BLAST FROM THE PAST!
What’s your favorite manga from back in the day? The legends of manga are legion, but due to the ups-and-downs and unavoidable realities of print publishing, some all-time classic series have gone out of print or have been otherwise unavailable for years 😱
Enter Kodansha Comics digital editions: we’ve been resurrecting a slew of classic series as part of our digital-first lineup—and in some cases continuing series like BECK that never concluded in English translation—so that you and new generations of manga fans can dig deep into one of the richest manga catalogs around. And to showcase those titles this week, we’re hosting our Resurrection Sale, with 20+ “blast from the past” manga series discounted up to 50% off  at all of our digital retail partners: BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, and nook. (Sale ends April 22.)

— Kodansha Comics Resurrection Sale! — 
April 15 – 22
Click on the link to read Chapter 1 for FREE!

Air Gear 
BECK–exclusively on comiXolgy and Kindle
Dragon Head
Gakuen Prince
Mushishi
Nodame Cantabile
NOiSE
Parasyte
Neo-Parasyte f
Neo-Parasyte m
Love Hina
Negima
Peach Girl
Peach Girl NEXT — a new sequel!
Princess Resurrection
Princess Resurrection Nightmare  — a new sequel!
Pumpkin Scissors
Rave Master
Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei
School Rumble
Suzuka
Yagyu Ninja Scrolls
Yozakura Quartet
Voices of A Distant Star

Get ready for some action, because the Spring 2019 anime season is about to kick off, and that means Kodansha Comics powerhouse series will be back on the air, along with up-and-coming series debuting as new anime!
To showcase those manga-series-turned-anime-premieres this spring, this week we’re having another Manga to Anime Sale, with all digital volumes of this season’s must-read manga-to-anime titles up to 50% off at all of our digital retail partners: BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, and nook. (Sale ends April 15.) 

~ Spring 2019 Manga to Anime Sale  ~
April 9-15
Click on the link to read Chapter 1 for FREE!

 
Ace of the Diamond by Yuji Terajima
Eijun Sawamura had his heart set on the middle-school national baseball championships. But his team is eliminated thanks to a wild pitch thrown by Eijun himself. He’s planning to go to high school with his teammates and try again next year when he’s scouted by the famous Seido High School baseball team. When he goes for a campus visit, he finds himself on the receiving end of a baptism by fire! His experience forming a battery with up-and-coming catcher Miyuki rekindles his passion for baseball!!
The new season of the Ace of the Diamond Act II anime is now streaming on Crunchyroll! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 
Ao-chan Can’t Study! by Ren Kawahara
When Ao was in kindergarten, she smiled ear-to-ear as she told her classmates how her father (a bestselling erotic author) chose her name: “A as in apple and O as in orgy!” That day still haunts her ten years later as she studies with a single goal in mind: get into an elite university and achieve independence from her father once and for all. She has no youth to misspend and no time to think about boys … until her classmate,“King Normie” Kijima, approaches her with a shocking confession of love. She tries to lose Kijima, but he just can’t take a hint … and as her mind runs wild with impure thoughts, she realizes her father has totally influenced her!
This brand-new anime series is now available on HIDIVE!
 
 
 
 
 

Fairy Tail  by Hiro Mashima

Prepared to do what they need to or die trying, Fairy Tail faces off against the vast hordes of the Alvarez Empire. They’ve retaken the port town of Hargeon, but the battles are hard, and every victory is costly. Fairy Tail’s prisoner, Brandish, makes an offer to act as a go-between in a negotiation with August, a man known as the strongest of the Spriggan 12. Fairy Tail is desperate, but can Brandish be trusted? Meanwhile, Gajeel’s group has fought a fierce battle to rescue the members of Saber Tooth and regain lost ground, but powerful enemies are close, which could mean more despair for the embattled members of Fairy Tail …

The high drama of Fairy Tail continues in the 9th season of the anime on Crunchyroll and Funimation!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama
The Survey Corps has overthrown the Royal Government and swept away the tyranny of the king. The next step: move to retake Wall Maria, with the helpf of a newly discovered metallic ore and Eren’s miraculous Titan hardening powers. But as humanity pulls together, its enemies also unite beyond the Walls … now that the Beast Titan has joined Reiner and Bertolt, what havoc will they wreak?
Attack on Titan anime Season 3 Part 2 will start on April 28 on Crunchyroll and Funimation! 
 
 
 
 
 
 

10 years of Kodansha Comics!

The year 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the first Kodansha Comics manga published in English. Please join us in celebration as we select one classic Kodansha Comics series each month for exclusive content, promotions, and other surprises!

A Silent Voice Volumes 1-7 are available now from Kodansha Comics in a beautiful complete collector’s-edition box set for old and new fans alike!

April Spotlight: A Silent Voice
Our April Spotlight title is Yoshitoki Oima’s moving coming-of-age manga A Silent Voice, and with the release of the A Silent Voice movie now out on Bluray and DVD, it couldn’t be better timing to celebrate this Eisner-nominated series! So what kind of “special surprises” do we have waiting for you this month? Check these out …

Surprise 1: Exclusive A Silent Voice pin!
As a part of the 10 Years of Kodansha Comics project, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Rightstuf to bring you these awesome exclusive A Silent Voice pins!

Visit Rightstuf and order any volume of A Silent Voice or the A Silent Voice Complete Series Box Set and you’ll receive an exclusive A Silent Voice pin for FREE! Available this month (April 2019) only or while supplies last.

Surprise 2: A Silent Voice Survey Sweepstakes!

Here’s your chance to do all of the following: (a) check out the original A Silent Voice manga,(b) complete your collection with the brand new A Silent Voice Complete Series Box Set, and (c) check out more manga from creator Yoshitoki Oima! For the month of April only, ONE lucky winner will win a copy of the A Silent Voice Complete Series Box Set, one copy of the A Silent Voice Bluray/DVD from our friends at Eleven Arts / Shout Factory,!, AND a complete collection of Yoshitoki Oima’s previous manga series: Mardock Scramble and Volumes 1-9 of To Your Eternity!
All you have to do is take this survey by April 30 to enter for a chance to win.

Surprise 3: Yoshitoki Oima long interview excerpt
Kodansha Comics is also proud to present a special interview with Yoshitoki Oima! First appearing in the A Silent Voice Fanbook (Japan only), this interview with A Silent Voice creator Yoshitoki Oima has never before been translated into English … until now!

About Yoshitoki Oima
Yoshitoki Oima won the 80th Weekly Shonen Magazine Rookie Manga Prize, and debuted in 2009 with Mardock Scramble. Following A Silent Voice, her new series, To Your Eternity, began serializing inWeekly Shonen Magazine at the end of 2016.
Really See, Really Hear: A Silent Voice Yoshitoki Oima Long Interview
An excerpt from the interview first published in the A Silent Voice Fanbook (September 2016)
 

A Theme of Communication
Q. A Silent Voice deals with a lot of very serious themes, including bullying and hearing impairment. The series comes across as a very brave act. Do you feel that way?
Yoshitoki Oima (YO): I’m a little uncomfortable reducing the work to simplistic statements like “It’s about bullying.” Personally, I never saw the series as being “about” bullying or hearing impairment; instead, I was attempting to illustrate, literally, how difficult it can be for people to communicate their feelings to each other. So while the title may be A Silent Voice, I very much intended to depict communication as a whole. Shoko can’t hear, that’s true, but that’s really just one of the things that makes her who she is; and in the same way, the bullying in this series is one result of a particular kind of communication.

Q. Is there something specific that motivated you to take on communication, and the difficulty of communicating feelings, as your theme?
YO: A Silent Voice actually draws a lot from my own experience: the regret over my failure to take notice of and listen to the voice of one girl in particular; it deeply influenced Shoya’s commitment to “really see, really listen.” It’s not that my friend couldn’t hear, but in this story, Shoko’s inability to hear is partially a nudge to help readers key in to the main theme. It wasn’t intended to be the core of the series, per se.
Q. It’s true that Shoya never once uses the word “bullying” to describe his own actions.
YO: Shoya is all too aware how it would sound if he described his past behavior toward Shoko as “bullying,” so he strongly resists using that word and labeling it that way.
In contrast, the people around him, including Miki, Naoka, and Mr. Takeuchi, are perfectly happy calling it “bullying”. That compartmentalizes the bullying, and sort of lets them feel that they weren’t involved. That’s a relief for them, and they find “bullying” a very convenient term as they create their own narratives of themselves.
Q. Miki and Naoka sometimes use the word “karma” to describe the events of the series. Is this something else they say simply because it’s convenient for them, like “bullying”?
YO: “Karma” is a word the characters use as an easy dodge. They’re trying to live their own lives, and “karma” is a box they can compartmentalize things in to help make sense of them. For me personally,“karma” is not a significant factor in the series.
It’s possible one reason people focus so much on the word “karma” is that it gives readers a certain sense of relief, too. Words like “karma,” or phrases like “crime and punishment” and “good is rewarded; evil is punished,” are frameworks that lend themselves very well to stories. Some readers might expect characters who do something wrong to be punished, but I wasn’t specifically thinking about that during the writing.
I do want to be clear about one thing, though: I didn’t write Miki, or even Mr. Takeuchi or Shoko’s paternal family, to be “villains.”
Q. Do you mean they’re each right in their own way – or at least have their own feelings about all this?
YO: I drew each scene with empathy for the character in question—like how Mr. Takeuchi acts in the elementary school, and when Shoko’s paternal grandfather says,“We don’t want anyone like that in our family” (vol 4, ch. 32: Gum Syrup). These characters all realize that “If I say something like this, I might come off as a bad person.” But they all say these things convinced that “raising a child with disabilities isn’t as simple as you think.”
While each character says these things in their own way, the words they speak and the attitudes they exhibit spring from brutally honest feelings they can’t deny. These are things I might have even said myself if I were ignorant of people with disabilities. For example, when faced with serious issues and cornered to make a decision, maybe I would’ve also said something like,“This may be taboo, but I’m going to speak my mind.”
Of course, it’s up to each individual to think about what’s good and bad, and that is what Shoko’s mother found troubling.

Shoko’s Feelings, Conveyed in the Communication Notebook

Q. The communication notebook plays a crucial role in the meeting, conflict, and finally reunion between Shoya and Shoko.

YO: With her grandmother, Shoko practiced speaking aloud; she was making an effort to use her voice to talk. But when she stopped speaking, that notebook became her one line of communication with hearing people.
Q. Why does Shoko stop talking?
YO: It has a lot to do with her mother and Yuzuru. It made Shoko unbearably sad to see Yuzuru getting bullied because Shoko couldn’t speak like everyone else; that’s the first reason. The second reason was that her mother wanted Shoko to be able to speak well, but when things don’t go as smoothly as planned, her mother becomes frustrated—Shoko picks up on that. So she slowly stops using her voice.
The message Shoko displays in the notebook when she transfers to Suimon Elementary School—“I would like to get to know everyone through this notebook”—really says it all. For her, the communication notebook isn’t just the one tool that allows her to communicate; it’s a symbol of Shoko’s hope that she can be friends with her classmates.
Q. But some pretty cruel things end up written in that notebook.
YO: Shoko starts out being able to converse normally with everyone through the notebook, but gradually all the notes turn to complaints, and then to outright meanness. Shoko sees all this as her own fault, so—as a means of self-defense and to smooth things over with everyone else—she hides how she really feels and just starts to apologize all the time. It culminates in Shoya throwing the notebook into the pond, and even though she immediately rushes to fish it out again, Shoko herself decides to throw the notebook away immediately afterward. It was her only haven, and now she’s abandoning it: she’s given up on communicating. This encounter with Shoya is the last straw; Shoko can no longer hold back all the feelings she’s been keeping inside, and confesses to Yuzuru that she wants to die. The notebook was just that important to her.
How can everyone write such awful things in this precious notebook of hers? It’s because nobody can see how important it is—not even her mother. That’s why her mother can throw it off the bridge like she does. I gave that chapter the title “I Gave Up Once Before” because it answers the question “What did Shoko give up in elementary school?” When, in high school, Shoya suddenly shows up with the notebook Shoko thought she’d abandoned, to her it’s much more than just an old notebook. It’s as if Shoya has brought back with him the whole hope of being friends with everyone that Shoko had thrown away in elementary school—friends she was going to make with that notebook.
When Shoya asks,“Is that notebook really that important?”, Shoko responds,“It matters because you brought it back to me.” She clasps it to her chest with one hand over the other, letting him know how precious it is.

Q. Shoya pulled the communication notebook out of the pond and kept it all that time. Does that show that, on some level, he had a sense of how much it meant to Shoko?
YO: Having experienced bullying himself, Shoya can look at the notebook and realize what awful things everyone wrote there. But at the same time, he sees how Shoko never wrote anything but “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He starts to ask himself, why would she throw away something that mattered so much to her? And he starts to wonder: was there more she wanted to say? That’s why he held onto it for so long.
Q. So when Shoya hits Shoko, that’s because he thinks she ought to be more open about herself, right?
YO: The way Shoko only ever wrote “I’m sorry” in the notebook gnaws at Shoya. He wanted to bring out—maybe you could call it—Shoko’s true self. He wanted to know how she really felt.
 

Wanna read more interview like this?
Then check out Kodansha Comics’ exclusive interview with Yoshitoki Oima from 2016! 

Don’t miss A Silent Voice out now on bluray/DVD, available now from Shout Factory!

Celebrate 10 Years of Kodansha Comics with us all year long by following us on KodanshaComics.com!

Be sure to check back again next month, when we’ll be throwing the spotlight onto yet another Kodansha classic!

SPRING BREAK! Exotic country? Remote island? Or a plain old staycation in your living room … a good manga could be your best buddy during your getaway! That’s why, for this week only, we’ve picked out manga with awesome travel destinations, and put them on 50% off discount during the Spring Break Sale at our digital retail partners:  BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, Kindle, and nook! (Sale ends April 8.) 

~ Spring Break Sale  ~
April 2-8
Click on the link to read Chapter 1 for FREE!

Are You Lost?
Blissful Land
Cage of Eden
Chihayafuru
COPPELION
CITY
Complex Age
Flying Witch
Forest of Piano
The Garden of Words
Grand Blue Dreaming
Heaven’s Design Team
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness
Is Kichijoji the Only Place to Live?
Kino’s Journey
Mushishi
Space Brothers

Spring is right around that corner, which also means  winter—and the winter anime season—is coming to an end! Especially this season, we had lots of new fan-favorite anime that were originally based on manga from Kodansha Comics.
To help you recap them all—and to read ahead from where the anime season left off—this week only we’re holding our Winter 2019 Anime Season Finale Sale, where all the digital volumes of those “manga to anime” series are up to 50% off at all of our digital retail partners:  BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, Kindle, and nook! (Sale ends April 1.)

2019 Anime Season Finale Sale
— Click on the covers to read free full Chapter 1s —

Fairy Tail— watch the anime on Crunchyroll and Funimation

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime— watch the anime on Crunchyroll and Funimation

Domestic Girlfriend— watch the anime on Crunchyroll

The Quintessential Quintuplets— watch the anime on Crunchyroll

Real Girl — watch the anime on HIDIVE

Forest of Piano— watch the anime on Netflix

You love music, right? Whether you play or listen, you know that it’s the closest thing to magic in the real world! But music in manga has its own magic. In fact, some manga capture and express music so well that you can almost hear the sounds from those otherwise silent black and white panels. How do you explain that?
To share those epic moments with you, this week we’ve selected 9 manga with epic sounds and put them on 50% off discount at our digital retail partners: BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, Kindle, and nook. (Sale ends March 25.)

And if you haven’t already heard, BECK, the legendary rock ‘n’ roll manga, was rebooted asa  comiXology Original series, and now the complete series is available in English for the first time! All volumes of BECK are on sale exclusively on comiXology and Kindle! (Sale ends March 25.)

~ I Love Music Sale  ~
March 19-25
Click on the link to read Chapter 1 for FREE!

BECK – exclusively available on comiXology and Kindle
Forest of Piano
Nodame Cantabile
Wave, Listen to Me!
Your Lie in April
Worlds’ End and Apricot Jam
Back Street Girls
Fuuka
Yozakura Quartet

Jocks vs. Nerds!
Ah. The timeless conflict within our society … or within ourselves … or what!? Why’s it gotta be so black and white when there’s no winning this particular game? That’s why this week we celebrate jocks into manga and nerds reading about jocks in manga by selecting 25+ nerdy/sporty manga and putting them at 50% off discount at our digital retail partners: BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, Kindle, and nook. (Sale ends March 18.)  So before you take a side, check out the teams! 

~ Jocks vs. Nerds Sale  ~
March 12-18
Click on the link to read Chapter 1 for FREE!

Team Jocks

Ace of the Diamond
Again!!
All Out!!
All-Rounder Meguru
Boarding School Juliet
Cage of Eden
Days
Grand Blue Dreaming
Sayonara Football
School Rumble
Shojo Fight
Tokyo Revengers
Welcome to the Ballroom

Team Nerds

Alicia’s Diet Quest
Complex Age
Genshiken: Second Season
I Want to Hold Aono-kun So Badly I Could Die
I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World
Kasane
Kira-kun Today
Kiss Him, Not Me!
Magical Sempai
Manga Dogs
My Brother The Shut-In
Princess Jellyfish
Real Girl
Tsuredure Children

10 years of Kodansha Comics! 
The year 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of the first Kodansha Comics manga published in English. Please join us in celebration as we select one classic Kodansha Comics series each month for exclusive content, promotions, and other surprises!
 

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Volumes 1-2 are available now from Kodansha Comics;
Volume 3 coming March 19, 2019!

 
March Spotlight: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon
Our March Spotlight title is Naoko Takeuchi’s classic magical girl manga Sailor Moon, and with the release of Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 3, “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live making its U.S. Debut in Washington D.C. and New York this month, and the U.S. Bluray and DVD release of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars from our friends at VIZ, it couldn’t be a better month to celebrate this magical classic! So what kind of “special surprises” do we have waiting for you this month? Check these out…

Surprise 1: Exclusive Sailor Moon pin!

As a part of the 10 Years of Kodansha Comics project, we’ve teamed up with our friends at Rightstuf to bring you these awesome exclusive Sailor Moon pins!

Visit Rightstuf and order any volume of Sailor Moon, Sailor V, Sailor Moon Short Stories, or Sailor Moon Eternal Edition and you’ll receive a exclusive Sailor Moon pin for FREE! Available this month (March 2019) only or while supplies last.
 

Surprise 2: Sailor Moon Survey Sweepstakes!

Have you been longing to complete your Sailor Moon collection with the brand new, premium Sailor Moon Eternal Editions? Well here’s your lucky chance: for the month of March only, ONE lucky winner will win a set of Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Volumes 1-3 and a Bluray/DVD Box Set of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, courtesy of our friends at VIZ! All you have to do is take this survey by March 31.

Surprise 3: Interview with Sailor Moon Japanese Editor Fumio Osano
Kodansha Comics is also proud to present a special interview with Fumio Osano, the original Japanese Editor of Sailor Moon, exclusively for international Sailor Moon fans. We had the opportunity to reach out to Osano-san (aka OSABU), and had a chance to discuss Sailor Moon Eternal Edition, “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live, and more!
 
Kodansha Comics (KC): What should fans of the new Sailor Moon Eternal Edition be looking forward to in 2019? What are some of the charms of the new edition?

Fumio Osano (OSABU) (FO): New volumes of the best-selling Eternal Edition are going to keep on coming. It’s printed in an American size, which should make people with big hands very happy, and all the chapter title pages are being reproduced in full color. And they’ll be the same size as when they first appeared in Nakayosi magazine, so this edition will give the fans a taste of what Takeuchi-sensei originally envisioned.

KC: What scenes are you looking forward to revisiting in the Eternal Edition release?

FO: I’m fond of Volume 1, where Ami-chan first shows up, and Volume 5, where we first see Hotaru-chan.

KC: How do you think fans of Sailor Moon have changed in the last 25 years? And how has Sailor Moon itself changed in relation to the fans?

FO: Fans who enjoyed Sailor Moon as children have now grown into full-fledged adults… I am extremely grateful that their love for Sailor Moon continues to this day. Many people have told me they see the series in a different light now that they’ve reread it as adults. For example, there will be a character they didn’t like much before, but now they can understand how that character feels (such as Queen Beryl). Takeuchi-sensei started the series in her twenties and drew it into her thirties, so now that the fans who enjoyed it as children and teens are the same age she was, I think they’re making new discoveries.

KC: How has your own relationship with Sailor Moon changed over the years?

FO: I was Takeuchi-sensei’s editor for the entire five-year run of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. After that, I was transferred to another position and removed from that post, but when I went back to Nakayosi, I became her editor again. I was editor for her work on Toki*Meka!. Then I went back to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon as its editor for its 20th anniversary. At first, I worked on Sailor Moon in addition to other titles, but now it’s my main focus.

KC: What should U.S. fans expect from “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live? How is it different from ways U.S. fans have experienced Sailor Moon before (like the anime and manga)?

FO: In Japan, fans have enjoyed the series in three main forms—manga, anime, and musical theater—since the ’90s. You might say these live shows are the third pillar of Sailor Moon, and I am nothing short of thrilled that Americans can experience one now, too. The Super Live was designed so that people from overseas could watch a Japanese musical and still follow it without any trouble. I really hope everyone gets the pleasure of seeing the Sailor Guardians live and in person.

KC: Is there anything we should especially be looking out for in “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live that U.S. fans otherwise might miss or might not know about?

FO: The biggest thing would have to be the characters’ dramatic and spectacular dance moves! The lighting effects are another big highlight. Also, in France, the opening number got a huge round of applause.

KC: After attending Anime Expo 2018, what most surprised you or interested you about U.S. fans? Aside from their big hands 😉

FO: American fans really are very passionate. They all speak such good Japanese, and they understand the series so well. I wondered how they all knew so much about OSABU. Incidentally, the first time I went to New York was 1986. I was touring record stores. It was when CDs were starting to pick up steam. But nobody cares about that, do they?

KC: Sailor Moon is now in its mid-twenties. What do you think the Sailor Guardians would be up to in their twenties and thirties?

FO: Naoko Takeuchi-sensei wrote about this in a short story called “Parallel Sailor Moon,” which I would highly recommend. It’s very funny. It should be published in volume 10 of the Eternal Edition.

KC: Which Sailor Guardian would have the most interesting social media account(s) and why?

FO: Usagi: Would always tweet things she shouldn’t and get called out a lot. Oh dear.
Ami: Would alternate between really complicated and really clueless tweets.
Rei: Would focus on fortune-telling questions.
Makoto: Would be really popular on Instagram with all her pictures of food and flowers.
Minako: Nothing but idol gossip.
 
Thank you Osano-san!
 
But that’s not all! Did you know that “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live is coming soon to venue theater near you? If you live in Washington D.C. or New York, don’t miss your chance to see “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live to experience Sailor Moon like never before!

And if you’ll be seeing  “Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon” The Super Live in New York, don’t miss your chance to stop by the Kodansha Comics pop-up shop in the Playstation Theater to pick up your copy of  Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Volumes 1 through 3 and exclusive Sailor Moon Store merchandise!
 

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Part 1 is coming to home video very soon! The special Limited Edition version includes exclusive behind the scenes interviews, 17 episodes on 3 Blu-rays and DVDs, booklet and much more all in a gorgeous deluxe collector’s box! Sign up on viz.com to get updates on its release!
 
 
 

Celebrate 10 Years of Kodansha Comics with us all year long by following us on KodanshaComics.com!

Be sure to check back again next month, when we’ll be throwing the spotlight onto yet another Kodansha classic!