Initial D, BECK, MARS … Kodansha Comics and comiXology have been teaming up to bring back some long-out-of-print manga fan-favorites as comiXology Originals — exclusively available comiXology and Kindle. In some cases we’ve been completing those series that never concluded in their original runs—publishing the English-language versions of the final volumes for the very first time … so you can find out what the heck happened!
To showcase those series, this week we’re hosting the comiXology Originals Sale with the following lineup of manga up to 50% off only on comiXology and Kindle! (Sale ends July 22.)
Kodansha Comics x comiXology Originals Sale
(July 16-22)
Click on links below for free Chapter 1 previews!
Initial D
By Shuichi Shigeno
At last, Shuichi Shigeno’s all-time manga about Japanese street racing that turned into a global phenomenon is back! Live the legend of how Tak Fujiwara went from tofu delivery boy to street-racing god. This edition marks the long-awaited publication of the complete series in English, including the final volumes never released in English before.
Tak Fujiwara spends a lot of time behind the wheel. His tofu delivery job sends him racing down the treacherous roads of Mount Akina, and without even realizing it, Tak has mastered racing techniques that take most drivers a lifetime to learn. Of course, none of his friends realize this. They’re all too busy watching the Akina Speed Stars, the local street racing team. When the legendary Red Suns show up to challenge the Speed Stars, it looks as if the Trueno Eight Six that has been seen racing through the mountain roads. The question remains … who’s the driver of this phantom car?
MARS
By Fuyumi Soryo
Are you ready for some … drama? The all-time, long out-of-print shojo manga classic is back! With even more twists and turns then you probably remember, Fyuyumi Soryo’s beautifully illustrated high-school psychodrama turned some young comics readers heads inside-out when it was first released, with hysterical plots revolving around the traumatic secret histories of its seemingly poised protagonists. Art class was never quite like this …
Superpopular motorcycle racer Rei and shy, neurotic art student Kira are worlds apart … until one fateful day brings them together. Rei stumbles upon Kira in the harassing hands of her sleazy art teacher and saves the quiet girl from his clutches. And when the resident school pretty boy plants a kiss on a statue of Mars in the studio, Kira finds herself drawn in and even summons up the nerve to ask him to model for her!
You’re My Pet
By Yayoi Ogawa
Far from your typical manga romance-a-thon, You’re My Pet (previously released under the titleTramps Like Us) features one of the more memorable protagonists in manga history, putting a sardonic X-Ray to life as a single woman in the big city, with suprising nuance and edgy, sophisticated humor. Fans of Akiko Higashimura’s Tokyo Tarareba Girls will want to check out one of its great predecessors, which seems to have hardly dated at all.
Life was good for Sumire Iwaya … until the day she discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, she gets demoted at work, and her life spirals toward the dumps. Things take a turn for the better when she crosses paths with Momo, a handsome-but-homeless guy with a colorful past who puts a bounce in her step and a shake in her hips. It takes two to tango, but when Sumire’s first love reappears in her life, will this be the last waltz?
BECK
By Harold Sakuishi
BECK is back! Harold Sakuishi’s wildly addictive 34-volume rock ‘n’ roll epic that redefined for a generation what manga could be returns—at last complete in English.
Fourteen-year-old Yukio Tanaka is one heck of a boring guy. He has no hobbies, weak taste in music, and only a small vestige of a personality. His shy and somewhat neurotic personality makes him his own worst enemy. Little does he know that his life will be forever changed when he meets rocker Ryusuke Minami, an unpredictable sixteen-year-old with a cool dog named Beck. Ryusuke has just returned to Japan from America, and when he inspires Yukio to get into music, the two begin a journey through the world of rock ‘n’ roll dreams! Lace up your Docs and head to the mosh pit—Harold Sakuishi’s manga series that spawned the hit anime is back!
Seven Shakespeares
By Harold Sakuishi
Literary secrets come alive when Harold Sakuishi, creator of the all-time-classic rock ‘n’ roll manga BECK, tackles a different kind of legend: William Shakespeare.
He’s said to be the greatest playwright and poet in history, the author of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Macbeth, but just who was William Shakespeare? Harold Sakuishi unlocks the secrets behind the writer you only thought you knew! Volume 1 comes in a special, 520-page 2-in-1 edition.
comiXology Originals series are available exclusively on comiXology and Kindle!
