Yui Sakuma's Thunderbolt Fantasy Manga Ends in 3 Chapters

This year's 16th issue of Kodansha's Morning magazine announced on Thursday that the manga adaptation of Nitroplus, Good Smile Company, and Taiwanese company PILI's Thunderbolt Fantasy (Thunderbolt Fantasy: Tōriken Kōki) puppet television series will end in three chapters. If there are no breaks, the manga will end in the 19th issue on April 6.

The manga launched in the magazine on July 21. Complex Age manga creator Yui Sakuma is serving as the manga's illustrator, working alongside scriptwriter and supervising editor Gen Urobuchi. The second compiled volume shipped on December 22, and the third volume is slated for March 23.

The Thunderbolt Fantasy television series began airing on July 8 in Japan, and Crunchyroll streamed the series as it airs. The anime also streamed on Bandai Channel and other streaming services. A sequel has been green-lit.

Crunchyroll describes the first episode:
In an ancient kingdom, a vicious warlord is on the hunt for a magical sword. Forced to escape his soldiers, the young girl who guards the sword is hunted until she receives some unexpected help from a pair of odd strangers.

Gen Urobuchi (Madoka Magica, Fate/Zero, Psycho-Pass, Aldnoah.Zero) was credited with the puppet show's original work, and also wrote the scripts and served as chief supervisor. Nitroplus was credited with the character designs, and Good Smile Company was credited as the "modeling adviser." PILI Multimedia Inc., a well-known hand puppet drama production company in Taiwan, produced the series. Hiroyuki Sawano (Attack on Titan, Aldnoah.Zero, Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress) composed the music and Yoshikazu Iwanami served as the sound director. T.M. Revolution performed the theme song "Raimei."

The series also inspired the Thunderbolt Fantasy: Otome Genyūki side-story manga by Kairi Shimotsuki (Brave 10).

Kodansha Comics is publishing Sakuma's Complex Age manga in English. Sakuma published an earlier one-shot of the manga in Morning in May 2013, and the one-shot won a Tetsuya Chiba award in 2013. Sakuma then launched a serialized version in the same magazine May 2014. The manga ended in June 2015.​