#Seven Seas Licenses SPRIGGAN, Cats and Sugar Bowls, and More Manga For English Release

Seven Seas Entertainment has announced the license of five new manga series for the English market. All new titles will be released sometime later in 2022 and early 2023 on both print and digital formats. 

Their biggest acquisition is the manga series SPRIGGAN by writer Hiroshi Takashige and artist Ryoji Minagawa. The action sci-fi thriller manga follows a group of elite super spies tracking down ancient alien relics around the world. 11 tankoubon volumes have been published from February 22, 1989 to February 5, 1996. SPRIGGAN has also inspired a 1998 anime film and an upcoming ONA series by David Production that will premiere on Netflix in 2022. 

This marks the first time SPRIGGAN will be released in its entirety in North America. It will be published in four large-trime deluxe omnibus volumes that feature 600+ pages and an exclusive color illustration gallery. The first deluxe edition volume will be available on print and digital platforms in August 2022. 

The manga series is described as:

In the waning years of the Cold War era, national governments and paramilitary forces are in a race to uncover the relics of an ancient alien civilization that once ruled the Earth. The alien technology holds seemingly miraculous powers, but in the wrong hands, this power could spell disaster. Only the ARCAM Corporation’s elite special operatives, the SPRIGGAN, have what it takes to stand up against an international rogue’s gallery of power-hungry cyborgs and gunmen who covet ultimate power. Brash and fearless Ominae Yu, a teenage SPRIGGAN equipped with ARCAM’s strongest power armor, will do whatever it takes to keep the past’s forbidden legacy buried away!

Another new manga series that will be released later this year is Lazy Dungeon Master — the manga adaptation based on the light novel series of the same name. Artist Nanaroku provides artwork for this manga series with Supana Onikage and Youta credited with original story and art respectively. 

Lazy Dungeon Master is an exciting isekai fantasy tale where one slacker is forced to become the guardian of a dungeon. The first volume will be released in single-volume editions on print and digital formats around September 2022. 

Seven Seas Entertainment describes the manga as

Masuda Keima just wants to sleep. Too bad for him, he’s been pulled from sweet dreams and comfy sheets into a fantasy dungeon in another world! Not only is he charged with protecting it, but failure to do so will cost him his life. His only guide is the personification of the Dungeon Core, Rokuko–but she’s a moron who can’t even figure out how to drive away a group of bandits. If Keima ever wants to get some quality shut-eye again, he’ll have to take over running this dungeon himself!

Yuri manga fans can enjoy another beautiful collection of sweet, provocative short stories in the release of Cats and Sugar Bowls. The yuri manga collection by Yukiko will be available in North America in single, large-trim volume editions in September 2022. 

The manga collection is described as:

Want a little spice with your sugar? Cats and Sugar Bowls serves up nine bite-sized tales about love between women. Rena and Sanae are like a pair of naughty kitties who act far more innocent than they really are. Touka, while looking for a lover willing to indulge her more extreme BDSM fantasies, runs into her boss at a bondage club. All these delights and more await!

The historical fantasy light novel series Kijin Gentoushou and its manga adaptation have also been licensed by Seven Seas Entertainment. The story for both formats is credited to Motoo Nakanishi with Tamaki illustrating the visuals for the light novel and Yuu Satomi handling artwork for the manga series. 

Kijin Gentoushou is a time-spanning fantasy epic between humans and demons, wherein one feudal Japanese warrior chases down a demon through various time periods. The series will also inspire an anime adaptation that has yet to release information on its format and release date. The first volume of the light novel series will be released on print and digital in December 2022 under Seven Seas’ Airship imprint. Meanwhile, the manga’s first volume will be available in January 2023. 

The manga series is described as:

In the Edo era, young Jinta and his sister must flee their home, finding refuge in a mountain village. Years later, Jinta has grown into a skilled swordsman, sworn to protect the priestess of the village shrine. Charged with slaying a demon that threatens the shrine, Jinta confronts the malevolent creature in the forest, only to learn a shocking truth. The demon speaks of events one hundred and seventy years hence, when Jinta must confront the demon in the future. Thus begins an epic fantasy journey that spans multiple eras as Jinta hunts a demon through time and must come to terms with his own dark nature.

Asumiko Nakamura’s blanc will also be released and published in the English market for the first time. The series is a continuation of her Boys’ Love manga Classmates, which follows the lives of Hikaru and Rihito after they graduate from high school. The newest installment of the modern BL classic will be released as Classmates: Vol. 6: blanc. It will be published as a single omnibus collection in November 2022. 

The new manga series is described as:

Rocker Hikaru and studious Rihito met and fell in love when they were high school classmates. Now, three years after graduation, Hikaru is still in their hometown trying to get his music career going while Rihito is studying in Kyoto. The two are desperate to make their long-distance relationship work, but can young love overcome adult hardships? Originally released as two volumes in Japan, now fans can own both volumes of blanc and the special bonus content known in Japan as blanc #0: Rings, all combined into a single omnibus edition in English.

Source: Seven Seas Entertainment