Kodansha announced new Spring 2024 anime licenses at Anime Expo, including new omnibus editions, new titles in a range of different genres, and a new edition of the street-racing classic, Shuichi Shigeno’s Initial D.
Tokyopop first published Initial D in English in 2001 (see “Tokyopop Gets Cowboy Bebop Manga”), initially publishing it as 64-page black-and-white booklets; when they switched over to unflipped, 200-page volumes, Initial D was one of the first titles to be published in the new format (see “Tokyopop to Publish Manga in Japanese Format”). The series has been adapted into anime, a live-action film, video games, and a CCG (see “Details on the Initial D CCG”). Tokyopop published the first 38 volumes of the 48-volume series before losing the license. ComiXology and Kodansha picked it up in 2019 and published the whole series, including the last 10 volumes, digitally. The new edition will be large-format two-in-one omnibi with a new translation and lettering. The series is rated 16+.
Kodansha also announced new omnibus editions of Fairy Tail and the shojo romance Sign of Affection, plus the third box set of Don’t Toy with Me, Miss Nagatoro.
Here’s a look at some of the new series that Kodansha announced at Anime Expo.
Kaina of the Great Snow Sea is written by Tsutomu Nihei, creator of Blame, Noise, and Knights of Sidonia with art by Itoe Takemoto. The series is set in a complex world, with a youth who lives in the Canopy far above the earth and a princess from the surface exploring their different worlds and then teaming up to save the princess’s land from an invading neighbor. The series is rated 16+.
Medalist, by Tsurumaikada, is an ice skating story about a girl whose family wants her to quit skating and the frustrated coach who teams up with her to prove the doubters wrong. The series, which is rated 13+, was the winner of the 2022 Next Coming Manga Award and is being adapted into an anime.
Kei X Yaku: Bound by Law is a suspenseful mystery with a side of BL romance, starring a police investigator and a member of the yakuza, Japanese organized crime. The series, which is rated 16+, was adapted into a live-action drama.
Nude Model is a collection of three erotic short stories by Tsubasa Yamaguchi, the creator of Blue Period, and is rated 18+
A-Do, by Jaku Amano, is a fast-paced sci-fi action series set in a future dystopian, xenophobic Japan and starts with a young woman named Riko rescuing a boy named Eight from an traffic accident; it turns out that the military is searching for Eight, who has the ability to turn his body into plants, and together Riko and Eight delve into the secret government program that created him. The series is rated 16+
A Brief Moment of Ichika, by Natsu Tadano, is a shojo manga with a classic setup: When she was 16, Ichika learned that she had only two years to live. Now a sophomore in college, she develops a relationship with a professor that gives her something to live for, but when he leaves the university, she is left wondering what might have been. The series is rated 13+ and is complete in three volumes.Source: ICv2
