UPDATE: Arakawa explains Silver Spoon manga’s hiatus

Hiromu Arakawa, author of Fullmetal Alchemist before her farming school escapade Silver Spoon, had been on a long break from creating manga due to family members’ poor health. But just yesterday on November 6th Weekly Shonen Magazine published Silver Spoon‘s first chapter in 17 months.

Arakawa gave a short statement about the long hiatus on the magazine’s official site Web Sunday. Here’s what she had to say to her readers:

It has been a long time. I’m sorry. The last time I wrote for this section was… December 2015!? And just like the last time, it has become a season to take the lightsaber out of the closet.

Over the past few years, my husband and child have been suffering from a series of incurable diseases, so I have been tied up with high-cost medical care, papers, procedures, and such. I realised again that the Japanese insurance system was amazing. And I thought I would go to blood donation.

Shonen Sunday announced that the manga will end in four chapters, so this will likely be Arakawa’s last stretch with this story. We can only wish both her and her family good health as she powers on through this distressing time in her life.