The Fable

The Fable (ザ・ファブル) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Katsuhisa Minami. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from November 2014 to November 2019, with its chapters collected in 22 volumes. A sequel series, titled The Fable: The Second Contact, ran in Weekly Young Magazine from July 2021 to July 2023. A third series, titled The Fable: The Third Secret, began serialization in March 2025.

A live-action film adaptation premiered in Japan in June 2019 and a sequel premiered in June 2021. An anime television series adaptation produced by Tezuka Productions aired from April to September 2024. A second season has been announced.

By June 2024, the manga had over 25 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series. In 2017, The Fable won the 41st Kodansha Manga Award for the General category.

Plot

An exceptionally skilled professional killer known as "Fable" is feared by the Japanese underworld, politicians, mobsters, and public figures. One day, his sponsor orders him to put everything on hold and lead the life of an ordinary citizen with the assistance of a yakuza clan in Osaka. He is also banned from killing anyone for an entire year. Armed with his Nighthawk pistol and given the pseudonym of Akira Sato, Fable must adjust to normal life alongside his assistant, who is ordered to act as his sister and given the pseudonym of Yoko, all while dealing with criminal elements in Osaka that have their own suspicions about his past.

Characters

Akira Sato (佐藤明)

[4]

A quietly spoken but highly skilled hitman known only as "Fable". He has had a female assistant and driver for the past year and knows nothing about her or her name. They are ordered to lay low for a year and he is given the name and identity of Akira Sato and his assistant will act as his sister, Yoko.

Yoko Sato (佐藤洋子)

[5]

A woman with long brown hair and a photographic memory who acts as Fable's assistant and driver. She is ordered to lay low with him for a year, acting as his sister and given the name Yoko Sato.

Boss (ボス)

[5]

The man who assigns Fable his jobs. He tells him to take a year off to lay low in Osaka with the Maguro Group.

Misaki Shimizu (清水岬)

[5]

A woman who lives alone in an apartment near where Fable and his assistant stay in Osaka. She works multiple jobs to repay her father's debts, but she is blackmailed into agreeing to become a call girl by Kojima when he learns of her former career as a gravure idol.

Jackal Tomioka (ジャッカル富岡)

[6]

A popular comedian who Fable thinks is really funny.

Hiroshi Hamada (浜田広志)

[4]

Chief in the Maguro Group who accepts the arrangement to shelter Fable and his assistant.

Takeshi Ebihara (海老原剛士)

[5]

Captain in the Maguro Group, Ebihara is unhappy about the arrangement to shelter Fable and his assistant. He is suspicious of Fable's motives, but after suffering a heart attack he involves Akira in his operations.

Kenji Kojima (小島賢治)

[5]

Middle-ranking member of the Maguro Group who has spent the last few years in prison. Upon his release, he decides to advance his career within the Maguro Group and encroaches on Sunagawa's territory.

Shuichi Sunagawa (砂川宗一)

[5]

Middle-ranking member of the Maguro Group who runs a call girl business and who sees Kojima as a threat. He secretly plans to move up in the Maguro Group.

Ryo Kuroshio (黒塩遼)

[4]

A lowly member of the Maguro Group who harbors ambitions of becoming an assassin. He is referred to as "Kuro" (クロ) by other members of the Maguro Group.

Katsuya Takahashi (高橋勝也)

A lowly member of the Maguro Group who carries out tasks for Ebihara.

Matsu (マツ)

A middle-aged man whose left eye is always half-closed. He appears to be the owner of a snack bar, but he works in corpse disposal, smuggling, and is an information broker.

Kenjiro Takoda (田高田健二郎)

[8]

Misaki's boss and the manager of Octopus who initially gives Akira a temporary job as a delivery driver, but then hires him full-time.

Etsuji Kainuma (貝沼悦司)

[4]

A spoiled young man of a wealthy mother who is employed at Octopus and is secretly obsessed with Misaki.

Master (マスター)

A bartender who works at Bar Buffalo, a bar Yoko frequents.

Yuki Kawai (河合ユウキ)

[6]

A man Yoko meets at Bar Buffalo whom she like to drink with because he does not have her capacity for alcohol consumption.

Rei Utsubo (宇津帆玲)

A man who uses the Taihei Detective Agency as a cover to commits fraud, blackmail, kidnapping, and murder for money. His real name is Koichi Kawahira (川平浩一).

Hinako Saba (佐羽ヒナコ)

She witnessed an assassination by Fable, and now uses a wheelchair after her legs were damaged in a car crash. Utsubo killed her parents and blamed Fable so he can keep her as a sex slave while promising to avenge her parents. She is commonly referred to as "Hina" (ヒナ).

Hiroshi Suzuki (鈴木ヒロシ)

An assassin hired by Utsubo to assist in kidnapping Kainuma to extort money from his mother.

Tsutomu Isaki (井崎勤)

An associate of Utsubo's who helps with his illegal schemes. He is a former member of the Maguro Group.

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Katsuhisa Minami, The Fable was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Young Magazine from November 1, 2014,[11] to November 18, 2019.[12] Kodansha collected its chapters in 22 volumes, released from March 6, 2015,[13] to June 5, 2020.[14]

A sequel, titled The Fable: The Second Contact (ザ・ファブル The second contact), ran in Weekly Young Magazine from July 19, 2021,[15] to July 10, 2023.[16] Kodansha collected its chapters in nine volumes, released from November 5, 2021,[17] to November 6, 2023.[18]

A spin-off, also titled The Fable, but written in hiragana (ざ・ふぁぶる) instead of katakana, was published on Comic Days online platform from March 6, 2018,[19] to February 26, 2019.[20] A collected, which also includes other stories by Minami, was published on June 5, 2020.[21][22]

A third series, titled The Fable: The Third Secret (ザ・ファブル The third secret), began serialization in Weekly Young Magazine on March 17, 2025.[23] The series is published digitally in English by Kodansha on its K Manga digital service.[24]

In March 2022, Kodansha USA announced it had licensed the series for English digital publication;[25] in October 2023, it was announced that the manga would be published in print, with the first volume released on April 9, 2024.[26][1]

Live-action films

A live-action film adaptation directed by Kan Eguchi premiered in Japan on June 21, 2019. The film stars Junichi Okada as Fable.[27][28]

A sequel film, titled The Fable: The Killer Who Doesn't Kill (ザ・ファブル殺さない殺し屋), was originally announced to premiere on February 5, 2021; however, a month prior to the planned release date, it was announced that the film would be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[29] and it eventually premiered on June 18 of that same year.[30][31]

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced on July 10, 2023. It was animated by Tezuka Productions and directed by Ryōsuke Takahashi, with scripts supervised by Yūya Takashima and co-written by Mayumi Morita, character designs handled by Kyuma Oshita, Saki Hasegawa and Junichi Hayama, and music composed by Shūichirō Fukuhiro.[32] The series aired from April 7 to September 29, 2024, on Nippon TV and its affiliates.[33] The first opening theme song is "Professionalism feat. Hannya" (Professionalism feat. 般若), performed by ALI, and the first ending theme song is "Odd Numbers", performed by Umeda Cypher.[35][36] The second opening theme song is "Switch" (スイッチ), performed by Umeda Cypher, and the second ending theme song is "Beyond feat. Mari", performed by ALI.[37]

Episodes

Video game

In September 2024, Kodansha Game Creators' Lab announced that Mono Entertainment was developing a roguelike deck-building video game, titled The Fable: Manga Build Roguelike (ザ・ファブル Manga Build Roguelike), for Windows and Nintendo Switch.[46] A demo of the game was displayed at the Kodansha Game Creators' Lab booth at Tokyo Game Show 2024.[47][48] It was released on November 6, 2025,[49] and is available in Japanese, English, and traditional/simplified Chinese.[50]

Plot

Characters

Media

Manga

Live-action films

Anime

Episodes

Video game

Reception

External links

References

Episodes

type	manga
title	The Fable: The Second Contact
author	Katsuhisa Minami
publisher	Kodansha
imprint	Young Magazine KC
magazine	Weekly Young Magazine
first	July 19, 2021
last	July 10, 2023
volumes	9
volume list	List of The Fable chapters#The Fable: The Second Contact