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Kodansha USA Licenses Jackpot Girls, Powerless Without You, Occult Times, 7 Other Manga

Kodansha USA Publishing announced on Thursday new manga releases for its Kodansha Print Club, as well as new licenses.

The Kodansha Print Club titles include:

Title: Burn the House Down
Creator: Moyashi Fujisawa
Release: January 2027
Synopsis: Assuming a false identity and working as a housekeeper, “Shizuka Yamauchi” infiltrates the well-to-do Mitarai household in pursuit of the truth. Thirteen years prior, when the Mitarai home was engulfed in flames, Shizuka's mother was forced to take the fall for the crime. Now, on her first assignment with the family, Shizuka homes in on Makiko, the beautiful second wife of Dr. Mitarai. But Mrs. Mitarai harbors sinister secrets of her own…

Title: When Arika Went Missing
Creator: Moyashi Fujisawa (story), Kumakazu (art)
Release: January 2027
Synopsis: Beloved idol Arika Mamiya has been missing for a year, but her best friend Nana Miyajima hasn't stopped looking for answers. Determined to uncover the truth, Nana sets out to infiltrate Arika's group by becoming a member herself—a daunting mission for a rude, tone-deaf loner who couldn't be further from idol material. But when auditions begin and Nana tanks in the fan rankings, she's forced to ditch her lone-wolf ways and fight for the spotlight, all while discovering the ugly world that lurks beneath the smiles and sparkle of idol life.

Title: Manchuria Opium Squad
Creator: Shikako, Tsukasa Monma
Release: January 2027
Synopsis: In the corrupt, conflict-ridden Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo, the illegal opium trade is a perilous path to quick riches—or a swift death. Desperate to save his doomed family, the young Isamu Higata seizes a dangerous opportunity, using his botanical expertise to make mind-blowing opium in hopes of cashing in. But when sinister gangs and the oppressive state catch wind of his operation, Isamu is thrust deeper and deeper into a treacherous world of deceit and depravity to protect himself and those he loves.

Title: Kamakura Bakeneko Club: Uncanny Cat Tales
Creator: Daisuke Igarashi
Release: February 2027
Synopsis: An old rumor persists in the ancient coastal city of Kamakura: find your way to the elusive Bakeneko Club, and you'll be reunited with a lost or departed cat. Remote worker Arisa spends her days at a local café, where visitors drawn by the rumor share stories of their uncanny feline encounters with the two peculiar young men behind the counter. But in this primeval place where the boundary between the human world and the spirit realm wears thin, their tales might awaken the interest of more than just a curious eavesdropper…

Title: Umwelt and Other Stories
Creator: Daisuke Igarashi
Release: March 2027
Synopsis: Ten unforgettable short stories spanning modern folklore to surreal science fiction from Daisuke Igarashi, the award-winning artist behind Children of the Sea and Witches.

Title: Futarijime Romantic
Creator: Chihiro Kanisawa
Release: March 2027
Synopsis: Kokomi Kumamori has been waiting ever since a kindergarten first kiss for fate to deliver the storybook romance she was promised. Then Kyohei Tajima—a boy with the very same name as her childhood prince—walks into her life. But he's rude, romance-averse, and definitely the wrong Kyohei…so why does he keep making her heart skip a beat? From sports-festival sparks to beachside butterflies, every new side of him she discovers has Mr. Wrong seeming more and more like Mr. Right.

A hopeless romantic finds something better than the love story she's always imagined—but not without a few fantasies shattered along the way. One high school girl learns that love rarely follows the script in this short and sweet three-volume shojo rom-com.

Title: Ark of the Canaries
Creator: Misaki Takamatsu
Release: April 2027
Synopsis: Gossip, track meets, squabbles with mom… Upbeat Yuri's not ready for high school to be over, but graduation looms on the horizon. One afternoon on her walk home, a flying mass swallows up the sky, raining destruction upon all she can see. The place Yuri later wakes up in is quiet; the lone being there with her is a man in a lab coat. As social ritual and organic matter unravel around the girl, desolation threatens her singular goal: returning home.

The new licenses include:

Title: Hitorijime Boyfriend: Re
Creator: Memeco Arii
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: More than a decade after the BL one-shot Hitorijime Boyfriend, original creator Memeco Arii returns to the couple that started it all: After many tribulations, Kensuke and Hasekura have graduated from high school and moved in together! But Kensuke's just as popular at his part-time job as he was in school, and Hasekura can feel his jealousy bubbling back up… Then, one morning, he notices Kensuke's covered bite marks?! Don't miss this single-volume sequel sixteen years in the making!

Title: I Remember the Color of the Wind
Creator: Kazari
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: When Mori hears his classmates trying to nervously build up the courage to talk to Michioto, one of the most popular boys in school, he has no problem offering to get his enigmatic classmate's phone number. But when Mori's eyes meet Michioto's, it's more than Michioto's good looks that takes Mori's breath away, and Mori falls in love at first sight. Soon, Mori is overwhelmed by feelings of first love. Luckily for him, circumstance and after circumstance starts to bring him and Michioto closer together, and the two become fast friends. But will Mori's newfound friendship alone be enough to satisfy him, or will he risk it all for the chance of something more?

Title: Powerless Without You (Muryoku Seijo to Munō Ōjo)
Creator: Tama Tamasaki
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: In this thrilling yuri fantasy, Nana's just out of college, trying to make her way on a series of part-time jobs, when she finds herself whisked away from her bedroom into a parallel world of magic! To her shock, she's told that she is the great Saintess who will bring peace and prosperity to the whole country. Except for one tiny problem—she soon discovers she has absolutely zero magical power—none! To make matters worse, the princess she's been summoned to serve with can't cast even a single spell. A Saintess with no magic power, and a princess who can't use her own—a pair of failures, doomed to become a laughingstock…or a partnership that might deepen into something more?

Title: Tell Me, Dear Butler
Creator: Michi Masaki
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: The hot-headed and judgmental Kikyo is used to having servants appease her every need. As a child, she scared away almost all of her attendants. But when the new young butler, Hanayagi is introduced, he engages with her in a rather unique way. Treating each other as equals. They are both kids, after all. Now in high school, Kikyo hasn't given up this unrequited love for her butler, despite it being indecorum for her social status. No matter how many times she tries to get his attention, it doesn't seem to have any effect on him…or does it? This romantic comedy was the inaugural winner of the Honto Aotagai Comic Award, an award for up-and-coming manga.

Title: My Rebound Has Too Much Game!
Creator: Asumi Takabuchi
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: When Kohane gets unceremoniously ghosted and dumped by her boyfriend, she's determined to move on and immediately sets her eyes on Mizuma, a bespectacled shy boy at school who's a dreamboat of a neighbor without his glasses at home. Mizuma is a reluctant rebound at first, but Kohane takes the fake it till you make it approach, conspicuously posing them as the perfect lovey-dovey couple in public. The sham relationship started out as a petty game of revenge, but could the rebound turn into true love?

Title: Zacha's Undying Love
Creator: Nori Arashiyama
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: Searching for his lost love, handsome vampire Zacha turns up at the home of the elderly Tsugumi and her granddaughters Yumeko and Himari. Thrilled by the arrival of a real-life vampire in her humdrum town, Yumeko is eager to help Zacha, but as they piece together the extraordinary life story of the woman he loved, Yumeko begins unearthing her own family secrets.

Title: Prisoners of Twilight Town
Creator: Nagoya Shoki, Morohoshi Fuji
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: Yuma Sendo says goodbye to his picture-perfect life when a wrongful conviction sends him to Twilight Town, a lawless region where Japan's most heinous criminals serve out sentences of capital punishment. Here, even basic necessities must be purchased via pounds of flesh, earned by offering up the corpses of fellow inmates. What hope does the very ordinary Yuma have to survive this dog-eat-dog world? The answer may lie in him accepting that he may not be so ordinary after all…

Title: Snow Globe Town
Creator: Rie Kano
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: High school students Ako and Tako share a dream of leaving their hometown of Takaoka to pursue the literary life in Tokyo—but they face more than the ordinary obstacles of small-town dreamers. For the past 10 years, Takaoka has been cut off from the rest of the world by a mysterious, ceaseless snowfall, fostering a superstition among its residents that venturing beyond means risking death. When a famous novelist suddenly arrives in town, his presence shakes up Ako and Tako's lives, and a flurry of strange and sinister events begin to swirl around them.

Title: Jackpot Girls (Dream Jumbo Girl)
Creator: Hiroyuki
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: To secure her future financial and career success, studious high school student Chie aims to get accepted into the prestigious Tokyo University. Meanwhile her best friend, the air-headed goofball Kanae, just wants to enjoy her life in the moment. One day, Kanae buys a lottery ticket and ends up winning first prize! And how much money is that you may ask? A staggering 700 million yen! When the girls decide to split the winnings, Chie suddenly finds that the burden of being responsible for such a fortune is too much and she ends up flunking her entrance exams! With her planned-out future crumbling around her, Chie decides, "Screw it!". If her life isn't going to go the way she'd planned, then she's going to use her newfound fortune to live the best life she ever could! 

Title: Occult Times
Creator: Idonchi
Release: Fall 2027
Synopsis: Rei's dream is to become a photojournalist, so when she enrolls at Hazama Academy, she naturally joins the school newspaper…which she's shocked to find has only one other staff member: another girl named Shiro, who is obsessed with the occult! She's about to walk out the door, when Shiro accidentally discovers Rei's weakness for all things cute. In exchange for a plushie of a mythical flying cat, Rei joins Shiro on a nighttime stakeout, hoping to catch a ghost in the school bathroom. In the darkness, Rei can hardly believe her eyes when Shiro, in her excitement, starts to transform…into an adorable catgirl?! Can this school really be haunted with all kinds of monsters…cute ones?

Source: Email correspondence