Shueisha announces a new anime project for Bartender manga

Araki Joh and Kenji Nagatomo’s Bartender is a widely-acclaimed slice-of-life drama manga series that retains a huge fan base worldwide. Due to its soaring popularity, the series received a 11-episode anime adaptation by Palm studios, which concluded in December 2006.

On October 21, Shueisha announced that the series is returning with a new anime project after 15 years. As Shueisha has already revealed, the upcoming anime installment will be a new project, so fans can breathe a sigh of relief as it won’t be based on the non-cannon or spin-off series that came after the original manga series.

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Bartender’s upcoming anime is also working on a new project called “Bar Katsu”

Apart from disclosing the new anime project, Bartender's team has also announced that they are working on Bar Katsu, a unique project specifically for bars and alcohol enthusiasts. A website named “Bar Katsu Base” will be launched, which will help explain the appeal of bars and alcohol to its community space and promote the upcoming anime.

The first 11-episode anime series by Palm Studios aired between October 15, 2006 and December 31, 2006. The anime received positive reviews from both fans and critics. It also obtained a 3.4 percent television viewership rating, making it the fourth most-watched anime on Fuji TV.

Due to the positive remarks and the unceasing popularity, Shout! Factory licensed the manga series and released it digitally and in Blu-ray edition on January 19, 2021, in Ireland, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Here’s how Shout! Factory describes the first anime series:

Situated in the Ginza district of Tokyo is the Eden Hall, a quiet bar that few people manage to come across. It is run by the legendary bartender Ryuu Sasakura, a genius at mixing the right drink for the right customer. Throughout his period at Eden Hall, customers from all walks of life, carrying all sorts of burdens, arrive for a godly glass at the Hall and a kind word with Ryuu, both of which assist in clearing their problems up and reviving them for another go at life.

The chapters of the manga series were collected into twenty-one tankobon volumes and were published under Haksan Publishing in South Korea and by Sharp Point Press in Taiwan. Later, the manga series received the "Encounter Edition," which follows protagonist Ryuu Sasakura’s return from Paris. The installment was released in four parts: the first two on September 18, 2014, and the remaining two on October 17, 2014.

The manga series also received three spin-offs, titled Bartender à Paris, Bartender à Tokyo, and Bartender à 6stp, featuring a new protagonist named Ren Sajima, which later got serialized in Grand Jump Premium.

As nothing much has been revealed regarding the upcoming anime project, all fans can do is wait patiently until the creators and Shueisha come up with additional information soon.