<p>As most of us know by now <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisuke_Sat%C5%8D" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Daisuke Satō</a> passed away. However, the series he worked on such as <a href="https://myanimelist.net/manga/669/Highschool_of_the_Dead" rel="nofollow noreferrer">HOTD</a> is yet to announce its discontinuation and thus <a href="https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/13032/1458">remains on an indefinite hiatus</a>.</p>

<p>This however made me wonder, <strong><em>what will happen to a series when the author passes away?</em></strong></p>

<p>Will the franchise pick the series up with another mangaka instead? Silently let it linger on 'publishing' as memento? Discontinue it after a XXX amount of time? Or does this differ from publisher to publisher? Or maybe even mangaka to mangaka?</p>

<p>In the case of HOTD it already was on an extended hiatus, and the same thing could just happen to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_Togashi" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Yoshihiro Togashi</a>, the author of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_%C3%97_Hunter" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hunter x Hunter</a>, as he is in quite bad health as well. But <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiichiro_Oda" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Eiichiro Oda</a>, the author of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece" rel="nofollow noreferrer">One Piece</a>, could also be next. In which case supposedly nobody knows the ending besides Oda himself and the diseased <a href="http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/33654/20140818/one-piece-ending-spoilers.htm" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hinati Fujinami</a>.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-24T11:57:53.903Z
one example i know of is the writer for *Kaze no Stigma* Takahiro Yamato dying in 2009 leaving the series incomplete and to my knowledge it's remained stalled like that. but then you have Monty Oum who made RWBY where after his death Rooster Teeth continued with the series but not sure if it's because RWBY isn't made in japan or if Monty had given away the rights to RWBY to Rooster Teeth like Programmers do when they get hired (ie. all code you make is owned by the company)
Memor-X
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-24T12:01:33.520Z
@Memor-X In the case of RWBY, it was continued by roosterteeth to honor him. His family also weighted into this decision, hence Monty's brother picked up the voice of Lie, as he wanted it to stay in the family. It was also mentioned that before Monty Oum passed away, he, Miles and Kerry planned about 7-9 seasons in advance.
Dimitri mx
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-24T13:20:50.710Z
same case with zero no tsukaima ln. The author ( LN's Author) passed away in 2013, two years later (2015), the series [continued](http://www.otakutale.com/2015/zero-no-tsukaima-light-novels-to-continue-2-years-after-authors-death/) . _The author did left the concept of the story. He spent the final weeks in hospital dedicated to the novel’s future and its end. This is where Yurugi ( his substitute author ) is able to announce that the novel is able to continue as the ending has been planned._ but i dont know with HOTD case
Gagantous
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-10-24T16:17:53.003Z
If you read from [this answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/42946/2869) you can see they can pick up the series and had someone else fill in for the dead author
Darjeeling
<manga-production>
What happens to a series after its author dies?
# What happens to a series after its author dies?
Posted by: username_0 on 2017-10-24
As most of us know by now [Daisuke Satō](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daisuke_Sat%C5%8D) passed away. However, the series he worked on such as [HOTD](https://myanimelist.net/manga/669/Highschool_of_the_Dead) is yet to announce its discontinuation and thus [remains on an indefinite hiatus](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/13032/1458).

This however made me wonder, ***what will happen to a series when the author passes away?***

Will the franchise pick the series up with another mangaka instead? Silently let it linger on 'publishing' as memento? Discontinue it after a XXX amount of time? Or does this differ from publisher to publisher? Or maybe even mangaka to mangaka?

In the case of HOTD it already was on an extended hiatus, and the same thing could just happen to [Yoshihiro Togashi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshihiro_Togashi), the author of [Hunter x Hunter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_%C3%97_Hunter), as he is in quite bad health as well. But [Eiichiro Oda](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiichiro_Oda), the author of [One Piece](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece), could also be next. In which case supposedly nobody knows the ending besides Oda himself and the diseased [Hinati Fujinami](http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/33654/20140818/one-piece-ending-spoilers.htm).
**Tags:** manga-production
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: one example i know of is the writer for *Kaze no Stigma* Takahiro Yamato dying in 2009 leaving the series incomplete and to my knowledge it's remained stalled like that. but then you have Monty Oum who made RWBY where after his death Rooster Teeth continued with the series but not sure if it's because RWBY isn't made in japan or if Monty had given away the rights to RWBY to Rooster Teeth like Programmers do when they get hired (ie. all code you make is owned by the company)  
> **username_0**: @Memor-X In the case of RWBY, it was continued by roosterteeth to honor him. His family also weighted into this decision, hence Monty's brother picked up the voice of Lie, as he wanted it to stay in the family. It was also mentioned that before Monty Oum passed away, he, Miles and Kerry planned about 7-9 seasons in advance.  
> **username_2**: same case with zero no tsukaima ln. The author ( LN's Author) passed away in 2013, two years later (2015), the series [continued](http://www.otakutale.com/2015/zero-no-tsukaima-light-novels-to-continue-2-years-after-authors-death/) . _The author did left the concept of the story. He spent the final weeks in hospital dedicated to the novel’s future and its end. This is where Yurugi ( his substitute author ) is able to announce that the novel is able to continue as the ending has been planned._ but i dont know with HOTD case  
> **username_3**: If you read from [this answer](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/42946/2869) you can see they can pick up the series and had someone else fill in for the dead author  
---
## 0 answers
