Tag Archives: ball and chain

Anime Boston 2026: Manga Mavericks Books Announces New Manga Licenses

Manga Mavericks Books announced two newly licensed titles during its panel at Anime Boston that will be added to its catalog in Q4 2026 and Q1 2027.

The latest releases include the girls’ love school drama series ONI & DAWN: BAKUMATSU HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS by Hana Ikuta (published in Japan by TWO VIRGINS), the first volume of which is scheduled for release in print and digital formats in October 2026, and the award nominated queer drama BALL & CHAIN by Minami Q-ta (published in Japan by MAGAZINE HOUSE), the first volume of which is scheduled for release in both print and digital in a 2-in-1 omnibus format starting in March 2027.

ONI & DAWN: BAKUMATSU HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS, VOLUME 1

by Hana Ikuta ∙ Print SRP: $14.99 / Digital SRP: $6.99
176 pages ∙ ISBN: 9781968054403 ∙ For Readers 13+ ∙ Available October 2026 

Pack your bags and grab your sword, because class is now in session for this dramatic GL series.

Somewhere in Japan, very special students have gathered at Koharu Girls’ High School. What makes them special, you ask?

Sakamoto, Takasugi, Katsura, Katsu, Hijikata, Okita, Kondo…

All these girls possess the souls of the great samurai from the Bakumatsu period! Living as teenage girls with their memories intact, they must navigate modern society, deal with messy historical baggage, and fight for love in a school that forbids romance.

ONI & DAWN: BAKUMATSU HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS is a 3 volume series published in Japan by TWO VIRGINS.

Manga Mavericks Books will be releasing the series in single volumes at A5 (5.83″ x 8.27″) size.

ONI & DAWN: BAKUMATSU HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS, VOLUME 1

BALL & CHAIN, OMNIBUS 1

by Minami Q-ta ∙ Print SRP: $19.99 / Digital SRP: $9.99
320 pages ∙ ISBN: 9781968054465 ∙ For Readers 13+ ∙ Available March 2027   

“Maybe I could have chosen something different…”

Keito is a late-20s company employee who’s planning to get married as a “woman,” despite not feeling cemented into a specific gender or sexuality.

Meanwhile, Aya is a married woman in her 50s who continues playing out the role of “wife” despite being in a marriage that’s long since gone cold.

They both struggle with a gender that was decided upon birth and the “wife” role that became nothing more than a pantomime at some point.

This is a story of two queer people who harbor doubts about how they’ve been treated and shoved into a “normalized” box, and try to take back their true selves.

BALL & CHAIN is an ongoing series in Japan published by MAGAZINE HOUSE, and is currently nominated for the 30th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.

Manga Mavericks Books will be releasing the series in a 2-in-1 omnibus format at A5 (5.83″ x 8.27″) size.

BALL & CHAIN, OMNIBUS 1
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The Rock and Emily Blunt to Star in Ball and Chain Based on the comic by Scott Lobdell

Ball and Chain #1

Emily Blunt and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson are reuniting for the upcoming superhero film Ball and Chain. The movie is an adaptation of the comic series by Scott Lobdell, Alé Garza, and Richard Bennett and being adapted by Emily V. Gordon.

The film is about a bickering couple that get superpowers that only work if they’re together.

Ball and Chain ran for four issues and was by Lobdell, Garza, and Bennett. Published by Homage Comics, the series ran from November 1999 to February 2000.

Interestingly, there was to be a tv movie of the comic series in 2001 featuring Dan Cortese and Myndy Crist as the married couple and featuring Eric Dane who would later go on to Grey’s Anatomy and play Multiple Man in X-Men: The Last Stand.

Johnson and Blunt are set to co-star in Jungle Cruise which has been delayed due to the pandemic. It’s unknown when this new team-up will film.

Johnsons has multiple comic properties ahead of him. Along with this film there’s DC’s Black Adam and Doc Savage. This would be the second comic property for blunt who starred in Edge of Tomorrow based off of the manga and book and is rumored to reprise her role in Live Die Repeat and Repeat as well as being a consistent rumor as an actor joining the Marvel Universe.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)