Psssst! Going to San Diego Comic Con July 19-22?
We’re going to have some exciting new announcements for Battle Angel Alita and The Ghost in the Shell—as well as other new licensing announcements for 2018 and beyond!. Plus, join the Q&A for a chance to win special giveaway items!
So come check out the Kodansha Comics panel on Saturday July 21, 2018 at 11:30am-12:30pm in Room 8!
“Do I have to be there?” For giveaways and fun—yes! But for the info, just check back here at kodanshacomics.com for breaking updates on our panel announcements!
Eisner Winner update!
Congratulations to Katsuhiro Otomo and the designers and editors behind our Akira 35th Anniversary Edition box set, which won in two categories on July 20 at San Diego Comic-Con’s 2018 Will Eisner Comic Book Industry Awards!
Best Publication Design
Product design by Phil Balsman, Akira Saito (Veia), NORMA Editorial, and MASH•ROOM
Best Archival Collection/Project—Comic Books
By Katsuhiro Otomo, edited by Haruko Hashimoto, Ajani Oloye, and Lauren Scanlan
BIG kudos to all of you!
July 21 update!
Meanwhile, at our San Diego Comic Con panel, besides having special guest Shu Hashimoto, the editor of Boarding School Juliet, share behind-the-scenes process for making hit manga, we here at Kodansha Comics also made several new announcements—including new art reveal for the Battle Angel Alita box set (coming November 2018), and several August digital-first titles, including five yaoi titles launching August 21! Here’s the rundown:
Battle Angel Alita
Coming November 2018, the Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition Box Set includes Volumes 1-5 of the Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Edition, plus the Holy Night and Other Stories collection and a huge poster featuring brand new color art by Yukito Kishiro, created exclusively for this set!
Check it out! Here’s a first look at the poster art!
The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network
The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network, the anthology of The Ghost in the Shell is coming this fall. The full creator credit and synopsis for the four stories had been revealed!
Story 1: “Automatic Behavior” by Max Gladstone & David López
In this story by Max Gladstone, author of the Hugo-nominated Craft Sequence novels, and David López, the star artist of All-New Wolverine, Kusanagi and Aramaki are visiting Shanghai under cover as trade attachés when Aramaki is abducted in a sudden attack. Kusanagi recognizes the kidnappers as an elite American squadron she faced years earlier in Laos. But something is wrong – these soldiers should all be dead. Aramaki awakens inside a simulated world where his captors use repetition and pain to wear him down. Cut off from support, Kusanagi will have to reunite with an old friend to discover who has taken Aramaki and recover him before they break his ICE and access his ghost.
Story 2: “Redbloods” by Alex de Campi & Giannis Milonogiannis
From legendary writer Alex de Campi (Twisted Romance, Grindhouse) and Giannis Milonogiannis of Image Comics’s acclaimed Prophet. A raid on a pleasure cruise off the coast of Yokohama unveils an international gang of smugglers trading illegally in the cyber-bodies of children. The trail leads to a dank corner of what was once Louisiana, where Togusa and Saito find themselves alone and outgunned. Meanwhile, Chief Aramaki and Major Kusanagi clash over a difference in philosophy with major implications for one little girl.
Story 3: “After the Ball Is Over” by Genevieve Valentine & Brent Schoonover
By Genevieve Valentine (Catwoman) and Brent Schoonover (Ant-Man), this story is set amid the aftermath of the war that divided the United States into three separate entities now at an uneasy peace. A woman has lived without augmentations, making a living by smuggling information the analog way. But an encounter with a man she never thought to see again drives her to stick her neck out one last time, and brave the checkpoints and suspicion that now pock what was once the land of the free.
Story 4: “Star Gardens” by Brenden Fletcher & LRNZ
From the explosive combination of Brenden Fletcher (Batgirl, Motor Crush) and LRNZ (Golem) comes an exploration of the nature of identity and imagination, punctuated by stylized fights and homages to every past incarnation of Section 9. A mind-blowing, kinetic descent into the mind of Major Motoko Kusanagi concludes The Ghost in the Shell: Global Neural Network.
Digital-First New Releases: August 2018
Debuts August 7th! My Boy in Blue By Maki Miyoshi
Kako gets tangled up when she lies about her age in order to attend a company-mixer party for singles and ends up totally infatuated with her young local policeman! And it looks like it’s mutual with Kota… until he finds out Kako’s still in high school. Read on to see if straight-arrow Kota manages to find a way to do the right thing as our story unfolds in the first volume of this upbeat new romantic comedy from Maki Miyoshi!
Debuts August 14th! Back Street Girls By Jasmine Gyuh
Tough gangland retribution takes a disturbingly bright, shiny turn in this insanely guilty pleasure about 3 yakuzas who, as repayment for their failures, must undergo major surgery and become … a hot female idol trio! So what happens when they become the next big pop sensation!?
Debuts August 28th! Peach Girl by Miwa Ueda
Yes! The complete 18-volume run of Miwa Ueda’s ‘90s shojo megahit Peach Girl is back! Suntans and bleached hair were never quite so problematic, and high school drama was never quite so …. dramatic! This digital reissued edition combines the original Tokyopop run of Peach Girl and Peach Girl: Change of Heart.
… and last but not least! In addition to the print yaoi and yuri manga announcements we made at Anime Expo, we announced five new yaoi titles from Kodansha’s Honey Milk imprint for release on August 21! Behold:
Stray Bullet Baby by Kei Ichikawa
Chihiro Murakami works at a film advertising firm and looks up to Kiyoharu Honna, the stylish editor of the trendy magazine his company does business with. He’s cool, his smile is beautiful, and he’s good at his job. But Chihiro hasn’t had a chance yet to get close to him. However, one day he ends up looking after a dead-drunk Honna and goes home with him and … !? A selfish beauty and the man wrapped around his finger.
Keeping His Whims in Check by Pi
Proclaimed handsome elite businessman, Yuto Shinonome, falls in love at first sight with Tamaki, a beauty who’s exactly his type. It hits him like a ton of bricks when he finds out Tamaki is actually a guy!! Nevertheless, Yuto still acts like a kid with a crush and teases Tamaki like there’s no tomorrow … How can perverse Yuto handle love!?
Intertwining Lives by KAZU
Yoshiya thinks it’s fate when he’s reunited with his first love; however, he learns they can never be together … For middle-aged scriptwriter Makoto and beautiful actor-in-the-making Yuu, it’s a chance meeting in which admiration turns to love, and love turns to doubt …?! A young and heartrending adolescent love story and a bittersweet mature romance. The stories of a group of men who mingle, intertwine, and change.
Key Ring Lock by ymz
Permanent part-timer, Yui, discovers a worn-out man fallen on the street. Unable to leave the strangely charming Toshiki alone, Yui helps him back home and then accepts Toshiki while being manipulated by him. However, when Yui gets up in the morning, he finds himself locked in and unable to leave. “Confinement is my hobby,” says a smiling Toshiki. Is this confinement, or is it … Their sensitive love flickers in the space between the normal and abnormal!
Trap in a Skirt by Puruchome
Androgynous Aoi has a traumatic past that makes it difficult for him to get the true satisfaction he desires. Meanwhile, Aoi’s classmate, Takano, the rough class outsider, makes a move on Aoi whenever he has the chance. Aoi doesn’t take him seriously in the beginning, however …
July 17 update!
Special guest appearance: Shu Hashimoto
At this year’s Kodansha Comics panel, we have special guest Shu Hashimoto—manga editor extraordinaire from Kodansha Japan. Shu’s worked closely behind-the-scenes with the creators of hit series you love like Fairy Tail, Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches … and he’s also the founding editor of the up-and-coming manga-to-anime series, Boarding School Juliet! Mr. Hashimoto will share the creative process and behind-the-scenes of the making of our next hit manga!
Wanna know what’s like to be a manga editor?
You can also follow Mr. Hashimoto on Twitter at @wmhashimoto
Panel Exclusive: BECK Stickers!
To celebrate the launch of Harold Sakuishi’s ye olde schoole and ye newe schoole manga, i.e., BECK and Seven Shakespeares on comiXology Originals, we’ve got these here panel-exclusive BECK stickers! Be sure to come to Kodansha Comics panel early and grab one to decorate your laptop, drum set, ukulele, or whatever instruments of thy choice!
