Dark Horse, Viz Media & Kodansha Comics/Vertical Anime Expo 2018 Announcements

Working our way through all the Anime Expo 2018 announcements and here with have a part one of two for manga announcements. We’ll be looking at Dark Horse, Viz Media and Kodansha Comics and Vertical offerings. We’ll have announcements from both Seven Seas Entertainment and Yen Press written up soon.


Dark Horse


Elfen Lied
エルフェンリート

Author: Lynn Okamoto
Format: Manga

Lucy, a beautiful young mutant, is bred by the military to be the ultimate weapon. Now, with government killers on her trail, the disposition of a five year old, and a hair trigger for ultraviolence, Lucy and her young friends must unravel the dark secret of her legacy before it’s too late.

Starting May 22nd, 2019 Dark Horse Comes will be releasing the 12 volumes series in 4 omnibus volumes.


Viz Media


Banana Fish
バナナフィッシュ

Author: Akimi Yoshida
Format: Manga

Nature made Ash Lynx beautiful; nurture made him a cold ruthless killer. A runaway brought up as the adopted heir and sex toy of “Papa” Dino Golzine, Ash, now at the rebellious age of seventeen, forsakes the kingdom held out by the devil who raised him. But the hideous secret that drove Ash’s older brother mad in Vietnam has suddenly fallen into Papa’s insatiably ambitious hands–and it’s exactly the wrong time for Eiji Okamura, a pure-hearted young photographer from Japan, to make Ash Lynx’s acquaintance…

Viz Media’s Shojo Beat imprint confirmed plans to reprint and restock unavailable volumes of Akimi Yoshida’s Banana Fish manga. Viz Media previously published all 19 volumes in English from 2004-2006.

Banana Fish is currently airing as part of the Summer 2018 season and is available on the Amazon Prime Video service.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable
ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 ダイヤモンドは砕けない

Author: Hirohiko Araki
Format: Manga

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable, the fourth part of the long-running JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure series is finally getting an official English translation with the 18 volume series released in 2-in-1 omnibus volumes.

Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection
新闇の声

Author: Junji Ito
Format: Manga

Try not to be noticed when you eat the secret nectar, otherwise you’ll get smashed… What horrific events happened to create the earthbound—people tied to a certain place for the rest of their short lives? Then, a strange haunted house comes to town, but no one expects it to lead to a real hell… Welcome to Junji Ito’s world, a world with no escape from endless nightmares.

More Junji Ito stories to come to the west via Viz Media as they announce Smashed: Junji Ito Story Collection manga. The “Smashed” story was adapted in the Junji Ito Collection anime series’ 12th and final episode.


Kodansha Comics


10 Dance

Author: Satoh Inoue
Format: Manga

Sugiki, a standard ballroom dancer, offers to teach Suzuki, a Latin American dancer, ballroom in exchange for Suzuki to teach him in return. Their names are similar, but their personalities are totally opposite, just like their dance. When the two meet, something’s bound to happen! – (Source: MAL)

Kodansha Comics announced it will publish both Yuri and Boys-Love titles, starting with 10 Dance, Hitorijime My Hero and Yuri Is My Job! in January 2019. Expect more BL and Yuri manga as Kodansha Comics added these titles are “just the beginning”.

Boarding School Juliet
寄宿学校のジュリエット

Author: Yousuke Kaneda
Format: Manga

At Dahlia Academy, a prestigious boarding school attended by students of two feuding countries—the eastern Nation of Touwa, and the Principality of West—Romio Inuzuka, leader of the dorms’ Touwa first-years, wishes for a romance that can never be. For his ladylove is none other than his arch-enemy, Juliet Persia, leader of the dorms’ West first-years! Is Inuzuka ready to risk it all to confess his feelings? And even if Persia somehow agrees to go out with them, how long can they keep a forbidden relationship under wraps?!

Boarding School Juliet is already available digitally but Kodansha Comics will now be releasing the manga series to print with the first volume set to debut in October 2018.

Edens Zero

Author: Hiro Mashima
Format: Manga

A young boy gazes up at the sky and sees a streaming bolt of light. The friendly, armor-clad being at his side tells him gently, “That’s a dragon.” The fact that he’s joking isn’t important. What’s important is the look of wonder on the boy’s face… and the galaxy-spanning adventure that’s about to take place!

Hiro Mashima’s (Fairy Tail) new series, already available as a simulpub across digital services including Crunchyroll will be coming to print with the first volume set for release in October 2018.

Fairy Tail: Lightning Gods
フェアリーテイル 外伝 雷豪一閃

Author: Hiro Mashima
Format: Manga

Following the disbandment of Fairy Tail, Laxus and the Thunder Tribe turn up at the door of Blue Pegasus, seeking to join the guild. Even though they are accepted, the environment is different from Fairy Tail: not only is it a guild, but also a host club. Before they can settle in, Ichiya is kidnapped by the rival guild Red Princess! Laxus and the Thunder Tribe set out to rescue Ichiya from the clutches of a fellow eccentric guild. – (Source: MAL)

The third and final volume of the Fairy Tail Gaiden spin-off manga series scheduled for release in November 2018.

Gleipnir
グレイプニル

Author: Sun Takeda
Format: Manga

Dark, disturbing, sexy, and shameful, this new science-fiction action manga stars a dominating teenage girl searching for a sister who became a monster, and a submissive boy with the strange power to turn into a ragged but powerful beast, with a zipper down his back and a compartment on the inside just big enough to hold a human body. It’s like one of those cute kid’s monster manga, but with a dose of S&M!

Kodansha Comics will release the 2015 manga series’ first volume in English in March 2019.

Hiro Mashima’s Playground
ましまえん

Author: Hiro Mashima
Format: Manga

Hiro Mashima’s Playground is a collection of short stories written by Hiro Mashima including a short of Fairy Tail which would eventually turn into his long-running serialization. Kodansha will release the two volumes, each of which collects four short manga, into one 400-page volume scheduled for October 2018 release.

Hitorijime My Hero
ひとりじめマイヒーロー

Author: Memeco Arii
Format: Manga

High schooler Masahiro Setagawa is a fairly helpless delinquent, so much so that the neighbourhood bullies use him to run their errands. His life changes when he meets high school teacher Kosuke Oshiba, a man whose fighting abilities have earned him a powerful reputation on the streets. Oshiba finds himself with a desire to protect Setagawa, and despite swearing that he’s not interested in men, Setagawa finds himself getting more involved in Oshiba’s affairs…

Launched as a spin-off series of Memeco Arii’s earlier Hitorijime Boyfriend manga, the manga previously inspired a 12-episode anime adaptation back in 2017, licensed by Sentai Filmworks. The first volume is scheduled to release in March 2019.

Love in Focus
蓮住荘のさんかく

Author: Yoko Nogiri
Format: Manga

Mako, a girl with a passion for photography, moves away from her childhood home and begins living in the Renzu dormitory in order to attend a high school with a famed photography club. In her new home, she encounters her childhood friend Kei, as well as Amemura, an unsociable person who doesn’t like photos.

First volume scheduled for release in March 2019.

Quintessential Quintuplets
五等分の花嫁

Author: Negi Haruba
Format: Manga

One day, a poor high school second-year named Futaro Uesugi comes across a private tutoring gig with good pay. But his pupils are his classmates!! And they’re quintuplets!! A-and they’re all gorgeous girls, but they’re also troublemakers who hate to study and are on the verge of flunking out! And his first task is simply gaining the sisters’ trust?! Every day is a party! The curtain is rising on the Nakano quintuplets’ quirky romantic comedy with five times the cute!!

Kodansha Comic will be bringing the series to print after being available digitally. The first volume scheduled for release in January 2019.

The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days
七つの大罪 セブンデイズ~盗賊と聖少女~

Author: You Kokikuji and Mamoru Iwasa
Format: Manga

In the land north of Britannia, there is a forest where humans are not allowed to go, and it is known as the “Fairy King’s Forest.” The one known as the Fairy King, Harlequin, has not been seen for 700 years. His younger sister Elaine guards the Fountain of Youth from human greed by herself. After many partings and 700 years of isolation, her tears are about to dry up. Then, a young man appears seeking the Fountain of Youth. That young man’s name is Ban. Over the course of seven days with Ban, Elaine’s heart is healed. The distance between them closes, but…

This manga spin-off series will be coming to print with the first and second volumes scheduled for release in October and November 2018 respectively.

Witch Hat Atelier
とんがり帽子のアトリエ

Author: Kamome Shirahama
Format: Manga

Coco, a girl living in a small village, had been dreaming of becoming a magician since little. But people who don’t know how to use magic since birth are unable to become magicians, or witness the moment magic occurs. But one day, Coco accidentally saw Qifrey, a magician that was visiting the village casting a spell. This is a magical story that had fallen upon a girl, weaved by despair and hope.

First volume scheduled for release in March 2019.

Yuri Is My Job!
私の百合はお仕事です!

Author: Miman
Format: Manga

Hime gets roped into working at a weird café where the waitresses pretend to be students at an all-girl boarding school. She’s strangely taken with her partner Mitsuki, who’s so kind to her in front of the customers. There’s just one problem … Mitsuki really can’t stand her!

First volume scheduled for release in January 2019.

Kodansha Comics also announced two manga titles that will be made available digitally through ComiXology.

Beck: Mongolian Chop Squad

Author: Harold Sakuishi
Format: Manga

Fourteen-year-old Yukio Tanaka is one heck of a boring guy. He has no hobbies, a 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!

Adapted into an anime series release by Anime Limited in the UK and Funimation in the US, the BECK manga has volumes 1-14 are available on ComiXology right now with volumes 15-34 still to come.

Seven Shakespeare
7人のシェイクスピア

Author: Harold Sakuishi
Format: Manga

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!

Volumes 1-4 are available on ComiXology right now with volumes 5-7 still to come.


Vertical


5 Centimeters per Second: one more side
秒速5センチメートル one more side

Author: Arata Katoh
Format: Novel

A tale of two people, Toono Takaki and Shinohara Akari, who were close friends but gradually grow farther and farther apart as time moves on. They become separated because of their families yet continue to exchange contact in the form of letters. Yet as time continues to trudge on, their contact with one another begins to cease. Years pass and the rift between them grows ever larger.

Based on Makoto Shinkai’s anime feature film this is the second novel and focusing on the main female character’s point of view. The novel will be available in English from February 2019.


Sources: ANN, ANN, ANN, ANN, ANN, Anime UK NewsAnime UK News

Editor-in-chief