July 2022 & Spring 2023 Licensing Announcements
Kodansha USA Publishing announced today at Anime Expo their latest in new print licenses for manga and light novels arriving Spring 2023, as well as debuting digital series launching every week in July 2022!
Spring 2023 sees the release of all-new-in-English manga series like the yakuza/idol rom-com, The Yakuza's Bias; more exciting light novels like the isekai comedy, 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement; as well as digital-first series coming to to print, including A Condition Called Love, The Great Cleric, Twilight Out of Focus, and more.
In the realm of digital debuts, July 2022 sees the launch of Desert Eagle, a thrilling revenge saga from Ken Wakui, the creator of Tokyo Revengers; as well as a poignant story about struggling with dyslexia, My Wonderful World; a creepy and heartwarming monster detective series, Hella Chill Monsters; and more.
Print titles announced will be available Spring 2023 at local and online book vendors like Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, Amazon, and more! And all July 2022 digital debuts will be available upon release across all our participating digital vendors, including Bookwalker, Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play, Nook, Kobo, izneo, MyAnimeList and more!
See the full list of all-new licenses announced for print and digital below or on Kodansha.us.
SPRING 2023 PRINT LICENSES:
The Yakuza's Bias
By Teki Yatsuda
A yakuza enforcer becomes the gang world's biggest K-pop stan in this cult comedy manga that went from webcomic to sleeper hit in Japan! Perfect for fans of Way of the Househusband, Phantom of the Idol, or Spy x Family.
Rated: 16+
Lovely Muco!
By Takayuki Mizushina
Lovely Muco is a story that depicts the lovely everyday life of Komatsu-san, a glassmith, and his pet dog Muco. Muco's wish is that Komatsu-san could become a Shiba breed dog!
Rated: 8+
Seraph of the End: Guren Ichinose: Catastrophe at Sixteen
By Yo Asami & Takaya Kagami
A short while before the apocalypse, 15-year-old Guren Ichinose enrolls at Daiichi Shibuya High, a magical training school.
Witness his trials as he must hide his true strength even as he is trampled on at a school for the insufferably privileged. Previously released light novels, now in manga format.
Rated: 13+
Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement (Light Novel)
By FUNA
One day, Mitsuha falls off a cliff and is transported to a medieval Europe–type world! After a near-death encounter with a pack of wolves, she then realizes that she's able to transport between two worlds—this one and her own. Taking advantage of this ability, Mitsuha decides to live in both worlds and calculates that she'll need 80,000 gold coins to be able to retire! Mitsuha now has to come up with different ways to collect her gold coins!
Rated: 13+
Prophecy Omnibus Edition
By Tetsuya Tsutsui
A newspaper-masked vigilante who broadcasts his acts of vengeance before committing them. A newly-formed police division tackling the new frontier of internet-based crime. As the Sun rises on the Era of Information, can a group of people who found themselves at the bottom of the food chain rattle society through the web and avenge a fallen friend?
Rated: 16+
I (♂) Crossed-Dressed for the IRL (♀) Meetup
By Kurano
"Cocoa" has made three best friends in her online game, and she's excited to meet them in real life at a dessert café for the first time. The only problem: She's actually a man who's been lying to them. What begins as a tense manga about online life quickly turns into a lighthearted comedy about friendship, gender, and forgiving yourself and others.
Rated: 16+
Tsugumi Project
By ippatu
In the far future, a soldier named Leon is taken from his family on a trumped-up charge and dropped into a suicide mission: Recover a dangerous weapon from a deadly place — a place ruled by huge, irradiated, mutated monsters —a place once known, 200 years ago, as Japan. He and his teammates aren't expected to survive this place. One of the scant pieces of information they have is the weapon's name: Tsugumi.
Rated: 16+
The Surgery Room (Novel)
By Kyoka Izumi
Ilustrated By Honojiro Towoji
"But you couldn't have known!" A mysterious encounter in the surgery room leads back down the paths of memory, after a young woman refuses anesthetics to protect her secret... Kyoka Izumi's 1895 classic is a mysterious, wrenching tale of doomed love.
Rated: 16+
Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun
By Osamu Nishi
Iruma Suzuki has always been eager to please, even at the cost of his well-being. Worst yet, he's the son of two selfish parents who end up selling him to a demon. Thanks to their totally irresponsible actions, Iruma has found himself living in the Netherworld, where he must live and attend school as the grandson of an older demon. Luckily, his new, doting grandfather is there to help, but Iruma will have to figure out how to blend in with his demonic classmates or risk getting eaten. All he needs to do is subjugate rival classmates, summon familiars, and do other typical demon things while never revealing that he's human… Piece of cake, right?
Rated: 13+
Medaka Kuroiwa Is Impervious to My Charms
By Ran Kuze
Mona is the cutest girl in school, and she knows it. In fact, she's worked hard to make her high school debut successful. But no matter what she does, she can't seem to catch the eye of stone-cold stoic Medaka Kuroiwa — still, she's not about to give up that easy. Medaka, on the other hand, has been raised at a temple and was told to never become close to women. Who will win in this heated battle of wills? Coming to PRINT!
Rated: 13+
Twilight Out of Focus
By Jyanome
Second-years Mao Tsuchiya and Hisashi Otomo make three promises: 1) That Mao will never tell anyone that Hisashi is gay and has a boyfriend, 2) That Hisashi will never think of Mao "in that way," and 3) That they'll always knock before entering, in case someone is having some "private time." The two's ground rules should ensure a peaceful life together in their dorm, but life is never as simple as it should be, and some things are not so easily promised...Coming to PRINT!
Rated: 18+
A Condition Called Love
By Megumi Morino
Hotaru doesn't need a boyfriend. But an act of kindness to a classmate going through a breakup opens a door she never thought to step through, in and everything begins to change... A sweet new shojo romance manga from the creator of Wake Up, Sleeping Beauty!
Rated: 13+
The Great Cleric
Original story by Broccoli Lion
Art by Hiiro Akikaze
Character design by sime
One man's story of turning blood, sweat, and tears into a successful living—literally! After his untimely death as the hardest-working salary man in Japan, Luciel is reincarnated into the magical fantasy world Galdardia. Always the man with a plan, he recreates himself as a healer and sets about making his way in the world. But while Luciel knows a thing or two about making money, he knows absolutely nothing about Galdardia. Will his good heart and great work ethic be enough to make him…The Great Cleric?
Rated: 13+
Am I Actually the Strongest?
Original story by Sai Sumimori
Art by Ai Takahashi
This fast and funny action isekai manga about a newborn whose power is literally unfathomable is perfect for fans of My Unique Skill Makes Me OP Even at Level 1, The Abandoned Reincarnation Sage, and The Strongest Sage with the Weakest Crest. Already a digital hit, the fan favorite comes to print!
Rated: 16+
Quality Assurance in Another World
By Masamichi Sato
You think you're living a quiet life in the countryside. Then, one day, a dragon threatens your home, and everything changes — not because of the fire-breathing serpent, but because of Haga, the man who shows up and "debugs" the situation. Can it be that your life is nothing like what you thought? And what, exactly, is "QA?"
Rated: 13+
JULY 2022 DIGITAL DEBUTS
Desert Eagle
By Ken Wakui
Release Date: July 5, 2022
Ichigo Washio is a young man with a bright future—a bright future, that is, within the gangs of Shinjuku. When he meets Ringo Takamizawa, a fellow student hell-bent on revenge on those who took everything from his mother, the gregarious Ichigo doesn't think twice about helping Ringo—even when it means it’ll pit Ichigo against men he's looked up to his whole life. But Ichigo knows he's in the right, and with his new friends and a healthy dose of stupidity to guide him, he's ready to return justice to Shinjuku's streets! From the author of Tokyo Revengers!
Rated: 16+
My Wonderful World
By Mizuho Aimoto
Release Date: July 5, 2022
Shinobu Asakura has never been able to read or write—and not for lack of trying. It's made getting and holding down jobs difficult, and he's constantly berated by people who think he's simply slacking off when he's just trying to keep up. But a chance meeting with a café worker who introduces a new word to Shinobu's vocabulary—dyslexia—may just change the course of Shinobu's life forever.
Rated: 16+
My Maid, Miss Kishi
By Kano Kashiwagi
Debut Date: July 12, 2022
Kiichiro Hayase has a reputation as the wealthiest, hottest, most eligible bachelor in town. But as they say...behind every successful man is the maid who keeps him from tripping over his own two feet! Enter Miss Kishi, the most competent, professional maid around—and the only thing keeping from Kiichiro quite literally crashing and burning. He owes it all to her, but can he ever make it up to her? He's sworn to try...no matter how many things must get broken, scattered, or lost to do so!
Rated: 13+
Hella Chill Monsters
By Shuji Takeya
Release Date: July 19, 2022
Not everyone wishes for a peaceful afterlife... least of all Bonzo Scalobania, whose dearest wish is to find a case for a skeleton detective like him to solve! Along with his unreliable assistant, Vampy Vinegret, and zombie frenemy/bounty hunter Nero Lichman, Bonzo swears to solve the problems of Limbo City! But does it still count if the problems he's solving are ones of his and his friends' own making?? A wacky, weird, heartwarming tale for the undead in us all.
Rated: 16+
My Tentative Name
By Takeru Okutsu
Release Date: July 26, 2022
Our protagonist awakes in a house he doesn't know—in fact, not only does he not know where he is, he doesn't know who he is. What he does know is that this unfamiliar house is empty, save for the body (and head) of a decapitated woman—a stranger, he thinks. He’s rescued by a woman, Shio, who calls him "Iori"...but is that who he really is? And when she helps him hide the body without batting an eye, telling him to trust her...can he? Should he?
Rated: 16+