VIZ Media has announced that it will publish an English-language edition of Machiko Kyō‘s cocoon. The manga is scheduled to be released in Summer 2026.
The announcement was shared on VIZ’s official social media accounts, as well as via the creator on Bluesky (where I first learned of the news). The announcement reads:
Announcement: Based on a true story. San and her friends are recruited as assistant nurses in Okinawa at the end of WWII. In cave hospitals of carnage and relentless loss, they endure as war strips away their innocence. cocoon, by Machiko Kyo, will release in Summer 2026.
Kyō’s cocoon was first serialized in Akita Shoten‘s josei manga magazine Elegance Eve from March 2009 to May 2010, and is part of the creator’s trilogy about war. It is based on the real-life group, the Himeyuri students (erroneously known as the “Lily Corps” in English). Consisting of 222 students, aged 15 to 19 years old, and 18 teachers who attended/taught at two prestigious Okinawan schools, First Okinawa Girls’ High School and Okinawa Women’s Normal School, the group of young women was mobilized by the Japanese Imperial Army during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945, near the end of World War II, and conscripted to work as nurses at field hospitals (often just caves or underground shelters) for the Japanese military.
Falsely told that they would be working at Red Cross hospitals far away from the fighting, the Himeyuri students were instead positioned at field hospitals close to the front lines. With minimal or no medical training, the girls were tasked with performing crude surgeries on wounded soldiers, burying the dead, and transporting ammunition and supplies to front-line troops, often under horrific, unsanitary, and extremely dangerous conditions.
Up until the Himeyuri unit was dissolved, only 19 students had been killed. But when the Japanese military abruptly disbanded them with a dissolution order on June 18, 1945, ordering them to leave the caves and fend for themselves, in the middle of the ongoing battle, many of the schoolgirls wound up as casualties of the crossfire of Japanese and American forces. In the week following the dissolution order, approximately 80% of the unit had died, with 123 girls and 15 teachers dying during the battle, and another 87, who were allowed to go home, also perished, according to Stars and Stripes.
The Himeyuri tragedy is one of the most poignant symbols of the suffering of civilians in war, especially of how Japan’s militarization exploited its own youth. Today, a Himeyuri Peace Museum and monument are dedicated to the memory of the students in Itoman, Okinawa, and the story is often used in peace education in Japan to teach about the horrors of war and the importance of peace.
There is also an anime film adaptation of Kyō’s cocoon, produced by Sasayuri with the help of animation producer Hitomi Tateno. It is directed by Toko Ina and features music composed by Kensuke Ushio. The adaptation was broadcast on BS NHK beginning in late March 2025, with an additional broadcast on the general NHK network in August 2025.
Other Summer 2026 announcements from VIZ include Alice in Borderland Retry by Haro Aso, Daydream Darling by Io Sakisaka, The Marshal King by Boichi, Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi by Shoichi Usui, Shinobi Undercover by Ippon Takegushi (story) and Santa Mitarashi (art), Hima-Ten! by Genki Ono, Assassin’s Creed Shadows: Tales of Iga by reguje, Taika’s Reason by Paru Itagaki, Star Wars: Visions: Tsukumo by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi, Half is More by Yoiko Fujimi, I’m No Angel by Ai Yazawa, Sakamoto Days: Assassin’s Method novel by Renka Misaki, based on an original concept by Yūto Suzuki, and more.
Check out the cover images below:
