In North America, Viz Media released the series' first two volumes in 2002 and 2003, but due to low sales it was discontinued. Viz Media republished the series in a four-volume omnibus edition from July 2021 to April 2022.
Publication
No. 5, written and illustrated by Taiyō Matsumoto, began in the first ever issue of Shogakukan's Spirits Zōkan Ikki (re-branded as Monthly Ikki in 2003), released on November 30, 2000.[2][3] The series finished on January 25, 2005.[4] Shogakukan collected its chapters into eight wideban volumes, released from November 30, 2001,[5] to February 28, 2005.[6] Shogakukan would later re-released the series into four deluxe volumes from November 30 to December 26, 2005.[7][8][9][10]
In North America, Viz Media announced the license of the series in December 2001.[11] A preview for the then forthcoming first volume was published in the January 2002 issue of Pulp.[12] Viz Media published the first volume on April 5, 2002,[13] and the second on August 13, 2003.[14] After having released these two volumes, Viz Media ceased the series' publication due to low sales.[15] In 2011, the series was completely available in English language via the No. 5 app on iTunes.[16][17][18][19] In October 2020, Viz Media announced that they would re-publish the series in a four-volume deluxe edition, in print and digital formats,[20] released from July 20, 2021,[1] to April 19, 2022.[21]
The manga was also licensed in France by Kana.[22]
Volumes
Note: All chapters titles are written in English on the original Japanese release.
^Ishii, Anne (October 23, 2007). "Matsumoto's Mashup". Publishers Weekly. Archived from the original on September 16, 2020. Retrieved September 16, 2020. No. 5, Matsumoto's 2001sci-fi [sic] series sold less than a thousand copies between two volumes and was immediately discontinued.
^"Une réédition pour Number 5". manga-news.com (in French). November 12, 2018. Archived from the original on October 7, 2023. Retrieved September 16, 2020.