Ablaze has announced three new licenses, all manga-adjacent although only one of them is actually manga.
Centaurs, by Ryo Sumiyoshi, is a fantasy tale set in an alternative version of medieval Japan where humans and centaurs, half man/half horse creatures known as jinba, live side by side. Jinba have extraordinary abilities, and in ancient times they were worshiped as gods, but with the coming of internal strife (the warring states period), humans began to enslave them and use them for war. This series is the story of a wild jinba who is captured and befriends a tame centaur with whom he forges a plan to escape to freedom. The series is rated for ages 13 and up, and the first volume will be released on July 11, 2023, as a 180-page paperback with an MSRP of $12.99.
Sumiyoshi is also the creator of Our Torsos Align: Human x Monster Love, which was published by Seven Seas on December 6, 2022.
Terror Man, by Handong Woo and Kojin Ho, has run on the Webtoon platform in multiple Asian languages but is not currently available in English. The lead character is a hero with the ability to see when a disaster is about to occur, so he can prevent it from happening. Paradoxically, this causes people to fear him and ultimately brings unhappiness. The series is rated for ages 16 and up, and the first volume will be published on June 27, 2023, as a 300-page paperback with an MSRP of $19.99.
Wakfu, Vol. 1: The Quest for the Eliatrope Dofus, by Tot, Azra, and Said Sassine, is a new series based on the animated Wakfu series, which in turn is based on the video game of the same name. Although it has a manga/anime vibe, the series is actually French, and the writer Tot (a.k.a. Anthony Roux) is the director of the cartoon. The first volume kicks off with a reunion of the characters Yugo, Ruel, Percedal, Amalia, and Evangelyne, but a new menace soon sends them off on a new adventure. The series is rated for ages 12 and up, and the first volume will be released on June 27, 2023, as a 224-page paperback with an MSRP of $12.99.
Titan announced plans for a Wakfu comic in 2015 (see “Titan Licenses ‘Wakfu’ for Comics”).
Source: ICv2
