII Media Works' '' Dengeki Daioh'' magazine. The manga is a spin-off of Kamachi's ''A Cer ...

'' series, focusing on a Tokiwadai Middle School student named Junko Hokaze and her encounter with the "ghost" named Senya Yūri.

Seven Seas Entertainment Seven Seas Entertainment is an American publishing company located in Los Angeles, California. It was originally dedicated to the publication of original English-language manga, but now publishes licensed manga and light novels from Japan, as w ...

publishes the manga in English.

Premise

Junko Hokaze, the second-in-command of Misaki Shokuhō's clique known for her lavender ringlet hair, is being stalked by a "ghost" girl and begins to investigate her presence. The event takes place in conjunction with the Dream Ranker story arc of ''

'' series.

Media

Manga

A spin-off of ''A Certain Scientific Railgun'' was announced in the May issue of ''

'' on March 27, 2017, which began serialization in its next issue on April 27. Kentarō Ogino, the manga editor, announced that the spin-off's first release coincided with the 10th anniversary of its parent manga. The manga is written by Kazuma Kamachi and illustrated by Yasuhito Nogi, with characters designed by Kiyotaka Haimura. ''Astral Buddy'' concluded upon the magazine's release of the September 2020 issue on July 27, 2020. The manga was collected into four ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes.

announced the acquisition of the manga's license at Anime Expo 2018 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California.

Reception

Sales

''Astral Buddy'' ranked 49th on

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

's top weekly manga between November 27 and December 3, 2017, with 16,711 estimated total copies of the first volume sold. The spin-off took 64th place on

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

's weekly manga ranking dated October 26–November 1, 2020.

Critical response

Robert McCarthy of ''

Otaku USA ''Otaku USA'' is a bimonthly magazine published by Sovereign Media, which covers various elements of the "otaku" lifestyle (such as anime, manga, video games, cosplay and Japanese popular music) from an American perspective. The issues were acc ...

'' reviewed the first volume of ''Astral Buddy'', lauding the plot of the manga but describing the panels and pages of it as a mess because some parts of them were hard to tell what it wanted to convey. He criticized the cluttered speed lines and the visual presentation of espers' powers. The continuous use of panty flashing and the "romance" between female characters led him to consider the manga as a

fan service , fanservice or Example: A frame (numbered "25") from the English opening sequence of '' New Cutie Honey'', in which character Danbei Hayami fires a Rocket Punch as main character Honey Kisaragi lies topless and prone in the background, i ...

Notes

References

External links

''A Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy''
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Certain Scientific Railgun: Astral Buddy, A A Certain Magical Index ASCII Media Works manga Comics spinoffs Dengeki Daioh Science fiction anime and manga Seven Seas Entertainment titles Shōnen manga Supernatural anime and manga