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Kodansha USA Lists Digital Releases for Chihayafuru, Tokyo Tarareba Girls, A Springtime With Ninjas Manga
posted on by Karen Ressler
North American manga publisher Kodansha Comics posted the first chapters of Yuki Suetsugu's Chihayafuru, Akiko Higashimura's Tokyo Tarareba Girls (Tokyo Tarareba Musume), and Narumi Hasegaki's A Springtime with Ninjas (Hana to Shinobi) manga this week. The first volumes of all three series are slated for digital release on various platforms on February 14. Kodansha Comics has not yet announced details on the releases.
Kodansha Comics describes Chihayafuru:
Chihaya is a girl in the sixth grade, still not old enough to even know the meaning of the word zeal. But one day, she meets Arata, a transfer student from rural Fukui prefecture. Though docile and quiet, he has an unexpected skill: his ability to play competitive karuta, a traditional Japanese card game.Chihaya is struck by his obsession with the game, along with his ability to pick out the right card and swipe it away before any of his opponents. However, Arata is transfixed by her as well, all because of her unbelievable natural talent for the game. Don't miss this story of adolescent lives and emotions playing out in the most dramatic of ways!
Suetsugu launched the ongoing manga in Kodansha's Be Love magazine in December 2007, and Kodansha will publish the 34th compiled volume on March 13. Da Vinci magazine ranked it #7 in its "Book of the Year" list last year. Kodansha has released bilingual editions of the manga's compiled volumes in Japan.
The manga has inspired two 25-episode television anime series and two live action films, and a third live-action film is in the works. Additionally, the 22nd volume of the manga bundled an original anime DVD when it shipped in September 2013. Sentai Filmworks announced in September that it has licensed the anime.
Kodansha Comics describes Tokyo Tarareba Girls:
"I spent all my time wondering 'What if?' Then one day I woke up and I was 33."Rinko doesn't think she's that bad-looking, but before she knew it, she was thirtysomething and single. Now she wants to get married by the time the Tokyo Olympics rolls around in six years, but … that might be easier said than done!
Higashimura (Princess Jellyfish) began the ongoing series in Kodansha's Kiss in March 2014. Kodansha published the seventh volume on January 7. The series was nominated for "Best General Manga" at this year's 40th Annual Kodansha Manga Awards, and ranked #2 on the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga for female readers in 2016, and #11 on the 2017 list. Da Vinci magazine ranked it #19 in its "Book of the Year" list last year.
The series is inspiring a live-action television series that premiered on January 18.
Kodansha Comics describes A Springtime with Ninjas:
Benio is the heiress of the richest family in Japan, and tradition holds that she must marry the first person to kiss her. So that she can attend high school, Benio is assigned the ninja Tamaki as a bodyguard, but he turns out to be quite the player. It's not always easy for a strong-willed rich girl and a smart-alecky ninja to get along in this romantic comedy about a pure young lady and her smoking-hot knight.
Hasegaki launched the ongoing series in Kodansha's Nakayoshi magazine in 2015, and Kodansha will ship the fourth compiled volume on February 13.
Hasegaki previously drew the Tonegawa Ririka no Lab Story manga, which began in 2014 when Hasegaki was 17 years old.
