Square Enix’s Manga UP! Global service added six manga titles in English over the past week, a run that started on October 10 and finishes today. The batch leans hard on isekai and fantasy, with one imperial-court drama and one assassination comedy thrown in to break up the pattern.
The Imperial Court’s Floral Stylist — October 20
The newest of the six arrives today. Haruko Yumikaka wrote The Imperial Court’s Floral Stylist (Kōkyū no Hanayui-shi), Sand designed the characters, and Ema Suzuya draws the manga. Caomei is a low-ranking lady-in-waiting in the imperial court whose only assigned duty is pulling weeds. She has one talent: styling flowers. In this world those flowers grow on a woman’s head as a living sign of her status, and a concubine whose blooms are rotting shows up asking for help.
Killer’s Familia — October 18
Ren Kurosaka’s Killer’s Familia landed on October 18. Baal and Levi are horned warriors raised from childhood by the head of an assassination familia, who expected loyal apprentices and got two chaotic dependents instead. They would kill for him. They might also kill him by accident. It is a comedy about a man trapped in a family he never actually agreed to.
Three isekai and fantasy titles
The Poison Immunity title arrived October 16, and yes, the full name is After Getting the Crap Skill “Poison Immunity,” I Ate the Toxic Meat of a Dead SSS-Rank Monster and Awakened an OP Ability. Nagafumi Yabun wrote it, Natsumi Matsushima draws it. Victor is reincarnated into a world where everybody gets one divine skill, draws Poison Immunity, gets disowned for it, and then discovers that the useless skill lets him absorb the abilities of any monster he eats. The premise is doing a lot of work in that sentence, and the series seems aware of it.
Lily of the High Seas (Shiosai no Lily) came out October 14 from Naru Seto. Alfred lost his childhood friend Lilian to pirates fifteen years ago, spent the intervening years at sea, and made lieutenant. Then he boards a merchant ship under attack and ends up fighting the friend he failed to protect, who is now a pirate herself. Straight-laced naval officer, tomboy pirate, mutual misunderstanding. That is the whole pitch and it does not need more.
The Abandoned Tamer Signs a Deal With a Devilishly Beautiful Dragon followed on October 12. Kazuha Kishimoto wrote it and Yōichirō Tomita draws it. Noel has the Tamer job, no combat ability, and a party that treats him as dead weight until they leave him at the bottom of a lethal dungeon. He finds a sealed flame dragon named Fran, unseals her, and starts borrowing her power. The revenge arc writes itself.
I Became a Saint to Support My Idol! — October 10
The week opened with Natsume Tamayura’s I Became a Saint to Support My Idol! Yasuyuki Syuri designed the characters and Hisaho Aki draws it. Eristella reincarnates into the world of a game she played in a past life and decides the only thing that matters is saving Adolf, a knight captain marked for death. Her solution involves becoming a Saint and entering a contract marriage with him. They end up under the same roof.
What the batch says about the service
Six titles in eleven days is a heavy week for any manga platform, and Manga UP! Global has been steadily filling out its English catalog with Square Enix titles for a while now. The batch is almost entirely fantasy and isekai, which tells you what the service thinks its readers are looking for. It is a different play from the one Crunchyroll is making: Crunchyroll’s manga app expanded into the U.K., Ireland, South Asia and ANZ this year, growing its territory while Manga UP! grows its shelf.
Smaller outfits are making the same bet on volume. Sweet Shop Comics added Glacier Bay Books titles on the indie end, and Kodansha USA announced a print slate and ten new licenses earlier this month. The English manga market keeps getting more crowded, and platform exclusives are now a normal part of how a license gets shopped.
Where to start
For readers trying to decide, Lily of the High Seas is the one that stands apart. It is a two-hander with a clean emotional hook instead of a stat sheet, and Naru Seto is working in a romance register the rest of the lineup does not touch. Killer’s Familia is the other one worth a look, mostly because a comedy about an assassin who cannot control his adopted monsters is a harder trick to pull off than another skill-acquisition story.
All six are available now on Manga UP! Global in English.
Source
Featured image: Promotional art for Lily of the High Seas, via Anime News Network.
