With another day at New York Comic Con comes a brand new set of publisher events and panels. On Saturday afternoon, Kodansha presented five licensing announcements for manga fans—three physical and two digital.
Here’s what to expect from Kodansha in the coming months.
Physical manga licenses
The Fable (Spring 2024)
First up, Kodansha announced the print license for the long-awaited, award-winning manga series The Fable by Katsuhisa Minami. Fans of The Fable had been clamoring for this series to be finally released in English for quite a while now. In this riotous comedy series, we follow the titular Fable, a legendary hitman tasked by his boss with the most difficult task he has had to date: taking a year-long break from work!
Kodansha is also offering a free preview of Chapter 1, which can be viewed here. No information regarding format or pricing has been announced. Release is slated for spring 2024.
Blue Lock: Episode Nagi (Fall 2024)
With Kodansha’s previously licensed battle royale soccer/football series Blue Lock by Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura tearing up the manga sales charts, a print license for Blue Lock: Episode Nagi by Kota Sannomiya was inevitable. This will be a must-have for all Blue Lock fans!
The official synopsis reads, “Seishiro Nagi, a second-year high schooler, thought everything was a pain and lived his life in an apathetic fog. That is, until he met Reo Mikage and they entered the mysterious striker training center, Blue Lock… A new spin-off from Blue Lock‘s author, Muneyuki Kaneshiro, telling the story from Nagi’s point of view!”
No information regarding format or pricing has been announced. Release is slated for fall 2024.
Tank Chair (Fall 2024)
Kodansha shocked fans what might be the most bizarre manga announcement of the entire weekend: brutal action series Tank Chair by Manabu Yashiro. The series is relatively new, having only been published by Kodansha JP in Magazine Pocket since July 2021.
The official synopsis reads, “Shizuka takes on the most dangerous of assassin jobs, but she’s not the one doing the killing. Rather, it’s her brother, Nagi, a strong assassin who took a bullet to protect his sister, leaving him in a comatose state and having to use a wheelchair. However, Shizuka has figured out the key to waking her brother up: he must be faced with killing intent! Thus begins a violent journey of recovery, battling the most dangerous foes!”
No information regarding format or pricing has been announced. Release is slated for fall 2024.
Digital manga licenses
He’s Expecting (Hiyama Kentarou no Ninshin) (November 7, 2023)
With the physical license announcements out of the way, Kodansha then revealed a digital license for slice-of-life Josei series, He’s Expecting (Hiyama Kentarou no Ninshin) by Eri Sakai. This short, seven-chapter series about a pregnant, elite salaryman was adapted into a single volume in the magazine Be-Love. He’s Expecting also received a live-action TV drama on Netflix in 2022.
The official synopsis reads, “When career-minded Kentaro Hiyama finds out that he’s pregnant, it will change the course of more than just his own life. In the Japan of Eri Sakai’s thought experiment, ten years have passed since the male sex has spontaneously gained the ability to get pregnant, and society has struggled to adjust. Kentaro isn’t sure at first who the mother might be, and quickly finds himself butting up against regressive attitudes and discriminatory policies—most of which long precede male pregnancy. In his previous life, he’d never given any of it a second thought—he may have even held the same views. But through his encounters with other pregnant people, and galvanized by his new perspective, Kentaro turns his skills in business and marketing to effecting social change.”
Kodansha is also offering a free preview of Chapter 1, which can be viewed here. The digital release date for the series is November 7.
How to Treat a Lady Knight Right (November 21, 2023)
For the final digital license announcement of the day, Kodansha revealed it had rescued the license for How to Treat a Lady Knight Right by Kengo Matsumoto. The series had previously been licensed and published in 2019 by Sol Press before the publisher went defunct. This wholesome rom-com follows Leo Cornelia, a muscular, battle-worn female knight, as she struggles to handle a confession of love from a dopey mage named Fooly Dent.
Kodansha is also offering a free preview of Chapter 1, which can be viewed here. The digital release date for the series is November 21.
