It’s time to get those gift ideas flowing, and we’re here to help!
Well, we (finally) made it to the 2020 Holiday Season, but if you haven’t had the time or energy, to figure out what to get, and who to get it for, you’re not along! It’s been a harrowing slide into the end of the year and so to help you become the excellent gift-giver we know you to be we’re spotlighting some of Kodansha Comics & VERTICAL’s finest offerings to get those brain bulbs blinking!
Featured Gift Ideas!
Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Editions
Who will love it?: Created with young girls in mind (but really meant for any fan of the “Magical Girl” genre), Card Captor Sakura Collector’s Editions bring the exciting classic magical heroine adventure to your home in definitive hardcover collector’s editions, that even come with recreations of the Clow Cards, Sakura has been entrusted to track down! Created by the renown and award-winning artist collective, CLAMP – this story is as exiting as it is emotional and something amazing to share with younger readers!
What’s it about?: Cardcaptor Sakura is one of the all-time classics of the magical girl genre, and the Collector’s Edition will be the definitive version of the story, for both long-time fans and readers new to the story. The adventures of the plucky Sakura Kinomoto are as adorably thrilling as ever, as she tracks down the magical Clow Cards and plunges headlong into a world of sorcery beyond anything she could’ve imagined.
Where can you order?: Cardcaptor Sakura Collector’s Edition 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5
Chobits 20th Anniversary Editions
Who will love it?: This cute more-than-meets-the-eye sci-fi romance is perfect for thoughtful sci-movies like HER, full of heart and beautiful emotional imagery – as you would expect from the legendary creators CLAMP. These hardcover premium collector’s editions, of the classic shoujo manga feature a larger-than-normal manga size, premium paper, color pages, and more! A wonderful and beautiful addition to any bookshelf!
What’s it about?: After moving from the countryside into the big city, poor college student Hideki Motosuwa finds himself down on his luck. All he wants is a good job, a girlfriend, and his very own “persocom” – the latest and greatest in humanoid computer technology. Hideki’s luck changes one night when he finds Chi – an adorable, but seemingly broken, persocom thrown out in a pile of trash. After taking her home, Hideki discovers that Chi is more responsibility than he expected – and that there’s much more to his cute new persocom than meets the eye.
Where can you order?: Chobits 20th Anniversary Edition 1 // 2
CLOVER (Hardcover Collector’s Edition)
Who will love it?: More in the vein of a dystopian sci-fi story and another classic from CLAMP – CLOVER is said to be part AKIRA, part Metropolis with elements of intrigue, adventure, and even some romance. Going beyond the simple classification
What’s it about?: Su was born into a bleak future, where the military keeps tight control over the few children born with magical abilities — known as “Clovers.” The Clovers are forcibly tattooed with a symbol that indicates their potential power, and Su is the only four-leaf Clover in the world. Kept locked away in isolation her whole life, Su longs to find happiness in the outside world. An agent named Kazuhiko appears to help grant Su’s wish, but he soon realizes that there is more to the mysterious girl than meets the eye…
CLAMP’s most daring science-fiction work, CLOVER’s art-deco cyberpunk aesthetic is just as fresh and exciting today as it was twenty years ago. Featuring the entire story in a newly-revised translation; remastered art and lettering; a striking cover; and over 20 pages of color art, this is a great collectible for CLAMP fans, and the perfect way to get to know CLOVER for the first time.
Where can you order?: CLOVER (Hardcover Collector’s Edition)
Magic Knight Rayearth 25th Anniversary Manga Box Sets
Who will love it?: An originator in the genre Magic Knight Rayearth created an opening salvo to the “isekai” or “otherworld” storyline, while also throwing in some deeply beautiful and exciting “magical girl” elements combining into an action fantasy no anime or manga fan can resist. Not only that but the 25th Anniversary box sets volumes come with new translation, new designs, color art books, all at large-sized printing with gold foil.
What’s it about?:The tale of three Tokyo teenagers who cross through a magical portal and become the champions of another world is a modern manga classic. This box set includes three volumes of manga covering the entire first series of Magic Knight Rayearth, plus the series’s super-rare full-color art book companion, all printed at a larger size than ever before, on premium paper featuring a newly-revised translation and lettering, and exquisite foil-stamped covers. A strictly limited edition, this will be gone in a flash!
Where can you order?: Magic Knight Rayearth 25th Anniversary Manga Box Set 1 // 2 (Box Set 2 Debuts December 15, 2020)
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MONOGATARI Series Box Sets
Who will love it?: What? You thought we only carried manga? These box sets are for the avid reader (not just manga) in your life. A wide reaching and ongoing series of books, the MONOGATARI series is an urban supernatural adventure, that’s as surprising and exciting as it is hilarious. This series has also spawned a hit anime, as well as an ongoing manga series, BAKEMONOGATARI. With stunning box and novel art by stellar artist VOFAN these box sets are an amazing way to start up a new literary love, that’s nearly coming to an end.
What’s it about?: There’s a girl at their school who is always ill. She routinely arrives late, leaves early, or doesn’t show up at all, and skips gym as a matter of course. She’s pretty, and the boys take to whispering that she’s a cloistered princess. As the self-described worst loser in her class soon finds out, they just don’t know what a monster she is.
So begins a tale of mysterious maladies that are supernatural in origin yet deeply revealing of the human psyche, a set of case files as given to unexpected feeling as it is to irreverent humor. So begins the legendary novel that kicked off the MONOGATARI series, whose anime adaptations have enjoyed international popularity and critical acclaim.
MONOGATARI Series Box Set Season 2 contains NEKOMONOGATARI (White), KABUKIMONOGATARI, HANAMONOGATARI, OTORIMONOGATARI, ONIMONOGATARI, KOIMONOGATARI (Note: Box Set Season 1 is currently out of stock)
Where can you order?: MONOGATARI Series Box Set Season 2
More Gift Ideas from Kodansha Comics
AKIRA 35th Anniversary Box Set
Who will love it?: For fans of mind-bending sci-fi AKIRA is the gold standard artistic, yet thought provoking storytelling. From acclaimed mangaka / director / storyteller Katsuhiro Otomo, comes the multi-Eisner Award-winning modern manga classic presented in a stunning edition with hardcover editions of the series’ 6 volumes, as well as a hardcover of the AKIRA Club art book and an exclusive patch with the iconic pill design!
What’s it about?: In 1982, Kodansha published the first chapter of Akira, a dystopian saga set in Neo-Tokyo, a city recovering from thermonuclear attack where the streets have been ceded to motorcycle gangs and the rich and powerful run dangerous experiments on destructive, supernatural powers that they cannot control. In 1988, the manga was adapted into what was at the time the most expensive animated film ever made, which brought Akira’s influence out of the manga world and onto the global stage. Today, it remains a touchstone for artists, writers, filmmakers, and fans, retaining all the brutal impact and narrative intensity it had when Otomo first unleashed it onto the world.
Where can you order?: AKIRA 35th Anniversary Box Set (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, RightStuf Anime)
Attack on Titan: Season 1 – 3 Season Manga Box Sets
Who will love it?: For fans of heart-breaking post-apocalyptic stories, Attack on Titan this is the saga of humanity at the brink with brave soldiers trying to fight against the destructive forces of colossal cannibals. The different sets available make it easy for fans of the hit Anime to know exactly which volumes correspond to each season. Catch up to the most recent season and get ready for the FINAL season beginning in December! These sets even come with exclusive sticker sheets and extras!
What’s it about?: Humanity has been devastated by the bizarre, giant humanoids known as the Titans. Little is known about where they came from or why they are bent on consuming humanity. Seemingly unintelligent, they have roamed the world killing off humankind for years. For the past century, what’s left of mankind has hidden in a giant, three-walled city. People believe their 100-meter-high walls will protect them from the Titans, which are 10 to 20 meters tall. But the sudden appearance of of an immense Titan is about to change everything.
Attack on Titan: Season 1 (Part 1) contains vols. 1-4, (Part 2) contains vols. 5-8, Season 2 contains vols. 9-12, Season 3 (Part 1) contains vols. 13-17, (Part 2) contains vols. 18-22.
Where can you order?: Attack on Titan: Season 1 (Part 1 // Part 2), Season 2, Season 3, (Part 1 // Part 2)
Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Complete Series Box Set
Who will love it?: For fans of sci-fi / action films comes another classic cyberpunk manga that is now a major motion picture from director Robert Rodrigues & James Cameron! This unique box set collects the entire Battle Angel Alita saga – not seen in print, until recently, in over a decade. This set also collects a series of short stories set in the trash future sci-fi world of Battle Angel Alita, as well as special prints with metallic coding and more!
What’s it about?: In a dump in the lawless settlement of Scrapyard, far beneath the mysterious space city of Zalem, disgraced cyber-doctor Daisuke Ido makes a strange find: the detached head of a cyborg woman who has lost all her memories. He names her Alita and equips her with a powerful new body, the Berserker. While Alita remembers no details of her former life, a moment of desperation reawakens in her nerves the legendary school of martial arts known as Panzer Kunst. In a place where there is no justice but what people make for themselves, Alita decides to become a hunter-killer, tracking down and taking out those who prey on the weak. But can she hold onto her humanity as she begins to revel in her own bloodlust?
Where can you order?: Battle Angel Alita Deluxe Complete Series Box Set
FAIRY TAIL Manga Box Sets
Who will love it?: For the fantasy fan in your life the FAIRY TAIL box sets are a beautiful way to display 33 volumes of the anime-inspiring fantasy battle manga. This series also has a number of spinoffs like Fairy Girls, Fairy Tail S, Fairy Tail Zero, and more, to expand the world and give you even more of the story! Created by Hiro Mashima – the storied creator of Monster Soul, Rave Master, and EDENS ZERO – FAIRY TAIL is a pivotal story in the Hiro Mashima universe, and these handsome box sets are a great way to jump in head first!
What’s it about?: Lucy is a young, rebellious celestial wizard with a dream: to join Fairy Tail, the world’s most rambunctious and powerful magical guild! When she happens to meet one of Fairy Tail’s top wizards, he turns out to be not quite what she expected: a slob traveling with a flying cat. But the promise of adventure is real, and together they escape from pirates and a devious magician! Their next task: to steal a book from the evil wizard-killing Duke Everlue, and outsmart his death trap. Eccentric new friends join along the way in this lushly-drawn modern classic!
FAIRY TAIL Manga Box Set 1 contains Vol. 1-11, Box Set 2 contains Vol. 12-22, Box Set 3 contains Vol. 23-33
Where can you order?: FAIRY TAIL Manga Box Set 1, Box Set 2, Box Set 3
The Ghost in the Shell Deluxe Complete Box Set
Who will love it?: The evergreen cyberpunk manga that visually inspired such films as The Matrix, and even garnering its own animated AND live-action film adaptation – The Ghost in the Shell Deluxe Complete Box Set is for the completionism sci-fi fan. Rendered in stunning oversized hardcover, this edition collects not only the original The Ghost in the Shell, but also the sequels by Shirow Masamune and even a collectable lithograph print from the creator!
What’s it about?: Deep into the twenty-first century, the line between man and machine has been blurred as humans rely on the enhancement of mechanical implants and robots are upgraded with human tissue. In this rapidly converging landscape, cyborg superagent Major Motoko Kusanagi is charged to track down the craftiest and most dangerous terrorists and cybercriminals, including “ghost hackers” who are capable of exploiting the human/machine interface and reprogramming humans to become puppets to carry out the hackers’ criminal ends.
Where can you order?: The Ghost in the Shell Deluxe Complete Box Set
Princess Jellyfish Complete Manga Box Set
Who will love it?: One part late-bloomer coming of age tale, one part rom com, and all heart, Princess Jellyfish is for anyone who ever considered themselves a freak or a geek. Not only does this box set collect the entire hilarious and touching romantic comedy but also includes an exclusive series keychain and poster!
What’s it about?: The complete story of Tsukimi, a girl obsessed with jellyfish, and her geeky friends. This massive set includes a bonus “Clara” jellyfish keychain and a huge poster with the Amars’ motto, “A Life With No Use for Men,” in English on one side and Japanese on the other. The box contains all nine volumes of the Princess Jellyfish manga, including a full-color illustration gallery, author interviews, extensive cultural annotations, and a look inside the creator’s studio. Experience the full story that became the hit anime and made Akiko Higashimura the patron saint of modern josei manga!
Where can you order?: Princess Jellyfish Complete Manga Box Set
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Edition
Who will love it?: Another staple in the anime / manga lexicon the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Editions are THE definitive versions of Naoko Takeuchi ground breaking magical girl series that’s spawned animated series, movies, live-action adaptations of film and stage, and countless cultural reverberations we might not even know about! A perfect series for the anime / manga newbie in your life, Sailor Moon is the template so many have and continue to follow. And these over-sized hardcover editions, with a glittering holographic coating, French flaps, and a newly-revised translation, make it the BEST way to display the series in your home if you’re a long-time fan!
What’s it about?: Teenager Usagi is not the best athlete, she’s never gotten good grades, and, well, she’s a bit of a crybaby. But when she meets a talking cat, she begins a journey that will teach her she has a well of great strength just beneath the surface and the heart to inspire and stand up for her friends as Sailor Moon! Experience the Sailor Moon manga as never before in these extra-long editions (about 300 pages each).
Where can you order?: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal Edition 1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9 // 10
Even MORE Gift Ideas from VERTICAL.
The Complete Chi’s Sweet Home Box Set
Who will love it?: A tremendously cute and touching work for readers of ANY age, The Complete Chi’s Sweet Home Box Set, collects the entire furry feline series in a cutely designed box set that’s purrrfect for the younger readers in your life! Come for the hilarious and heart-warming stories and stay for the sweet bonus items inside!
What’s it about?:Chi is a michievous newborn kitten who, while on a leisurely stroll with her family, finds herself lost. Seperated from the warmth and protection of her mother, feels distraught. Overcome with loneliness she breaks into tears in a large urban park meadow., when she is suddenly rescued by a young boy named Yohei and his mother. The kitty is then quickly and quietly whisked away into the warm and inviting Yamada family apartment…where pets are strictly not permitted.
Where can you order?: The Complete Chi’s Sweet Home Box Set
