Creator Spotlight: Makoto Shinkai! All digital manga adaptations up to 50% off (ends 1/20)

Anime auteur Makoto Shinkai (of Your Name fame) has made headlines again with his new film Weathering With You, the manga adaptation of which has recently been licensed by Vertical. And with the North American movie premiere coming January 15-16, we thought we’d celebrate with a sale!

So now through January 20, each of our excellent Makoto Shinkai manga adaptations—5 Centimeters per Second, Voices of a Distant Star, The Garden of Words, and She and Her Cat—are up to 50% off at all of our digital retail partners: Apple Books, BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, Kindle, Kobo, MyAnimeList, and nook!

Also be sure to check out Animate Online for this beautiful poster set featuring 5 Centimeters per Second and Voices of a Distant Star novels, with exclusive cover art created by Taiwanese illustrator phenom VOFAN!

About Makoto Shinkai
Makoto Shinkai is a Japanese director, writer, producer, animator, editor, cinematographer, voice actor, manga artist and former graphic designer.

Shinkai studied Japanese literature at Chuo University where he was a member of juvenile literature club where he drew picture books. In 1999, Shinkai released She and Her Cat, a five-minute short piece done in monochrome.

His best knows films are The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004), 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007), Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011), The Garden of Words (2013), and Your Name (2016).

Animal Manga Sale! featuring Chi’s Sweet Adventures: 15+ digital manga up to 50% off!! (ends 11/25)

We’ve got chibi cats, drifting dragons, wolf boys and everything in between! 

This week 15+ of our animal-themed digital series are up to 50% off at our digital retail partners: BookWalker, comiXology, Google Play, Kindle, MyAnimeList, and nook. Gobble this one up before Thanksgiving though—sale ends November 25th!

~ Kodansha Comics Animal Manga Sale ~
November 19- 25
Click on the featured titles to read Chapter 1 for FREE!

Animal Land
Chi’s Sweet Adventures 
Chi’s Sweet Home 
Crocodile Baron 
Drifting Dragons 
Fuku Fuku Kitten Tales
Good Dog, Cerberus! 
Fairy Tail Happy’s Heroic Adventure 
Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai
Heaven’s Design Team
Kigurumi Guardians
Princess Jellyfish 
Red Riding Hood’s Wolf Apprentice 
She and Her Cat 
Sherlock Bones 
Tokyo Mew Mew 
Tokyo Mew Mew A La Mode
That Wolf-Boy Is Mine  
Junji Ito’s Cat Diary Yon & Mu

Digital volume 1s by Akiko Higashimura, Mitsurou Kubo, Makoto Shinkai

Kodansha Comics is the home of awesome manga creators. Did you know we publish multiple manga by Mitsurou Kubo (one of the minds behind YURI!!! on ICE) and Makoto Shinkai (of Your Name. fame)? Are you familiar with all the works of shojo manga maestro Akiko Higashimura (Princess Jellyfish, Tokyo Tarareba Girls) or up-and-coming best-sellers like Taamo (House of the Sun, I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World)? 

To showcase our amazing creators and their work, we’re hosting our first installment of  the Creator Spotlight Sale at all of our digital retail partners: BookWalkercomiXology, Google Play, iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, MyAnimeList, and nook. 

Here’s the deal

First of all: all digital Volumes 1s of all series listed below only 99¢!
Next: if you like what you’re reading, keep going—because the all other volumes are up to 50% off!
And to make it even easier for you, we’ve put some of the series available as a complete series bundles up to 60% off!

Pretty sweet deal huh? But you gotta hurry, because the sale will end on May 21!

~ Kodansha Comics Creator Spotlight Sale Part 1  ~
May 15-21
Click on the cover to read Chapter 1 for FREE!

Akiko Higashimura
Akiko Higashimura is HILARIOUS. Princess Jellyfish, her award-winning first work published in English, is the rollicking saga of fangirls taking on Tokyo. In her follow up series, Tokyo Tarareba Girls, Higashimura once again sharpens her razor wit on the lives of young women in the big city. This time she hones in on one single thirtysomething and her dystopian dating problems—”One day I woke up and I was 33”!

Check out this exclusive creator interview with Akiko Higashimura! Princess Jellyfish and Tokyo Tarareba Girls volume 1s are only 99¢ + all other volumes are up to 50% off during the Creator Spotlight Sale! (ends 5/21)


Ema Toyama
Psst … do you like secrets? Ema Toyama’s works are full of attractive girls and boys who are bounded by the power of secrets! In her first long running breakthrough series, Missions of Love, the high school girl with the heart of an “ice queen” appoints 
the ever-popular, yet black-hearted student body president to be her sim-boyfriend … all for the sake of research for her novel! Toyama’s latest work, Aoba-kun’s Confessions is about a very shy girl who just started a peculiar job at a “Listening House” and ends up getting the basketball star from her school as her first client!

Missions of Love and Aoba-kun’s Confession volume 1s are only 99¢ + all other volumes are up to 50% off during the Creator Spotlight Sale! (ends 5/21)

Mitsurou Kubo
You may have heard of her name as the original concept/character designer of the hit iceskating anime series Yuri!!! on ICE . And she’s also the latest rising superstar manga creator from Kodansha Comics! Her first two manga to appear in English are Again!!a dramatic, funny, time-traveling high school story about what it means to cheer on a friend—and  Moteki (from Vertical Comics) a romantic comedy about love, coming of age, and hope … at age 30! 

Again!! and Moteki volume 1’s are only 99¢ + all other volumes are up to 50% off during the Creator Spotlight Sale! (ends 5/21)

Mari Yoshino
The talented Mari Yoshino comes up with something spicier than your typical shojo manga with Peach Heaven, the story of a seemingly average high school girl—who’s a famous erotica author in disguise. All goes well until her supermodel classmate—and the biggest playboy in school—learns about her secret! Mari Yoshino’s follow-up work isn’t quite so salacious: Beauty Bunny is a modern day Cinderella story about a spunky protagonist and the rich boy makeup artist she gets mixed up with!

Peach Heaven and Beauty Bunny volume 1’s are only 99¢ + all other volumes are up to 50% off during the Creator Spotlight Sale! (ends 5/21)

Taamo
Taamo is just one of the many “hidden gem” creators fans are discovering through our digital-first program. Her first work, House of the Sun, is the moving account of a young woman who reconnects with a childhood friend as she puts together the pieces of her life following her parents’ broken marriage. Her follow up work I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World is about a girl who’s always seen herself as the negative to her twin sister’s beautiful photograph, and the handsome boy who just won’t give up on her. Not too many creators tackles the subtle yet complex relationships around a family like Taamo does. If you’ve liked one of her works, you’ll probably like the other one too!

House of the Sun and  I’m in Love and It’s the End of the World volume 1’s are only 99¢ + all other volumes are up to 50% off during the Creator Spotlight Sale! (ends 5/21)


Makoto Shinkai
Kodansha Comics’ sibling publisher, Vertical Comics, has been publishing fine manga adaptations of the films of anime auteur Makoto Shinkai (the director of Your Name.) for some time now. Four standalone manga based on Shinkai’s films—Voice of a Distant Star, She and Her Cat, Garden of Words, and 5 Centimeter Per Secons are ALL only 99¢ during the Creator Spotlight Sale! (ends 5/21)

Kouji Seo
Kouji Seo is a master of “boy-meets-girl” stories—some of you may recognize Fuuka from the recent anime adaptation. But did you know that SuzukaSeo’s previous work, is a prequel and about the parents of  Fuuka? Find out more connections between Suzuka and Fuuka, while both series are on sale! 

Suzuka and Fuuka volume 1’s are only 99¢ + all other volumes are up to 50% off during the Creator Spotlight Sale! (ends 5/21)

 

 

Makoto Shinkai Bundle: read the manga by the creator of Your Name.

Kodansha Comics’ sibling publisher, Vertical Comics, has been publishing fine manga adaptations of the films of anime auteur Makoto Shinkai (of Your Name. fame) for some time now. And here’s a great way to enter that special world in one fell swoop: we’re launching the Makoto Shinkai Bundle, which includes 4 standalone manga based on Shinkai’s films, including the latest, Voices of a Distant Star!

The Makoto Shinkai Bundle is available on comiXology for $29.99 (a la carte price would be $47.88). But wait, that’s not all! To celebrate the bundle launch, we’re offerting a special promotion price of $19.99 for 1 week only! (Offer ends February 27) 

Makoto Shinkai Bundle
Check out which manga are in the bundle! 

 


Voices of a Distant Star 
By Makoto Shinkai, adapted by Mizu Sahara

You might remember this manga based on Shinkai’s first breakthrough film from 2003 from a previous edition published by TokyoPop. This new edition from Vertical comes with a new translation and lettering. 

Mikako Nagamine is recruited as a pilot to fight in an interstellar war against a force of alien invaders, leaving behind her one true love. Mikako’s only connection to Noboru Terao, who continues living the life of an ordinary student, is through cell phone text messages. As Mikako travels light years away, it takes longer and longer for Noboru to receive her messages, until finally one arrives eight years and seven months after she sent it …

Check out the free Chapter 1 preview…

By Makoto Shinkai, adapted by Tsubasa Yamaguchi

The manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s early short film from 1999 about a woman who lives alone with her cat—now also an anime television series.

“It was the start of spring. It was raining. That was the day that she brought me home.”

This is the story of Miyu, a woman who lives alone with her cat, Chobi. As Miyu navigates the world of adulthood, she discovers both the freedom and loneliness that come with living independently, and Chobi learns of the outside world through her actions. Time drifts slowly for Miyu and her cat, but the harsh realities of the world soon catch up …

Check out the preview …


Garden of Words
By Makoto Shinkai, adapted by Midori Motohashi

The manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s award winning film from 2013. 

Can a poem save your life?

Words are powerful. Insults and rumors can derail a career; a bit of encouragement can give someone the strength to pursue their dreams. When a high school boy skipping class to sketch shoe designs and a taciturn woman drinking a morning beer meet in a Tokyo park, they say little, but the woman bids farewell with an ancient tanka poem. Will the boy figure out the poem’s meaning—and its corresponding response—before it’s too late?

Read preview…

 


5 Centimeters Per Second
By Makoto Shinkai, adapted by Yukiko Seike

The manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s award winning film from 2007. 

Takaki Tohno quickly befriends Akari Shinohara when she transfers to his school. They grow closer to each other due to similar interests and attitudes; for instance, they both prefer to stay inside during recess due to their constitutions. As a result, they form a strong bond. Upon ending their school year, Akari moves to Tochigi, due to her parents’ jobs. The two keep in contact by writing letters, but eventually begin to drift apart.

Read preview …

The Makoto Shinkai Bundle is available now on comiXology and BookWalker! 

All-Time Manga-to-Anime Sale! Your favorite anime’s original story up to 50% off

Attack on Titan, The Ghost in the Shell, The Seven Deadly Sins and more … You may have seen these anime, but didja know they're all based on manga from Kodansha Comics?

For one week only, we're showcasing series that were originally a manga then adapted into an anime during The All-Time Manga-to-Anime Sale! Check out the list of series that's 50% off at all our digital retail partners: BookWalkercomiXology, Google Play, iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, and nook. Sale runs through January 22!

—All-Time Manga-to-Anime Sale — 
all volumes up to 50% off through January 22!

Ace of the Diamond
Aho-Girl
Air Gear
Air Gear Omnibus
Ajin
All Out!!
Altair: A Record of Battles
Appleseed Alpha
Attack on Titan
Basilisk
BLAME!
Cage of Eden
Chihayafuru
Chi’s Sweet Home
Clockwork Planet
Days
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju
Elegant Yokai Apartment Life
Fairy Tail
5 Centimeters per Second
Flying Witch
Fuuka
The Ghost in the Shell
Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
Giant Killing
The Heroic Legend of Arslan
Hozuki’s Coolheadedness
Interview with Monster Girls
Inuyashiki
Kiss Him, Not Me
Knights of Sidonia
Kokkoku: Moment by Moment
Land of the Lustrous
Love and Lies
Love Hina
Mushishi
Mysterious Girlfriend X
Negima
Negima Omnibus
Ninja Slayer Kills
Nodame Cantabile
Noragami: Stray God
Parasyte
Princess Jellyfish
Princess Resurrection
Pumpkin Scissors
Rave Master
Sayonara, Zetsubou Sensei
School Rumble
The Seven Deadly Sins
She and her Cat
A Silent Voice
Space Brothers
Spoof on Titan
Suzuka
Sweetness and Lightning
Tsuredure Children
Unlimited Fafnir
UQ Holder
Welcome to the Ballroom
Witchcraft Works
Yagyu Ninja Scrolls
Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches
Your Lie in April
Yozakura Quartet

Wanna know about the latest manga-to-anime series?
Check out the Winter 2018 Manga to Anime Guide!

Manga for Cat Lovers on sale now thru 8/14

Ah, is there anything better than the quality time you spend with your cat and your favorite manga? 

For those of you who are cat lovers out there, we've hand picked the most awesome cats in the world of manga from Kodansha Comics and Vertical just for you–– because CATS. And right now, all of these cuties (?) are on sale up to 50% off on all all our digital book channels: BookWalker, comiXology, Crunchyroll, Google Play, iBooks, Kindle, Kobo, and nook. Sale ends 8/14. 

Kodansha Comics Cat Manga Digital Sale (August 8-14) 
What kind of cat do you like? Click on links below for free Chapter 1 previews!

She and Her Cat
Chi's Sweet Home
FukuFuku Kitten Tales
Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai
Junji Ito's Cat Diary: Yon & Mu

 


She and Her Cat
By Makoto Shinkai, Tsubasa Yamaguchi

The manga adaptation of anime wizard Makoto Shinkai's (Your Name) short film about a woman who lives alone with her cat—now also an anime television series.

“It was the start of spring. It was raining. That was the day that she brought me home.”

This is the story of Miyu, a woman who lives alone with her cat, Chobi. As Miyu navigates the world of adulthood, she discovers both the freedom and loneliness that come with living independently, and Chobi learns of the outside world through her actions. Time drifts slowly for Miyu and her cat, but the harsh realities of the world soon catch up …


Watch She and Her Cat, the original shortfilm by Makoto Shinkai

 


Chi's Sweet Home
By Konami Kanata

Chi is a mischievous newborn kitten who, while on a leisurely stroll with her family, finds herself lost. Overcome with loneliness, she breaks into tears in a large park meadow, where she is rescued by a young boy named Yohei and his mother. The little kitty is then quickly and quietly whisked away into the warm and inviting Yamada apartment … where pets are strictly not permitted.
Watch Chi's newest CG anime, Chi's Sweet Adventures on Amazon Anime Strike! 

 

 


FukuFuku: Kitten Tales 

By Konami Kanata

Konami Kanata's follow up series after Chi's Sweet HomeIt's vignettes in the life of a kitten named Fukufuku and her doting owner, wherein even the most mundane things appear exciting and fresh.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai

By Hiroyuki Takei

A new manga from Hiroyuki Takei, the creator of Shaman King!

In medieval Japan, it’s a hard life for a stray cat. Every day is filled with struggles and prejudice, from oppression by fellow cats working for cruel masters to extortion by catnip druglords. But being a stray also means incredible pride and independence. The wandering samurai Norachiyo has no master, though he still wears the telltale bell of a cat who has a “person.” This rogue warrior travels across Japan, protecting the weak and cutting down those who have forgotten the virtues of being a stray—all with unrivaled swordsmanship. Although Norachiyo leaves little trace but his fearsome reputation, this enigmatic warrior has made plenty of enemies who are more than willing to get their claws on his head. Will Norachiyo’s past catch up with him, or can he spend his nine lives in freedom?

 


Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu

By Junji Ito

Hell-o-kitty! Master of Japanese horror manga Junji Ito presents a series of hissterical tales chronicling his real-life trials and tribulations of becoming a cat owner. Junji Ito, as J-kun, has recently built a new house and has invited his financée, A-ko, to live with him. Little did he know … his blushing bride-to-be has some unexpected company in tow—Yon, a ghastly-looking family cat, and Mu, an adorable Norwegian forest cat. Despite being a dog person, J-kun finds himself purrsuaded by their odd cuteness and thus begins his comedic struggle to gain the affection of his new feline friends.