#Kodansha USA Licenses Senpai Is an Otokonoko & More Titles at Sakura-Con 2024
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During its industry panel at Sakura-Con 2024, Kodansha USA announced the licensing of a large slate of new print and digital manga, which will be released this coming Fall 2024 and Spring 2025.
Some of the new print titles that will receive print releases include Senpai Is an Otokonoko: My Crossdressing Classmate, which is inspiring a July 2024 anime adaptation, and the manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai’s 2022 anime film Suzume.
The newly licensed print titles will be available at various dates, ranging from this April to later this coming fall and next year in Spring 2025. The digital manga You Must Be This Tall to Propose! will debut upon its release this April.
Here are the details for each of Kodansha USA’s upcoming titles:
Print Releases in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025
Thunder 3
Story and Art: Yuki Ikeda
Release Date: November 2024
Synopsis:
Three ordinary schoolboys come into possession of a DVD that supposedly opens a gateway to a parallel universe, but when their backs are turned Pyontaro’s little sister Futaba passes through and gets kidnapped by the aliens that have overrun that version of Earth! Discovering that their cartoonish bodies make them supermen in the hyper-realistic parallel universe, the boys set out to rescue Futaba.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island
Story and Art: Junji Ohno, Yatate Hajime
Original Story: Yoshiyuki Tomino
Release Date: October 2024
Synopsis:
Former Zeon mobile suit squad leader Cucuruz Doan has deserted, taking up residence on a small island where he helped to raise a number of orphaned children. But what about the other members of his squad? While the original story was told from federation pilot Amuro Ray’s perspective, Ohno’s limited series goes beyond the original television episode to explore the ramifications of Doan’s actions on his own troops, bringing us a multilayered and emotionally complex view of the events from Zeon’s perspective.
Honeko Akabane’s Bodyguards
Story and Art: Masamitsu Nigatsu
Release Date: January 2025
Synopsis:
They have only one goal – to kill Honeko Akabane! One day, Arakuni Ibuki learns that his childhood friend, Honeko Akabane, is being targeted by assassins! Both of them are in Class 3-4 at Sosoji High School, and Ibuki is ordered to protect Akabane for one year. His goal is to ensure that she graduates safely, but he must do so without her realizing it. And so begins his secret life as a bodyguard at school! However, there seems to be more secrets within the so-called “Class 3-4”…?!
Dra-Q
Story and Art: Chiyo
Release Date: January 2025
Synopsis:
Amelie Kurosaki is your typical high school student—or so she seems. She tries to stay quiet and abide by the rules; she has a crush on her delinquent classmate, Paco, who she’s always fighting with. But her secret crush isn’t the only thing Amelie is hiding—she’s actually a vampire who’s forbidden to fall in love with humans. But after a series of events, Amelie’s hidden identity is revealed — right in front of Paco.
Dogs and Punchings Bags
Story and Art: Kaori Ozaki
Release Date: January 2025
Synopsis:
From Kaori Ozaki, author of the gods lie. and The Golden Sheep, comes another touching exploration of love, family, and belonging.
After leaving her isolating life in Tokyo, 34-year-old Nichiko returns to her remote island hometown for her estranged alcoholic father’s final days. There she meets Chimaki, an eccentric young man who stirs up old memories and feelings Nichiko had all but decided she no longer deserved. But despite his puppy-like enthusiasm for life, Chimaki’s almost obsessive need to rescue people and animals seems to be compensating for an unspeakable past.
Love on the Horizon
Story and Art: Machi Yamashita
Release Date: January 2025
Synopsis:
Art university student Nagi Kitagawa is hopelessly in love with Yuu Yamasaki, his senpai in the folk song club who also happens to be his next door neighbor. Yuu seems to have it all—good looks, a great personality, and he’s also super popular—so Nagi can’t help but think he’d never fall for a shy, innocent country bumpkin like him. One night, after drinking too much at one of their club get-togethers, Nagi helps a drunk Yuu get home safe—but before he can go back to his own apartment, Yuu wraps Nagi in his arms and falls asleep, trapping Nagi in his embrace. Nagi sneaks out the next morning, careful to not wake Yuu up, and vows to keep the incident a secret. But when Nagi finds himself growing closer and closer to Yuu, his unrequited feelings only grow stronger… And could it be that his love isn’t as one-sided as he thinks it is…?
Confession
Story: Nobuyuki Fukumoto
Art: Kaiji Kawaguchi
Release Date: December 2024
The manga is inspiring a live-action film adaptation set for release in Japan in May 2024.
Synopsis:
Two miles up in the unforgiving heights of Mt. Owari, hikers and friends Asai and Ishikura are hit by a blizzard and lose their way. Injured and sure of his imminent death, Ishikura confesses to killing a member of their university hiking club five years ago. However, Asai then stumbles upon shelter and carries them both to safety, only to realize that the confession has forever changed their relationship—and that the brutal elements may no longer be the most deadly threat around.
Shimazaki in the Land of Peace
Story: Gouten Hamada
Illustrated: Takeshi Seshimo
Release Date: November 2024
Synopsis:
After surviving a terrorist incident as a child, Shingo Shimazaki was forced to join the League for Economic Liberations’ revolutionary army. Now, thirty years later, he’s back in Japan and trying to assimilate to a normal life. His Japanese may be awkward, and his grasp of ordinary tasks a little weak, but he has all the combat and surveillance training of a green beret. There are many kindhearted souls who want to help him – and a few not so kind ones who will do anything to stop him.
Suzume
Original Story: Makoto Shinkai
Art: Denki Amashima
Release Date: September 2024
Synopsis:
High school junior Suzume has no idea why the beautiful stranger she meets is looking for ruins, for a certain door. Soon after pointing the stranger, Souta, in the direction of an abandoned resort, she thinks better of it and goes to try and stop him. But before she can find Souta, Suzume unknowingly opens a decrepit door to a world beyond time and place — and stumbles into an adventure of seismic proportions.
S (Paperback Edition)
Story: Koji Suzuki
Release Date: October 2024
Synopsis:
Now in a modern age of computers and the internet, the Sadako virus is revitalized and is potentially even more dangerous. Combining classic Japanese horror and modern themes, S is Koji Suzuki’s powerful return to the J-Horror field!
Senpai Is an Otokonoko: My Crossdressing Classmate
Story and Art: Pom
Release Date: April 2025
Synopsis:
First-year high school student Saki Aoi can’t help but find herself head-over-heels for her senpai, Makoto Hanaoka. After all, Hanaoka-senpai is tall, beautiful, and oh-so-cool—who wouldn’t fall for a girl like her? Saki, with her bright and bubbly personality, doesn’t hesitate to confess her feelings. However, Makoto turns her down, saying that they’re not the person Saki thinks they are—because Makoto isn’t a girl, but rather a cross-dressing boy!
Second-year Makoto Hanaoka is used to the negatives that come with his love of cross-dressing—including the harsh gossip from his classmates, as well as the disapproval from his mother at home. After revealing his well-known secret to Saki, he expects her to be disgusted. But Saki’s feelings only grow stronger, and she doesn’t care what Makoto’s gender is—in fact, she’s determined to win him over!
Ryuji Taiga hears what his other classmates have to say about his cross-dressing best friend, Makoto—and has no problem coming to his defense. So when Ryuji finds out a first-year has a crush on him, he can’t help but be wary of her intentions. Not only that, but Ryuji has his own conflicting feelings about Makoto, which may run deeper than friendship…
Fall In Love, You False Angels
Story and Art: Coco Uzuki
Release Date: February 2025
Synopsis:
All sugar, no spice, and everything nice… that’s the impression the beautiful first-year high schooler and “heartthrob angel” class president Otogi Katsura gives to those around her. In reality, Otogi is brash, assertive, and has no problem calling out a jerk when she sees one—the complete opposite of her soft spoken vice presidential counterpart, the equally beautiful and seemingly perfect Toki Ninomae. One day, when a group of boys try to hit on her at the train station, Otogi doesn’t hold back and gives them a piece of her mind — and, to her surprise, Toki enjoys seeing this side of her. Not only that, it turns out the seemingly polite, put-together vice president has a hidden side of his own… and Otogi now finds him more attractive than ever! Now “partners-in-crime,” Otogi and Toki agree to keep their hidden sides a secret from the rest of their classmates—but could this shared, dark secret also bring them closer together…?!
I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day
Story and Art: Nachi Aono
Release Date: February 2025
Synopsis:
At the mysterious orphanage where Sheena lives, death is nothing new to its residents—girls who no longer have families of their own, who are raised as weapons of war, taught to kill and take the lives of others without batting an eye. Everyone, that is, except Sheena, who wishes for nothing more than the growing conflict around her to end. On the night of her roommate’s death, Sheena meets a strange girl covered in blood, who smiles despite the turmoil surrounding them.
The next day, the girl appears as a new student in Sheena’s class and introduces herself as Mimi. Initially thought to be a school myth, there are now whispers in the orphanage’s halls that Mimi is their secret weapon—an immortal who cannot die. When Mimi is later assigned as Sheena’s new roommate, Sheena’s world grows even more complicated when she begins living with someone who loves and welcomes death, when all Sheena wants to do is stop it…
The company will also release a new 3-in-1 complete omnibus edition of the Ajin manga series.
Ajin Complete
Story and Art: Gamon Sakurai
Release Date: October 2024
Synopsis:
High school student Kei Nagai is killed in a traffic accident, but immediately revives to learn that he may not be human at all. Instead, he may be a Demi-Human, a mysterious almost immortal being blessed with amazing super-human abilities. Scared, he runs away, and is aided in his escape from society by his friend Kai. Unfortunately for Kei, the manhunt is on and he will soon be caught within a conflict between mankind and other Demi-Humans as they prepare to fight for global supremacy.
Digital License for April 2024
You Must Be This Tall to Propose!
Story and Art: Fumi Mifuyu
Release Date: April 9, 2024
Synopsis:
Chitose Oki has a huge crush on his next-door neighbor Tomo, but there’s one small problem — his height. Back as kids, when his dream girl said she wouldn’t marry him until he grew up, poor Chitose took that quite literally. These days, it’s not just height—one embarrassing misunderstanding after another keeps them from seeing eye to eye. The truth is, they’re both head over heels for each other, but it’s a tall order to confess your feelings to the one you love.
In addition, Kodansha USA will also release new box sets for the following series:
- • Blue Lock Season 1, Part 1 Manga Box Set (Set for release in October 2024)
- • Hitorijime My Hero Manga Box Set 2 (Set for release in October 2024)
- • Fire Force Manga Box Set 2 (Set for release in December 2024)
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