Shinya Murata has a new series. Kadokawa announced on Friday, September 25, 2026, that Murata has launched a manga titled Shinoblade (SHINOBI BLADE) with artist Daichi Matsuse in Manga BAR, the e-manga magazine run by Kadokawa and Kakao Piccoma. The first chapter arrived the same day.
Murata is handling the writing and storyboarding, while Matsuse provides the artwork. The split gives the series a writer who has built a career on action-driven premises and an artist with a long list of adaptations behind them.
What Shinoblade is about
The story follows the strongest female ninja, a character who operated in the shadow of the historical ninja Hattori Hanzō. At the moment she dies, she instead finds herself transported to another world.
That is the setup as announced, and it puts the series in the well-populated isekai lane while giving it a specific hook: a ninja defined by serving unseen behind a famous master, dropped into a setting where that role no longer applies. Kadokawa has not detailed the cast, the release schedule beyond the launch or how long the series is planned to run.
Murata’s recent work
Murata is best known as the writer of Killing Bites, launched with artist Kazasa Sumita in Monthly Hero’s in March 2017. The series now runs on the Comiplex website, and Hero’s Inc. published its 27th compiled volume on June 29. It was adapted into a 12-episode television anime that premiered on the Animeism programming block on MBS and TBS in January 2018, with an unaired “director’s cut” later streaming worldwide on Amazon Prime Video.
He has kept several projects running in parallel. Murata launched Akujo Ranking (Villainess Ranking) with Wakata Wakuta in Kadokawa’s Monthly Dragon Age on March 9, and the earlier Saikyō Skill “Inochigoi” de Kuyashii kedo Musō Shichau Moto Ōsama no Sekai Seifuku Katsudō ran on Comiplex from June 2023 until it ended with its fourth volume in December 2025.
Matsuse’s adaptation track record
Daichi Matsuse’s résumé is largely built on manga adaptations of existing properties. With writer Kumo Kagyu, Matsuse launched Goblin Slayer: A Day in the Life in Square Enix’s Monthly Big Gangan in December 2022 and ended it in November 2024, with the third and final volume shipped in February 2025.
Matsuse also drew I Wish I Could Meet You Again on the Hill Where That Flower Blooms with storywriter Natsue Shiomi, which Seven Seas Entertainment will release in English starting in December. Two of Matsuse’s earlier works, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Chapter 1: A Day in the Capital and Chapter 3: Truth of Zero, have been published in English by Yen Press.
That background is relevant to Shinoblade because it is a new, original series rather than an adaptation. Matsuse has spent most of the past several years drawing stories that already had a built-in readership, so a launch with an established writer but no source material puts the emphasis on the pair’s own execution.
Why it matters
Kadokawa placing the series in Manga BAR continues the publisher’s habit of launching new titles on digital-first platforms where a series can build momentum before any print commitment. For Murata specifically, it adds another running series to a schedule that already includes Killing Bites and Akujo Ranking, which suggests the publisher sees him as a dependable name for launching new action titles.
For readers, the practical takeaway is that Shinoblade is available now in Manga BAR, with the first chapter released on September 25. There is no English release confirmed at this point, and no volume or chapter count has been announced.
New manga from well-known creators has been a recurring story this week, including the Magilumiere and Ya Boy Kongming! creators teaming up for Boat Girl.
Source: Anime News Network, citing Kadokawa’s announcement
Featured image: Promotional art for Shinya Murata and Daichi Matsuse’s Shinoblade, via Anime News Network.
