Manchuria Opium Squad is getting an anime. Kodansha’s Weekly Young Magazine announced the adaptation in its 45th issue of 2026, and publisher Pony Canyon followed with a first visual and a circulation update for the manga by writer Tsukasa Monma and the late artist Shikako.
The visual is the only production detail confirmed so far. Pony Canyon stated that the animation studio and staff will be announced at a later date, which means the project is still in the earliest public phase. The announcement also confirmed that the manga has more than 3.5 million copies in circulation in Japan.
A historical drama about a very ugly trade
Kodansha publishes the series in English on the K MANGA service and describes the premise bluntly: “Here in Manchuria, the cheapest thing you’ll find is a person’s life.” In 1937, Isamu Higata is sent to the Japan-controlled puppet state of Manchukuo to serve in its standing army. After losing sight in his right eye during battle, he is banished to an agricultural facility where commanding officers abuse him constantly. Then, in a dusty corner, he finds a field of poppies — the raw material for opium. To raise money for his seriously ill mother, Isamu decides to produce the drug, a choice that pushes his future and the fate of Manchuria in directions no one can predict.
It is heavy, morally complicated material, and it is the kind of story that tends to attract attention precisely because it does not flinch. The historical setting and the survival stakes give an adaptation a lot of texture to work with, and the manga’s readership has clearly followed it through some genuinely difficult circumstances.
How the manga got here
The series launched on Kodansha’s Comic Days service and ran there from April 2020 to September 2021, then moved to Weekly Young Magazine beginning with the magazine’s 43rd issue of 2021. Kodansha shipped the 22nd compiled volume in November 2025.
Shikako died on November 8, 2025, due to choroidal melanoma, a rare form of cancer that develops in the eye. Before passing, the artist wanted someone to complete the series in their place, and the Weekly Young Magazine staff said at the time that they would respect that wish. The manga has since resumed with a new artist, Tsurushima, from October 5, so the story is continuing even as the anime adaptation begins its own life.
Why it matters
An adaptation of a manga as distinct as Manchuria Opium Squad is a bigger bet than a typical light-novel pickup. It is a period drama about addiction, colonialism and desperation, not a power fantasy or a slice-of-life romance, and the audience for that is real but narrower. The 3.5 million copies in circulation are a strong argument that Kodansha and Pony Canyon see enough demand to justify the investment.
The open question is who animates it. A story like this lives or dies on its direction and its restraint, and the choice of studio will say a lot about what kind of show this becomes. Until then, the announcement stands on the strength of the source material and on the fact that the manga itself just found a new path forward.
No premiere date, studio, staff or cast has been announced. We will update this article as those details are confirmed.
Source: Anime News Network
Featured image: First visual for the Manchuria Opium Squad anime adaptation, via Anime News Network.
