Manga magazine Mangasplaining Extra (MSX) has recently announced four new manga licenses during their panel at San Diego Comic-Con last week. They include Search and Destroy, Wandering Cat’s Cage, No Roses Without Thorns: My Life as a Shojo Manga Assistant, and Veil. The former two titles will be serialized in the MSX newsletter, while the latter two will only be available in print publications. Titles and details for each are as follows:
Search and Destroy
by Atsushi Kaneko
Coming to MSX in August 2023 & Print in 2024 from Fantagraphics
This is a tale of rage. Rage against hypocrisy, injustice, exploitation, and the wrongs done to a child who grew into a righteous killer….Complete in three volumes, Search and Destroy transplants the vengeful action of Dororo from feudal Japan into a dystopian future where mercenary robots known as “creatures” serve the human elite and victimize the city’s scrabbling, desperate masses. The violent death of one of these creatures connects an orphaned thief named Doro with a mysterious girl in a stinking animal hide that conceals deadly cybernetic implants. Who is this mysterious girl? How is she killing, one by one, the city’s most twisted and powerful creatures? And why is she so angry?
Wandering Cat’s Cage
by Akane Torikai
Coming to MSX in August 2023 & Print in Fall 2024 from Fantagraphics
In Wandering Cat’s Cage, daring manga creator Akane Torikai presents a thought-provoking exploration of dystopia, sexual freedom, and societal fealty. Torikai’s intricate storytelling weaves a series of interconnected stories set in a dystopian world dominated by women. In this society, the body of a man remains an enigma, and a lone man in the slums sells his nights to women for survival. What’s apparent is the open secret of this world: the near-extinction of male births. As the matriarchal society grapples with preserving humanity, difficult choices regarding freedom and reproduction emerge. With elements reminiscent of The Handmaid’s Tale and a gorgeous naturalistic art style, Torikai’s work challenges the notions of forced-birth and control within a society led by women who fiercely resist such measures.
No Roses Without Thorns: My Life as a Shojo Manga Assistant
by Nami Sasou
Coming in Print in 2024 from Udon Entertainment
What’s it like to be a manga creator’s assistant, when she’s working on the most popular shojo manga in the country?
The 1970s were a golden age for girls manga, or shojo manga, in Japan – but what was it like to create these pages of roses, sparkles and romance? Manga artist Nami Sasou shares some of the not-so-glamorous stories from the ink-stained battlefield of… cute girls’ romance manga? Sasou shares stories from when she was a high school-aged assistant to Suzue Miuchi, the creator of the famously popular Glass Mask. This manga about making manga tells it like it was… with a decidedly ‘shojo’ point of view!
Veil
by Kotteri
Coming in Print in 2024 from Udon Entertainment
A chance encounter. A handsome soldier. A beautiful woman. A tentative love affair smolders on the snowy cobblestone streets, out of sight of those that might keep them apart. A manga unlike anything else in English, Veil is a beautifully illustrated full-color romance manga, told in stylish short vignettes, beautiful illustrations, and secret moments.
(Source: Mangasplaining Extra. Images via Mangasplaining Extra.)
