Is My Heavenly Hockey Club Manga Finished?

Yes, My Heavenly Hockey Club Is Finished — It Ended in 2009

My Heavenly Hockey Club (Japanese title: 極楽・青春ホッケー部) is a finished series that ran from April 2005 to December 2009. The manga was created by Ai Morinaga (森永あい) and published by Kodansha, one of Japan’s largest book and manga publishers. Over those four-plus years, the series wrapped up across 14 volumes, with the final volume hitting shelves in December 2009.

So if you’ve been holding off on starting the series because you weren’t sure if it was abandoned or on hold — no worries there. The story has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

Here’s the catch, though: the English edition, published by Del Rey Manga, only covers 8 of those 14 volumes. That means English-only readers don’t have access to the full story through official channels. We’ll get into why that happened and what your options are further down.

But as far as the manga itself goes? Finished. Done. Complete in Japan since 2009. At 14 volumes, it’s also a relatively short series — you could read the entire thing in a weekend or two if you had access to all the books.

How the Series Wraps Up (Spoiler-Light)

For anyone unfamiliar with the premise, My Heavenly Hockey Club is a comedy-driven manga with a sports setting, centered on a field hockey club at a wealthy school. Field hockey is a team sport played on grass or turf with curved sticks and a ball — but honestly, the actual sport takes a back seat here. The club is packed with eccentric, good-looking rich boys, and the story follows their reluctant female member who gets roped into joining — mostly because the club’s activities seem to involve a lot more eating, traveling, and goofing off than actual hockey.

If you’ve ever enjoyed Ouran High School Host Club, the vibe is in a similar neighborhood: a comedic setup with a girl surrounded by over-the-top wealthy guys, plenty of absurd situations, and character-driven humor that carries the story more than any plot mechanics do.

The tone is lighthearted throughout. This isn’t a series that pivots into intense competition storylines or dramatic rivalries in the final stretch. Instead, the comedy stays front and center across all 14 volumes, with character growth and relationships developing gradually alongside the humor. The ending feels like a natural conclusion to the story rather than a rushed or unresolved finish.

One important thing to keep in mind: if you’re reading the English Del Rey editions, you’ll hit a wall after volume 8. The story isn’t over at that point. There are six more volumes of material that were never officially translated into English. So while the manga does reach a satisfying conclusion in Japanese, English-only readers are left mid-story with the official releases.

It’s worth knowing this going in so you can plan accordingly rather than being surprised when you finish volume 8 and realize there’s no volume 9 on the shelf.

How Many Volumes Exist and the English Edition Gap

Here’s a quick breakdown of what’s out there:

The gap between 8 English volumes and the full 14 Japanese volumes is the biggest frustration for fans of this series. Del Rey Manga was the English-language publisher, and they stopped at volume 8 without completing the run.

To understand why, it helps to know a little about how manga gets published in English. When a Japanese manga series is released outside Japan, a foreign publisher has to obtain a license — essentially, legal permission from the Japanese rights holder — to translate, print, and sell the series in another language. Del Rey Manga held that license for My Heavenly Hockey Club in English.

The reason the English edition stopped almost certainly ties back to Del Rey Manga shutting down its manga publishing operations. Del Rey was an imprint — a brand name used by a larger publishing company to release a specific type of book. In this case, Del Rey operated under Random House and served as Kodansha’s English-language manga partner for years. But the imprint wound down, and many of its in-progress series were left incomplete in English. Some titles were later picked up by Kodansha Comics, which is Kodansha’s own English-language publishing branch, but My Heavenly Hockey Club wasn’t among them based on available records.

No other English publisher has been confirmed to have licensed the remaining volumes. That means the six untranslated volumes (9 through 14) remain Japanese-only as of now.

For readers, this creates an awkward situation:

• Volumes 1–8 in English give you a solid chunk of the story and plenty of the comedy that makes the series fun
• Volumes 9–14 contain the second half of the story and its conclusion, but are only available in Japanese
• There’s no digital English release that fills the gap either

If you’re someone who needs to finish every series you start, this is worth factoring into your decision before you begin.

Are There Any Sequels or Spin-Offs?

Nope. My Heavenly Hockey Club is a standalone completed work. There are no sequels, spin-offs, continuation series, or side stories tied to it in any available records.

There’s also no anime adaptation. The series never made the jump to animation, which partly explains why it doesn’t get talked about as much as other manga from the same era. Without an anime to drive awareness and introduce new fans, it stayed a manga-only experience — appreciated by the people who found it, but easy to miss if you weren’t browsing manga shelves during its original run.

So what you see is what you get: 14 volumes of comedy manga with a sports backdrop, one complete story, no expanded universe to chase down.

Where to Start Reading My Heavenly Hockey Club

Starting is simple — pick up volume 1 and read in order. The series is structured sequentially, with recurring jokes, character dynamics, and relationships that build across volumes. Each volume contains several chapters (individual episodes of the story, usually around 20–40 pages each), and they’re meant to be read in numbered order. There’s no special reading order or alternate starting point to worry about.

Here’s what to know about actually getting copies:

English volumes (1–8): These were published by Del Rey Manga, and since that publisher is no longer active, you’re mainly looking at secondhand copies. Used bookstores are a good bet, and online marketplaces like eBay, AbeBooks, and Mercari often have listings. Manga buy-sell-trade communities on Reddit and other forums are another option — these are groups where manga readers sell or swap books from their personal collections. The volumes pop up regularly since they had a decent number of copies printed during their original release. Prices for used copies tend to be reasonable for most volumes, though specific ones may be harder to track down depending on demand.

Volume 8 is the final volume available in English — if you want to see where the official translation ends, this is the last release in the series.

Japanese volumes (1–14): If you read Japanese or are studying the language, the full 14-volume set is available. Japanese-language copies can sometimes be found through import retailers and secondhand Japanese book sellers.

A realistic note for English-only readers: Going in, know that you’ll have access to just over half the story through official English releases. The eight available volumes still offer a fun, entertaining reading experience with plenty of comedic payoff — think of it as getting a generous taste of a series you might fall in love with. But if reaching the actual ending matters to you (and that’s totally fair), you’ll need to either learn some Japanese or hope that a publisher picks up the license someday.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many volumes of My Heavenly Hockey Club are there?

The complete series is 14 volumes in Japanese, published by Kodansha between 2005 and 2009. In English, 8 volumes were released by Del Rey Manga. The English edition did not cover the full run, leaving six volumes untranslated.

Why did the English release stop at volume 8?

The English edition was published by Del Rey Manga, an imprint (a specialized brand within a larger publishing house) that ceased its manga publishing operations. When Del Rey stopped releasing manga, several series — including My Heavenly Hockey Club — were left incomplete in English. No other publisher has picked up the remaining volumes since then.

Is there an anime adaptation of My Heavenly Hockey Club?

No. Based on available records, no anime adaptation has been produced for this series. It remains a manga-only title.

Who created My Heavenly Hockey Club?

The manga was created by Ai Morinaga (森永あい) and published through Kodansha in Japan. The series ran from April 2005 to December 2009 across 14 volumes.

Is the story worth reading even if I can only get 8 volumes in English?

Yes, it’s still worth reading for the comedy alone. The first 8 volumes contain plenty of the humor, character interactions, and charm that make the series enjoyable. You’ll get a genuinely fun reading experience even without the final six volumes. That said, you won’t get story closure from the English editions alone, so if incomplete series really bother you, it’s good to know that limitation upfront before you commit.

Will the remaining volumes ever be translated into English?

There’s no announced plan as of now. It’s always possible that a publisher could license the series in the future, but there’s nothing confirmed. Fans who want the complete story currently need to seek out the Japanese editions.