Kodansha Comics

Kodansha Comics’ Announcements at Comic-Con International

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Kodansha Comics announced at its panel at Comic-Con International: San Diego that it has released volumes 39 through 48 of Shuuichi Shigeno’s Initial D manga digitally in English. Comixology and Kodansha Comics released volumes 1-38 of the manga in April 2019. The volumes are available for purchase through Comixology and Kindle, and Amazon Prime, Kindle Unlimited, and Comixology Unlimited subscribers can read the volumes at no additional cost.

The publisher also announced it will release four more shōjo manga digitally starting in August 2019:

  • Vampire Dormitory by Ema Toyama [debut date: August 20, 2019]
  • Atsumori-kun’s Bride-to-be (Atsumori-kun no Oyome-san [←Mitei]) by Taamo [debut date: August 27, 2019]
  • Smile Down the Runway (Runway de Waratte) by Kotoba Inoya [debut date: September 3, 2019]
  • Queen Bee (Seishun Otome Banchou!) by Shizuru Seino [debut date: September 10, 2019]

Source: ANN

Kodansha Comics’ Announcements at Anime Expo

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Kodansha Comics announced at it and Vertical’s Anime Expo panel that it has licensed the Knights of the Ice, Rent-A-Girlfriend, Sue and Tai-chan, Sweat and Soap, Something’s Wrong With Us, Yuzu the Pet Vet, and Saiyuki manga. All of these titles will be released in English in 2020.

The company also announced that it will publish CLAMP’s Chobits and Clover manga to its Kodansha Classics line. Additionally, Kodansha Comics announced that it will debut the Saint Young Men, Farewell, My Dear Cramer, Living-Room Matsunaga-san, and Perfect World manga in print. Saint Young Men will debut in print “just in time for Christmas.” Farewell, My Dear Cramer, Living-Room Matsunaga-san, and Perfect World will debut in print in 2020.

Source: ANN

ComiXology and Kodansha Comics Release the Sailor Moon Manga Digitally in English

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Kodansha Comics and Comixology began releasing a digital edition of Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon manga in English, starting on July 1, 2019.

The English digital release is the same as the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition version of the manga that Kodansha Comics is releasing in print. Kodansha Comics and Comixology released the first four volumes of the manga digitally in English worldwide on July 1, 2019. The volumes are available to purchase on Kindle and Comixology. Future volumes will release with the print edition of those volumes.

Toei announced at the “Usagi Special Birthday Party 2019” event on June 30, 2019 that the manga is getting a worldwide digital release in 10 languages starting on July 1, 2019. Toei has not yet specified what other languages will be available other than English, or what companies will be handling the other localizations and releases.

Source: ANN

Kodansha Comics Publishes the First Chapter of the Bootsleg Manga in English

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Kodansha Comics has published the first chapter of Suzuhito Yasuda’s new dark fantasy manga Bootsleg digitally for free. The manga launched in Japan on April 26, 2019 in the May 2019 issue of Kodansha’s Monthly Shonen Sirius magazine.

The company did not state if it will continue to publish the manga digitally or in print, but asked readers to “stay tuned for more Bootsleg updates” on its website.

Source: ANN

Comixology and Kodansha Comics Release the Complete Initial D Manga in English

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Comixology and Kodansha Comics have announced that they have released Volumes 1 through 38 of Shuuichi Shigeno’s Initial D manga digitally in English. The release marks the first time that Volumes 34 to 38 have been released in English. The volumes are available for purchase through Comixology and Kindle. Amazon Prime, Kindle Unlimited, and Comixology Unlimited subscribers can read the volumes at no additional cost. Volumes 39 to 48 will debut later in 2019.

Tokyopop previously released the manga’s first 33 volumes in print in North America.

Shigeno launched the Initial D manga in Kodansha’s Young Magazine in 1995 and ended it in July 2013.

Source: ANN

Kodansha Comics to Publish the Saint Young Men Manga Digitally

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Kodansha Comics has announced that it will publish Hikaru Nakamura’s Saint Young Men (Saint Oniisan) manga digitally. Kodansha Comics will publish the first volume digitally on April 23, 2019, and is previewing the volume on its site.

The comedy manga imagines if Buddha and Jesus shared a low-rent Tokyo apartment. Nakamura launched the manga in Kodansha’s Morning two magazine in 2006, and Kodansha shipped the manga’s 16th compiled volume in Japan on November 22, 2018.

Source: ANN

Top Publishers of Japanese Manga & Novels Announce Exciting 2019 Titles

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Kodansha Comics, Vertical Comics, and Vertical, Inc., three leading imprints for Japanese novels and comics in translation, announced their upcoming slate of new titles, running the gamut from new manga series to re-releases of classics.

Vertical Comics announced the highly anticipated manga adaptation of NISIOISIN’s Bakemonogatari series by creator Oh! great (Air Gear). The series will begin October 2019. Another major announcement was a new novel by the acclaimed Monogatari franchise creator, Hanging High School, the third book in the Zaregoto series, in September 2019. Fans have clamored for the next episode in the series since the release of the second book in 2018, preceded by the first volume in 2017. During the announcement, Vertical revealed new cover art by VOFAN, the illustrator of the Monogatari series, for Makoto Shinkai’s Voices of a Distant Star (novel), to release in July 2019, and for VOFAN’s own full-color artbook previously only published in Taiwan, Colorful Dreams, to release in October 2019. Vertical also added Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose Resurrection at Nineteen, the prequel novels of the manga series for their light novel lineup in December 2019.

The publishers unveiled three new highly anticipated box sets. The Monogatari series will see a “Season 2” box set later in 2019 from Vertical, Inc. To coincide with the work’s 25th anniversary, Kodansha Comics will re-release CLAMP’s Magic Knight Rayearth in two beautiful three-volume hardcover box sets. The first is due Fall 2019, and on top of the three volumes of manga, each will include one full-color art book of rare pieces by the creators and an additional bonus item to be revealed.

Also coming to the box set format is the fantasy epic Fairy Tail, which will see its first 11-volume box set released in Fall 2019, with two per year to follow. Kodansha also announced Fairy Tail: 100 Years Quest, the sequel to Fairy Tail, which will continue the adventures of Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and the entire magical guild in Summer 2019, with layouts and story by creator Hiro Mashima.

In another addition to a beloved Kodansha Comics series, Cells at Work! CODE BLACK will be released in Summer 2019. Where the original series followed a Red Blood Cell and a White Blood Cell through a (relatively) healthy body, this spin-off is set in one that’s falling apart, with smoking, drinking, fatty liver, gout, and more intimate ailments to deal with. The book will carry a “surgeon-general’s warning” that it’s only for ages 18 and up.

Joining Yuri Is My Job!, Kodansha’s premier yuri (girl-girl romance) manga title that debuted in January 2019, Kodansha will publish If I Could Reach You, a serious yuri title about a teenage girl coming to terms with her own sexuality through her crush on her brother’s wife. Volume 1 is coming in Fall 2019.

Kodansha will publish the manga adaptation of the online game Granblue Fantasy, which featured design work and music by key creative figures from the Final Fantasy series and has proven a global hit. The manga, by cocho and Makoto Fuugetsu, will begin in Fall 2019. Finally, Kodansha will bring to print the digital-first title Drifting Dragons, about a “whaling ship” that floats through the air and hunts dragons. Volume 1 is coming during holiday season 2019.