Tag Archives: musashi

Anime NYC 2024: Kodansha Reveals New Print and Digital Licenses

Posted on by

Announced at Anime NYC 2024, Kodansha has expanded its upcoming print lineup with a collection of brand-new series, fresh editions, and box sets arriving in Summer 2025.

Kodansha also announced the digital debut of Manchuria Opium Squad, a gritty historical crime drama that will launch this September.

SUMMER 2025 NEW PRINT LICENSES:

Last Samurai Standing

By TATSUZ
Rated: 16+

In a rapidly changing world, a sinister game of life-or-death brutally culls Japan’s fading warrior class. Who is rounding up the few who still cling to their swords and is forcing them to fight? And who will be the last samurai standing?

It is the 11th year of the Meiji era in Japan, and more than a decade since the samurai were stripped of their privileges, with swords outlawed on public streets. A mysterious poster appears in all corners of the land, luring those skilled in martial arts to Kyoto with the promise of riches beyond common imagination. As warriors deprived of purpose flock to the appointed place at the appointed time, what awaits them is no ordinary task, but an all-out war—against each other!

Last Samurai Standing

You’re All Mine Tonight

By Takiba
Rated: 18+

A steamy new BL one-shot about a businessman longing to reunite with his past lover—who wants nothing more than to put his own troubled past behind him.

Kanzaki is your typical businessman: He’s stoic, dependable, and respected by all of his subordinates. But he has a secret he can’t tell anyone: Five years ago, he became involved with a male sex worker named Nagi. The more nights they spent together, the more lust gave way to love, and Kanzaki hasn’t been able to get Nagi off his mind since. After being sent to work abroad, Kanzaki returns to Japan and meets one of his new subordinates—a young man named Futagami, who looks exactly like Nagi. As the part of Kanzaki’s past that was once frozen in time begins to thaw, can the two men find their way back toward each other, or will the passionate nights they spent together remain a thing of the past?

You're All Mine Tonight

Light of My Life

By Takiba
Rated: 18+

Aki and Minagi were inseparable in high school, until an incident pulled their friendship apart at the seams. Years later, both men have given up on their high school dreams, and on each other. But when Minagi shows up one night on Aki’s doorstep, is it just the push the two men need in order to address their past and repair their future?

Back in high school, best friends Aki and Minagi were inseparable. Aki dreamed of becoming a professional football player, while Minagi was seen as a “genius” who was eager to chase his dream of working in medicine. Years later, Aki has taken over his grandfather’s hair salon, and Minagi set his interest in medicine aside to work in a host club. Despite the growing tension between them following their high school fallout, Minagi shows up at Aki’s apartment one day asking for a place to stay. Can the two men confront their past in order to repair their future?

Light of My Life

Attack on Titan FLY

By Hajime Isayama
Rated: 16+

That was not the end! This super-premium collector’s set includes a colossal-sized art book with color illustrations and a new interview with creator Hajime Isayama, replicas of Eren’s key and Mikasa’s scarf, and, for the first time, the exclusive manga booklet Vol. 35.

The ultimate addition to every collection, Attack on Titan: FLY—previously only available in Japan in limited quantities—is coming to the world in English! This huge box set includes the final Attack on Titan art book, featuring every AoT color illustration known to man (or Titan!) and an exclusive new interview with Hajime Isayama, housed in a beautiful slipcase, alongside bonuses true Titan fans are going to love, like a full-sized replica set of the manuscript pages of the last chapter of Attack on Titan; the padlock and key housing the secrets behind the basement of Eren’s family home; the scarf Eren gave to Mikasa; and, most exciting of all the exclusive manga “Volume 35”—a new chapter of manga focused on fan-favorite Levi, plus the rough layouts of the final chapter, all presented for the first time in English!

Attack on Titan FLY

SPECIAL COVER REVEALS:

Musashi (New Edition)

By Eiji Yoshikawa, Translated by Charles Terry
Rated: 16+

Eiji Yoshikawa’s classic samurai novel about the real exploits of the most famous swordsman. New Edition features a new original cover design by a renowned creator, Takehiko Inoue (Slam Dunk, Vagabond)!

Miyamoto Musashi was the child of an era when Japan was emerging from decades of civil strife. Lured to the great Battle of Sekigahara in 1600 by the hope of becoming a samurai–without really knowing what it meant–he regains consciousness after the battle to find himself lying defeated, dazed and wounded among thousands of the dead and dying. On his way home, he commits a rash act, becomes a fugitive and brings life in his own village to a standstill—until he is captured by a weaponless Zen monk.

Musashi (New Edition)

Twilight Out of Focus Box Set

By Jyanome
Rated: 18+

This collector’s box set contains volumes 1-4 of the Twilight Out of Focus series and includes a special booklet with U.S.-edition-exclusive art, a never-before translated short story, and all-new full-color illustrations!

Second-years Mao Tsuchiya and Hisashi Otomo make three promises: 1) That Mao will never tell anyone that Hisashi is gay and has a boyfriend, 2) That Hisashi will never think of Mao “in that way,” and 3) That they’ll always knock before entering, in case someone is having some “private time.” The two’s ground rules should ensure a peaceful life together in their dorm, but life is never as simple as it should be, and some things are not so easily promised…

Twilight Out of Focus Box Set

SEPTEMBER 2024 NEW DIGITAL LICENSE:

Manchuria Opium Squad

By Tsukasa Monma and Shikako
Debut Date: September 10, 2024
Rated: 18+

In the corrupt, conflict-ridden Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, the illegal opium trade is a perilous path to quick riches-or a swift death. Desperate to save his doomed family, the young Isamu Higata seizes a dangerous opportunity, using his botanical expertise to make mind-blowing opium in hopes of cashing in. But when sinister gangs and the oppressive state catch wind of his operation, Isamu is thrust deeper and deeper into a treacherous world of deceit and depravity to protect himself and those he loves.

This series is a work of fiction and contains graphic depictions of intense violence, drug abuse, and other shocking imagery. The story and its contents are not recommended for young or sensitive readers. Reader discretion is advised.

Manchuria Opium Squad

Review: Musashi

Posted on by
Musashi

Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s I watched cartoons religiously, even the bad ones. One of the more interesting cartoons I remembered watching and actually becoming enamored with was Disney’s American Legends. It portrayed fictional and sometimes true-life heroes as first normal humans, but their actions are what propelled them to legendary proportions. Their stories became the ideals Americans aspire to and what an “American hero” was.

This inflated patriotism would give children living in other countries an often-dreamlike vision of what Americans were. I remember growing up for a time in Trinidad and many of my classmates looking to me because I was American. They perceived I possessed some of those idealistic traits. It was not until I joined the military and saw that every country had their own versions of Johnny Appleseed and John Henry. In Sean Michael Wilson and Michiru Morikawa’s Musashi we are introduced to one of Japan’s greatest mythical heroes.

We meet Iori, his adopted son, who tells his story through a series of flashbacks. As we meet him at a tender age, where we see he has an affinity for fighting , as he takes on to swordsmanship quickly, as he joins the Toyotomi Clan in a war against the Tokugawa Shogunate, one where he stood out from the crowd because of his military prowess., but labeled a rebel because of his belonging to the Western forces at the Insurrection at Sekigahara. He would go wondering around Japan, refining his skills, which included his clash with the Yoshioka Clan in 1604 who his father had bested in a “comparison of Technique” competition, and who he bested several times, using psychology as his secondary weapon, would include crippling the master, a story that added to his legend. Through these encounters and fights, he would start developing his own tactics, ones would become the basis of his acclaimed book, The Book Of Five Rings, as he would move to Edo, and write the first inklings of the book, with his first pamphlet, “The Mirror Of The Way Of The War”. As every swordsman in Japan came to challenge him, he found his stay in Edo to be untenable, so in 1612, so he went south, where his most famous fight took place, against Sasaki Kojiro, who practiced the “No Sword” technique, as their skirmish was bloody and swift, as Musashi defeated Kojiro almost effortlessly.  As Tokugawa Ieyasu continued his destruction of the various clans, many masterless swordsman would join the Toyotomi Clan in defiance, which would include Musashi , as he rejoined them in their Osaka stronghold,  which despites their numbers and allegiance to the Samurai Code, was eventually defeated. He would become less interested in fights and more in passing on his knowledge to students, as this is when he would adopt Iori, then a homeless child and raised him as his own. He would always find the call to battle as part of public service to various clans, where they would retain his talents, and which would only make him even more diverse in his skill set. By book’s end, he would create the tome most connected to his legacy, and though his body would eventually become frail, his mind would still be sharp, as he would live a life that would be more fabled and more fulfilled than most men.

Overall, an excellent graphic novel that gives a thorough look at Japan’s most famous swordsman and the stories that would make him the legend he would become. The story by Wilson is well researched, enigmatic, relatable, and very entertaining. The art by Morikawa is very detailed and contains incredible line work. Altogether, a story that is as mysterious as Spartacus, but even more famous and through Wilson’s and Morikawa’s storytelling readers will see exactly why.

Story: Sean Michael Wilson Art: Michiru Morikawa
Story: 10 Art: 10 Overall: 10 Recommendation: Buy