What a great week for manga fans! Today, October 15, Kodansha announced 10 new licenses during their licensing announcement event at Kodansha House NY. They also announced 7 titles joining the Kodansha Print Club. The print club prints previously digital only titles. It goes without saying I’m extremely excited about the I Remember the Color of Wind license. And the other romance titles have caught my eye too! Which license are you most excited for?
New Kodansha Print Club Licenses:
Burn the House Down By Moyashi Fujisawa
In this suspenseful, 8-volume drama, follow one woman’s path of vengeance against a powerful, twisted family. Live-action adaptation now streaming on Netflix!
Assuming a false identity and working as a housekeeper, “Shizuka Yamauchi” infiltrates the well-to-do Mitarai household in pursuit of the truth. Thirteen years prior, when the Mitarai home was engulfed in flames, Shizuka’s mother was forced to take the fall for the crime. Now, on her first assignment with the family, Shizuka homes in on Makiko, the beautiful second wife of Dr. Mitarai. But Mrs. Mitarai harbors sinister secrets of her own…
Debut Date: January 2027
When Arika Went Missing Story by Moyashi Fujisawa, Art by Kumakazu
A suspenseful idol mystery where everyone has something to hide. From the mind behind Burn the House Down!
Beloved idol Arika Mamiya has been missing for a year, but her best friend Nana Miyajima hasn’t stopped looking for answers. Determined to uncover the truth, Nana sets out to infiltrate Arika’s group by becoming a member herself—a daunting mission for a rude, tone-deaf loner who couldn’t be further from idol material. But when auditions begin and Nana tanks in the fan rankings, she’s forced to ditch her lone-wolf ways and fight for the spotlight, all while discovering the ugly world that lurks beneath the smiles and sparkle of idol life.
Debut Date: January 2027
Manchuria Opium Squad Manga by Shikako, Story by Tsukasa Monma
In the corrupt, conflict-ridden Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, the illegal opium trade is a perilous path to quick riches—or a swift death. Desperate to save his doomed family, the young Isamu Higata seizes a dangerous opportunity, using his botanical expertise to make mind-blowing opium in hopes of cashing in. But when sinister gangs and the oppressive state catch wind of his operation, Isamu is thrust deeper and deeper into a treacherous world of deceit and depravity to protect himself and those he loves.
Note: This series is a work of fiction and contains graphic depictions of intense violence, drug abuse, and other shocking imagery. The story and its contents are not recommended for young or sensitive readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Debut Date: January 2027
Kamakura Bakeneko Club: Uncanny Cat Tales By Daisuke Igarashi
An old rumor persists in the ancient coastal city of Kamakura: find your way to the elusive Bakeneko Club, and you’ll be reunited with a lost or departed cat. Remote worker Arisa spends her days at a local café, where visitors drawn by the rumor share stories of their uncanny feline encounters with the two peculiar young men behind the counter. But in this primeval place where the boundary between the human world and the spirit realm wears thin, their tales might awaken the interest of more than just a curious eavesdropper…
Debut Date: February 2027
Umwelt and Other Stories By Daisuke Igarashi
Ten unforgettable short stories, spanning modern folklore to surreal science fiction, from Daisuke Igarashi, the award-winning artist behind Children of the Sea and Witches.
Debut Date: March 2027
Futarijime Romantic By Chihiro Kanisawa
Kokomi Kumamori has been waiting ever since a kindergarten first kiss for fate to deliver the storybook romance she was promised. Then Kyohei Tajima—a boy with the very same name as her childhood prince—walks into her life. But he’s rude, romance-averse, and definitely the wrong Kyohei…so why does he keep making her heart skip a beat? From sports-festival sparks to beachside butterflies, every new side of him she discovers has Mr. Wrong seeming more and more like Mr. Right.
A hopeless romantic finds something better than the love story she’s always imagined—but not without a few fantasies shattered along the way. One high school girl learns that love rarely follows the script in this short and sweet three-volume shojo rom-com.
Debut Date: March 2027
Ark of the Canaries By Misaki Takamatsu
A sci-fi rumination on humanity, this single-volume manga is about a strange, dying world, and the one girl trying to survive it. A speculative fiction story from the author of Skip and Loafer.
Gossip, track meets, squabbles with mom… Upbeat Yuri’s not ready for high school to be over, but graduation looms on the horizon. One afternoon on her walk home, a flying mass swallows up the sky, raining destruction upon all she can see. The place Yuri later wakes up in is quiet; the lone being there with her is a man in a lab coat. As social ritual and organic matter unravel around the girl, desolation threatens her singular goal: returning home.
Debut Date: April 2027
New Licenses
Hitorijime Boyfriend: Re By Memeco Arii
The long-awaited return to the story that launched the global hit spinoff Hitorijime My Hero!
More than a decade after the BL one-shot Hitorijime Boyfriend, original creator Memeco Arii returns to the couple that started it all: After many tribulations, Kensuke and Hasekura have graduated from high school and moved in together! But Kensuke’s just as popular at his part-time job as he was in school, and Hasekura can feel his jealousy bubbling back up… Then, one morning, he notices Kensuke’s covered bite marks?! Don’t miss this single-volume sequel sixteen years in the making!
Debut Date: Fall 2027
I Remember the Color of the Wind By Kazari
A sweet and poignant friend-to-lovers BL about falling in love at first sight, perfect for fans of Blue Summer Haze, What If I Said “I Love You”?, and Whisper Me a Love Song.
When Mori hears his classmates trying to nervously build up the courage to talk to Michioto, one of the most popular boys in school, he has no problem offering to get his enigmatic classmate’s phone number. But when Mori’s eyes meet Michioto’s, it’s more than Michioto’s good looks that takes Mori’s breath away, and Mori falls in love at first sight. Soon, Mori is overwhelmed by feelings of first love. Luckily for him, circumstance and after circumstance starts to bring him and Michioto closer together, and the two become fast friends. But will Mori’s newfound friendship alone be enough to satisfy him, or will he risk it all for the chance of something more?
Debut Date: Fall 2027
Powerless Without You By TAMA TAMASAKI
In this thrilling yuri fantasy, Nana’s just out of college, trying to make her way on a series of part-time jobs, when she finds herself whisked away from her bedroom into a parallel world of magic! To her shock, she’s told that she is the great Saintess who will bring peace and prosperity to the whole country. Except for one tiny problem—she soon discovers she has absolutely zero magical power—none! To make matters worse, the princess she’s been summoned to serve with can’t cast even a single spell. A Saintess with no magic power, and a princess who can’t use her own—a pair of failures, doomed to become a laughingstock…or a partnership that might deepen into something more?
Debut Date: Fall 2027
Tell Me, Dear Butler By Michi Masaki
The hot-headed and judgmental Kikyo is used to having servants appease her every need. As a child, she scared away almost all of her attendants. But when the new young butler, Hanayagi is introduced, he engages with her in a rather unique way. Treating each other as equals. They are both kids, after all. Now in high school, Kikyo hasn’t given up this unrequited love for her butler, despite it being indecorum for her social status. No matter how many times she tries to get his attention, it doesn’t seem to have any effect on him…or does it? This romantic comedy was the inaugural winner of the Honto Aotagai Comic Award, an award for up-and-coming manga.
Debut Date: Fall 2027
My Rebound Has Too Much Game! By Asumi Takabuchi
A four-eyed ugly duckling turns to swan in a hilarious contemporary high school rom-com about overcoming rejection, getting revenge, and finding love again.
When Kohane gets unceremoniously ghosted and dumped by her boyfriend, she’s determined to move on and immediately sets her eyes on Mizuma, a bespectacled shy boy at school who’s a dreamboat of a neighbor without his glasses at home. Mizuma is a reluctant rebound at first, but Kohane takes the fake it till you make it approach, conspicuously posing them as the perfect lovey-dovey couple in public. The sham relationship started out as a petty game of revenge, but could the rebound turn into true love?
Debut Date: Fall 2027
Zacha’s Undying Love By Nori Arashiyama
Searching for his lost love, handsome vampire Zacha turns up at the home of the elderly Tsugumi and her granddaughters Yumeko and Himari. Thrilled by the arrival of a real-life vampire in her humdrum town, Yumeko is eager to help Zacha, but as they piece together the extraordinary life story of the woman he loved, Yumeko begins unearthing her own family secrets.
Debut Date: Fall 2027
Prisoners of Twilight Town Manga by Morohoshi Fuji Story by Nagoya SHOKI
Yuma Sendo says goodbye to his picture-perfect life when a wrongful conviction sends him to Twilight Town, a lawless region where Japan’s most heinous criminals serve out sentences of capital punishment. Here, even basic necessities must be purchased via pounds of flesh, earned by offering up the corpses of fellow inmates. What hope does the very ordinary Yuma have to survive this dog-eat-dog world? The answer may lie in him accepting that he may not be so ordinary after all…
Debut Date: Fall 2027
Snow Globe Town By Rie Kano
High school students Ako and Tako share a dream of leaving their hometown of Takaoka to pursue the literary life in Tokyo—but they face more than the ordinary obstacles of small-town dreamers. For the past 10 years, Takaoka has been cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious, ceaseless snowfall, fostering a superstition among its residents that venturing beyond means risking death. When a famous novelist suddenly arrives in town, his presence shakes up Ako and Tako’s lives, and a flurry of strange and sinister events begin to swirl around them.
Debut Date: Fall 2027
Jackpot Girls By Hiroyuki
When two high school girls win seven hundred million yen in the lottery, their lives are forever changed. But what kind of insane hijinks will these ladies get up to when there’s not a drop of common sense and barely any financial literacy between the two of them? The latest manga by renowned comedy author Hiroyuki, author of Aho-Girl and Girlfriend, Girlfriend.
To secure her future financial and career success, studious high school student Chie aims to get accepted into the prestigious Tokyo University. Meanwhile her best friend, the air-headed goofball Kanae, just wants to enjoy her life in the moment. One day, Kanae buys a lottery ticket and ends up winning first prize! And how much money is that you may ask? A staggering 700 million yen! When the girls decide to split the winnings, Chie suddenly finds that the burden of being responsible for such a fortune is too much and she ends up flunking her entrance exams! With her planned-out future crumbling around her, Chie decides, “Screw it!”. If her life isn’t going to go the way she’d planned, then she’s going to use her newfound fortune to live the best life she ever could!
Occult Times By Idonchi
One girl is in it for the spooks, one is in it for the cuteness, but together they’re publishing the Occult Times—if they can stay out of the way of all the ghosts, demons, and werewolves haunting their school hallways!
Rei’s dream is to become a photojournalist, so when she enrolls at Hazama Academy, she naturally joins the school newspaper…which she’s shocked to find has only one other staff member: another girl named Shiro, who is obsessed with the occult! She’s about to walk out the door, when Shiro accidentally discovers Rei’s weakness for all things cute. In exchange for a plushie of a mythical flying cat, Rei joins Shiro on a nighttime stakeout, hoping to catch a ghost in the school bathroom. In the darkness, Rei can hardly believe her eyes when Shiro, in her excitement, starts to transform…into an adorable catgirl?! Can this school really be haunted with all kinds of monsters…cute ones?
Debut Date: Fall 2027
Source: Kodansha
