alchemy, Watsuki initially avoided mentioning the philosopher's stone because he thought he could be accused of plagiarizing another series. He could not omit mentioning it, but he said that it is "general knowledge". During the series' publication, Watsuki had four severe colds; the fourth cold made him so weak that he could not finish the chapter he was due to send to Weekly Shōnen Jump. Manga The chapters of Buso Renkin were written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki and were serialized in Shueisha's shōnen magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from June 23, 2003, to April 25, 2005. Only the first 79 chapters were serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump; the final chapter was published in another magazine from Shueisha in two installments. Shueisha published the individual chapters in a series of ten tankōbon (collected volumes), which were released between January 5, 2004, and April 4, 2006. In North America, Viz Media released the manga's ten tankōbon volumes between August 1, 2006, and February 5, 2008. In March 2012, Viz also made the manga available digitally through its Viz Manga App for the iPad and other iOS devices. The manga has been licensed in Brazil by Editora JBC, France by Glénat, in Germany by Tokyopop Germany, in Italy by Panini Comics, and in Spain by Planeta DeLibros. Anime adaptation In Japan, the Buso Renkin manga was adapted into an anime series which ran on TV Tokyo; it was directed by Takao Kato, written by Akatsuki Yamatoya, and produced by Xebec. Buso Renkin aired for 26 episodes between October 5, 2006, and March 29, 2007. The episodes were later released by Geneon Universal Entertainment in nine DVD compilations between January 25, 2007, and September 21, 2007. DVD box sets containing all twenty-six episodes were released on November 26, 2009, and on February 27, 2013. Geneon Universal Entertainment released an animation soundtrack CD for Buso Renkin on January 25, 2007. On December 8, 2007, Viz Media announced the release of the English dub, which would be released in two DVD sets of thirteen episodes each. The first set containing episodes one to thirteen was released on April 29, 2008. The second set containing episodes fourteen to twenty-six was released on October 7, 2008. Funimation launched Buso Renkin on their Funimation Channel on April 27, 2009, marking the series' American television debut. On December 20, 2009, the first three episodes from the series were officially uploaded