Kodansha USA Publishing rolled out a big batch of announcements on Thursday. The publisher revealed a new slate for its Kodansha Print Club and a stack of fresh licenses, ten titles in all, most of them due between January and April 2027 on the Print Club side and in Fall 2027 for the new pickups.
The Kodansha Print Club Slate
The Print Club is Kodansha USA’s print-focused line, and seven titles made the cut this round:
Burn the House Down, by Moyashi Fujisawa, arrives in January 2027. It follows a woman who takes a false identity to work as a housekeeper inside the wealthy family she believes framed her mother for arson.
Also in January: When Arika Went Missing, written by Moyashi Fujisawa with art by Kumakazu. A year after a beloved idol vanishes, her best friend tries to infiltrate the idol group to find out what happened.
Manchuria Opium Squad, from Shikako and Tsukasa Monma, also lands in January 2027. The story is set in the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, where a young man uses his knowledge of plants to make opium and gets pulled into the criminal underworld.
February 2027 brings Kamakura Bakeneko Club: Uncanny Cat Tales by Daisuke Igarashi, a set of linked stories about a Kamakura café where visitors share tales of strange encounters with cats.
Igarashi returns in March 2027 with Umwelt and Other Stories, a collection of ten short pieces that range from folklore to surreal science fiction.
Futarijime Romantic, by Chihiro Kanisawa, also arrives in March 2027. It is a three-volume shojo romantic comedy about a high school girl who meets a boy with the same name as her childhood sweetheart.
April 2027 closes the Print Club group with Ark of the Canaries by Misaki Takamatsu, following a girl whose ordinary life ends when something massive falls from the sky.
The New Licenses
The ten new licenses are spread across Fall 2027:
Hitorijime Boyfriend: Re, by Memeco Arii, is a single-volume sequel to the BL one-shot, picking up with Kensuke and Hasekura after they move in together.
I Remember the Color of the Wind, by Kazari, follows a high schooler who falls for a popular classmate after an impulsive introduction.
Powerless Without You (Muryoku Seijo to Munō Ōjo), by Tama Tamasaki, is a yuri fantasy about a summoned “Saintess” with no magic and the princess she is meant to serve, who also cannot cast a spell.
Tell Me, Dear Butler, by Michi Masaki, is a romantic comedy about a headstrong young woman and the butler who treats her as an equal. It won the inaugural Honto Aotagai Comic Award.
My Rebound Has Too Much Game! by Asumi Takabuchi turns on a fake relationship that starts as petty revenge.
Zacha’s Undying Love, by Nori Arashiyama, pairs a vampire searching for his lost love with a family that helps him trace her story.
Prisoners of Twilight Town, from Nagoya Shoki and Morohoshi Fuji, drops an ordinary man into a lawless prison region where survival is bought with corpses.
Snow Globe Town, by Rie Kano, is set in a town cut off for ten years by endless snowfall, where a visiting novelist sets off strange events.
Jackpot Girls (Dream Jumbo Girl), by Hiroyuki, follows two friends whose lottery win upends their carefully planned futures.
Occult Times, by Idonchi, centers on a journalism student who joins her school paper and finds a catgirl-obsessed partner hunting the supernatural.
Why It Matters
Kodansha USA has been running steady licensing rounds, and this one leans hard on romance, horror and darker genre work rather than the safe isekai bets. The Print Club line is especially notable for pulling in a two-title Daisuke Igarashi run, since the Children of the Sea artist rarely shows up in English licensing announcements. That lineup also includes Manchuria Opium Squad, which is already on its way to an anime adaptation, so English readers get a shot at the source material before the show airs.
The volume of titles here is not unusual for the publisher, which announced similar rounds through the year, including a Seven Seas batch and new Glacier Bay Books licenses. Readers of the publisher’s digital-first catalog get the horror and BL titles in Fall 2027, while print buyers wait a little longer.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: Jackpot Girls (Dream Jumbo Girl) manga artwork, via Kodansha USA Publishing.
