Last month, fans of supernatural yuri manga Love Bullet rallied to support the series after creator Inee revealed that sales of its first volume had been slow. Love Bullet isn't officially available in English, but that didn't stop readers from around the world, including folks at many unofficial scanlation sites, from buying out the series wherever they could find it. Their coordination paid off: Inee recently announced that Love Bullet volume 1 is getting a reprint.
"A reprint of volume 1 of 'Love Bullet' has been decided!" a machine-translated October 25 tweet from Inee reads. "We were able to make this happen thanks to your support! Thank you so much...!!!"
The mangaka's follow-up reply, which asks fans to stay tuned for updates on when volume 1 will be restocked, demonstrates just how effective this fan push has been. They were so dedicated, in fact, that some people prepared step-by-step instructions for how to navigate Japanese stores in order to import the book.
To begin with, Inee never outright said that Love Bullet was at risk of getting canceled, but the writing was on the wall. Slow sales are a bad sign for any new manga, especially in a relatively small and niche genre like yuri (or girls love), and this can lead to cancellation or a hasty ending getting rushed out before the story gets the time it needs. In an English September 30 update, paired with a Japanese blurb which touched on the need to keep the work running, Inee wrote:
"I want to thank the readers from all around the world as well. I never would’ve imagined that so many people would be willing to go all in on their support through fanart, recommending the story to others, and buying the Japanese(!) version of the book. The only way I can repay everyone’s kindness is by working as hard as possible towards a future where the story can continue. I don’t know what the future holds, but the past few weeks have proven to me that this was worth fighting for regardless of the odds."
Love Bullet is about a group of young girls reborn as cupids after suffering untimely deaths before truly knowing love. If they can help enough people find love, not by hitting them with magic arrows but instead blasting them with modern rifles and grenade launchers, the god of love may award them with another shot at life. Our heroine, Koharu, who was killed shortly after her friend confessed to her, manages to pair two girls together in the first chapter, marrying comedy and gunplay over a backdrop of heavy themes and under the series' sharp line art.
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