The team behind Kino’s Journey is starting something new. Kadokawa’s Dengeki Bunko announced that writer Keiichi Sigsawa and illustrator Kouhaku Kuroboshi will launch a light novel series titled Drifted ~John Smith no Edo Hyōryū Kitan~ (roughly, Drifted: The Strange Tale of John Smith’s Drifting in Edo). The first volume ships on November 10.
The announcement came with the cover image and a short description of the premise. Drifted follows a man who wanders with no clear direction, working alongside ninjas, supernatural yōkai and people with preternatural abilities as he takes on various “jobs.” The hook is the truth he witnesses along the way, which the promotion frames as the real point of the story.
The duo behind Kino’s Journey
Sigsawa and Kuroboshi are one of the longest-running author-and-illustrator partnerships in light novels. Sigsawa began serializing Kino’s Journey in ASCII Media Works’ Dengeki HP magazine in 2000, and Kadokawa shipped the 24th volume in September 2025. The series inspired a 13-episode anime in 2003, followed by films in 2005 and 2007, and a remake television anime that premiered in 2017.
The franchise branched out over the years. Sigsawa published Gakuen Kino, a spinoff that turned Kino into a high school girl, from 2006 to 2021, with a manga adaptation that ran from 2010 until it ended with its third collected volume in June 2012. Iruka Shiomiya launched the first manga adaptation of the main light novel series in Kodansha’s Shonen Magazine Edge in March 2017.
In North America, Tokyopop published the beginning of the novel series, Yen Press recently licensed the original novels, and ADV Films released the television anime before Sentai Filmworks rereleased it on DVD in June 2017.
Sigsawa’s other new work
Drifted is not the only new project on Sigsawa’s desk. He and artist Hayato Asaki launched the manga Kemono-tachi no Peregrinatio (also referred to as Peregrinatio Bestiarum or The Beasts’ Wandering) on Shogakukan’s Weekly CoroCoro Comic online magazine on July 17. That one is notable because it is the first original manga written by Sigsawa, as opposed to an adaptation of his prose.
Why it matters
A new series from this pair is notable for the obvious reason: their last major collaboration has been running for 25 years and has never really gone away. Kino’s Journey built its following on travel, quiet observation and a traveler who mostly watches the worlds she passes through. The description of Drifted leans on similar ground, with a wandering lead and stories told through the people he meets.
The Edo setting is the twist. Ninjas and yōkai move the new series into historical supernatural territory rather than the ambiguous, almost European countryside of Kino’s world. Whether that shift suits the duo’s restrained style is the interesting question, and the first volume on November 10 will answer it. Yen Press licensing the original Kino’s Journey novels also suggests English readers may not have to wait long to see Drifted in translation.
For more light novel news, see our coverage of Yen Press’ latest licensing round.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: Cover for Drifted ~John Smith no Edo Hyōryū Kitan~, via Dengeki Bunko / Anime News Network.
