To everyone who purchased this volume of The Great Cleric, I am so sorry for the wait. As I mentioned in the afterword for the last volume, life is a funny thing. You see, I, Broccoli Lion, have been dealing with some intense lower back pain lately. If everything had gone according to plan, this volume would have been out around this time last year, but my back pain got so bad that I couldn’t write anymore. As a result, I ended up causing a lot of trouble for everyone involved in this project.
This series got an anime adaptation, which has already aired. Because of that, more and more people are discovering the manga, and The Great Cleric became better known than ever—all things that I am very thankful for. Yet, I had to pause the progress of this series due to my health issues. I am still extremely frustrated by that turn of events. I would have loved to have announced the anime to all of you who have been supporting this series and shared behind-the-scenes stories about the production, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to do that. I’m really, really sorry.
Anyway, I apologize for how late this is, but I want to mention that this series receiving an anime adaptation and doing so well on ABEMA is all thanks to you. Thank you so much, everyone.
Now, let me talk about some of the things that made me happy about this series getting an anime. First off, I got to listen to the recordings of all the voice actors who were cast, as well as those who auditioned. I am nothing but grateful to everyone who lent their voices to my characters and am beyond satisfied with their work. Moreover, listening to their acting gave me ideas for new characters and plot points, though I haven’t been able to introduce them in this volume. Those voice recordings are a treasure trove of inspiration for me moving forward.
And it is all thanks to Hiiro Akikaze, who has been doing incredible work to bring this series to life in the manga adaptation, sime for the incredible illustrations, and my editor, Mister I (who hasn’t given up on me despite everything) that I was able to get my hands on such precious material in the first place. I’m also incredibly thankful to everyone involved in this series, as well as to Kodansha for the manga and anime adaptations, TBS, Yokohama Animation Laboratory, and Cloud Hearts for their fantastic work.
We’ve reached the end of this afterword, but I want to give one last big thank-you to everyone who bought this volume despite the two-year wait!