BLOOD BLADE, New Exclusive Series Announced at Comic-Con
New Original Manga Series BLOOD BLADE to Debut Exclusively at Kodansha.us
Available to read online with new episodes serialized weekly starting Fall 2023.
Kodansha Reader Portal accounts get free access until the release of the collected volume.
Coming to print Spring 2024.
At their industry panel at Comic-Con International today, Kodansha USA unveiled, for the first time in the world, an all-original manga series by Japanese creator Oma Sei, to be published first in English, titled BLOOD BLADE. A thrilling action-adventure saga about Count Dracula reborn and on the run from an organization that is capturing and using weapons of monstrous destruction, BLOOD BLADE will have its world premiere in Fall 2023 on Kodansha.us, with new content serialized weekly and available for free to Kodansha Reader Portal account holders. Episodes will be free until the release of the collected volume. After the exciting web-only run, BLOOD BLADE will also be available in print starting Spring 2024 and distributed by Penguin Random House.
BLOOD BLADE is an all-new kind of manga publishing effort, in which Kodansha premieres the works of an outstanding Japanese talent like Oma Sei to a worldwide English-reading audience first.b says Alvin Lu, Kodansha USA Publishing President & CEO. And we are inviting anyone to jump right into this manga series by offering each exciting new episode of BLOOD BLADE free for a limited time at the new Kodansha Reader Portal.b
"BLOOD BLADE was heavily inspired by classic horror films and dramas," says Oma Sei, BLOOD BLADE series creator. "Though it is filled with vampires, golems, and mummies, many of these monsters have waned in popularity since their heyday on the silver screen. Monsters that once inspired terror in humans have been left behind by the passage of time, to the point that one might call them an endangered species. In writing this series, I aim to bring the spotlight back onto these monsters of yore."
In the world of BLOOD BLADE, Count Dracula is reborn as a katana-wielding young vampiress in a new, never-before-seen action manga set in a gritty, alternate-history Europe. Fans of cinematic, gory, supernatural alternate histories, like Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing, and Vampire in the Garden, will want to sink their fangs into BLOOD BLADE.
After the reincarnated Dracula rescues a girl named Clara from a mysterious stranger, Clara explains that she is the creation of a certain Victor Frankenstein. She also reveals that she is fleeing from an organization called Cerberus, which seeks to capture and study monsters such as herself in order to create an army of human-monster hybrids. Clara begs the vampiress to flee with her to an island of monsters.
The new Kodansha Reader Portal allows new and existing manga fans to read and buy digital manga with greater ease, sample extended previews of hundreds of Kodansha series, take advantage of exclusive discounts, and much more. To experience the full benefits of becoming a Kodansha Reader, visit kodansha.us and sign up for a free account today!
