After it was left to die with no marketing, Square Enix's best game of 2023 is getting a sequel - but only in manga form
Paranormasight gets another shot at finding an audience
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo is getting a manga sequel which focuses on one character of the original game's eight.
The announcement of a manga sequel to 2023's best game was made in a very low-key way this past weekend, as a celebration of Paranormasight's first anniversary. During a livestream, a still of which you can see just below, Paranormasight's developers announced that the forthcoming manga would pick up after the events of the visual novel game.
【速報!】#パラノマサイト のコミカライズが決定!本所七不思議の一件のあとの、黒鈴ミヲを中心にした新たなファイルが、コミックで展開されます!脚本は推理作家の 川崎草志 先生!作画は『スクスト』『エリスの聖杯』等のコミカライズを手がける 桃山ひなせ 先生が担当!… pic.twitter.com/wTyAjALXPGMarch 9, 2024
The Paranormasight manga is going to focus primarily on Mio Kurosuzu, undoubtedly one of the best leading eight characters of the original game. You might remember that Mio was something of a paranormal expert in her own right, and had a tight friendship with hot-headed Yakko Sakazaki. I won't say any more, just in case you're yet to pick up Paranormasight (which I can't recommend enough).
In fact, if you haven't heard of Paranormasight, I can't really blame you. It was unfortunately launched to very little marketing from Square Enix, and largely passed under the radar. In fact, Square Enix's own president admitted earlier this year that it has to do better with marketing games going forward, after it launched Paranormasight and a number of other games last year with basically zero fanfare.
Paranormasight's manga will all fold in the other seven leading characters, but in a supporting role to Mio. It seems like we'll be revisiting other characters like detectives Tetsuo Tsutsumi and Jun Erio, private investigator Richter Kai, and the unremarkable Shogo Okiie. They're all apparently getting embroiled in yet another mystery in Tokyo.
It'll be interesting to see how Paranormasight's manga adapts to the various endings of the main game. There's a lot of different ways the game can end, which is just part of its charm - at least several characters can meet their deaths at various points during the game, and some endings are only unlocked after you've seen alternative endings and story pathways.
Unfortunately, it appears Takanari Ishiyama won't be involved with the Paranormasight manga sequel. The veteran developer is pretty unknown in the west, but he directed and wrote the overall scenario for Paranormasight. Ishiyama is so unknown in the west, in fact, that the tweet thread below went semi-viral when Paranormasight first launched, as it tried to call attention to his prolific career.
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Square Enix's Paranormasight may just seem like another random release by the Final Fantasy company but the title actually marks the return of a veteran to the ADV genre named Takanari Ishiyama. His career is totally unknown in the West so I thought I'd make a thread about him.🧵 pic.twitter.com/40Mf2YgxenMarch 9, 2023
We also don't know if Paranormasight's manga will be getting an English langauge localization. It's still set to be published by Square Enix, just like the game itself, so there's a decent chance it makes its way westward, but right now the manga is only set to launch at some point in the next year in Japan.
Read up on our new games 2024 guide for a look at how the rest of the year's big and small releases will shape up.
Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.