Kodansha, the writer of manga like Assault on Titan and Vinland Saga, has formally introduced the serialization lineup for 5 new manga sequence following the outcomes of an enormous recognition ballot carried out solely amongst readers within the U.S.
The voting marketing campaign, which concluded on Nov 10, 2025, allowed abroad followers to decide the editorial course of a significant Japanese journal for the primary time.
The marketing campaign, centered on a particular U.S. version of Younger Journal, which was launched to have a good time the forty fifth anniversary of the journal’s Japanese debut earlier this yr. The journal included 19 debut sequence, out of which 16 had been eligible to be a part of the voting course of.
The ballot garnered 281,461 votes, a determine that far exceeded the writer’s preliminary projections.
Kami Nishio’s LGBTQ themed drama Nonetheless You led the rankings, adopted by Rin Shimokawa’s horror title Godmother, Ray Kindo’s The Knight of Blasphemy, Daisuke Itabashi’s The Journey of a Darkish Elf with Fading Powers and OUGA’s Fasciation.
These works might be serialized concurrently in Japan by way of Weekly Younger Journal or Month-to-month Younger Journal and within the U.S. by way of the Okay-MANGA app.
Itabashi’s fantasy sequence is the primary to obtain a confirmed launch date, with serialization scheduled to start within the January 2026 concern of Month-to-month Younger Journal on Dec 20. The plot of the manga follows an elf who loses her magical talents and begins a brand new life within the countryside.
Launch dates for the remaining winners might be introduced later.
Whereas the unique plan was to serialize the highest 5 works primarily based on the votes, the overwhelming voter turnout prompted Kodansha to choose 4 further works for serialization, bringing the overall variety of picked-up titles to 9. The names of the brand new titles might be revealed at a later date.
Mr. Shiraki, Editor-in-Chief of the Younger Journal Particular Challenge, expressed astonishment on the enthusiastic response from the American market. “All the editorial division was genuinely astonished by the huge response, which far exceeded our preliminary expectations,” Shiraki said. He famous that the outcomes highlighted the various sensibilities of the U.S. viewers.
Shiraki additionally confirmed that preparations for a second “Yanmaga US” undertaking are already underway, emphasizing the writer’s perception that “there aren’t any borders in storytelling.”
The particular U.S. concern was edited totally in English from the bottom up and featured works particularly curated to depict “unvarnished actuality” throughout sci-fi, horror and cyberpunk genres. The undertaking was designed to search out Japanese manga creators able to interesting on to an abroad viewers.
First printed in 1980, Weekly Younger Journal is thought for producing gritty, culturally important hits. The journal has been the house to Katsuhiro Otomo’s AKIRA, Masamune Shirow’s Ghost within the Shell and Shuichi Shigeno’s Preliminary D.
The 19-title lineup for this U.S. experiment included works from business veterans like Shuzo Oshimi (The Flowers of Evil) and Masaaki Nakayama (PTSD Radio) although they had been ineligible for voting.
Try the whole checklist of works from the journal beneath:
- BOYS RUN THE RIOT – IN TRANSITION- by Keito Gaku
- Fasciation by OUGA
- Godmother by Rin Shimokawa
- GOUMA The Blade that Slaughters Gods by Hiroki Ishizawa
- Into the Darkish by Anri Morikuma
- Is My Love Unusual? by Hikari Azuma
- ΚΙΚΙΚΑΙΚΑΙ by Kyuri Yamada
- Pregnant, with story by Denchi Matsumoto and artwork by Keita Nishijima
- PROJECT METALLIA by Yukito Iwai
- Protocol Ryugu by Daisaku Tsuru
- Nonetheless You by Kami Nishio
- The Graveyard Shift by Yoshimi Sato
- The Journey of a Darkish Elf with Fading Powers by Daisuke Itabashi
- The Knight of Blasphemy by Ray Kindo
- THE LAST TERRAN, with story by Hiroshi Takashige and artwork by Tatsumi Hitomoji
- To Nightfall and Twilight by Robico
- ME AND BOB DYLAN (AND MY FATHER) by Shuzo Oshimi
- The Silent Forest by Masaaki Nakayama
- Subaru and Subaru by Shuichi Shigeno
Supply: Press Launch
