Manga Mavericks Books announced at Anime Boston on Saturday that it will release Hana Ikuta’s Oni & Dawn: Bakumatsu High School Girls (Bakumatsu Joshi Kōsei: Oni to Yoake) manga and Minami Q-ta’s Ball and Chain manga.
Cover not finalImage courtesy of Manga Mavericks
© 2022 Ikuta Hana/TWO VIRGINS Co., Ltd.
Title: Oni & Dawn: Bakumatsu High School Girls volume 1
Creator: Hana Ikuta
Release Date: October 2026
Summary: Pack your bags and grab your sword, because class is now in
session for this dramatic GL series.
Somewhere in Japan, very special students have gathered at
Koharu Girls’ High School. What makes them special, you ask?
Sakamoto, Takasugi, Katsura, Katsu, Hijikata, Okita, Kondo…
All these girls possess the souls of the great samurai from the
Bakumatsu period! Living as teenage girls with their memories
intact, they must navigate modern society, deal with messy historical baggage, and fight for love
in a school that forbids romance.
Ikuta stated about the English release:
“It’s a pleasure to meet you all. I’m Hana Ikuta, a manga artist.
The Oni & Dawn series was the first manga that a publisher asked me to work on, so it’s very
close to my heart.
Now, the series will cross the seas from Japan to America, a country I’ve yearned to visit.
There’d be no greater joy than if readers in this country that I’ve long admired enjoy my work. I
hope you’ll support my beloved Oni & Dawn series.”
The manga is a three-volume series that Two Virgins published in Japan in 2022-2024.
Manga Mavericks will release the three volumes in a single volume at A5 (5.83″ x 8.27″) size. Ikuta debuted as a manga creator in 2017 and is also known for What is Normal Love? and The Shadow and the Flower. Tokyopop will release The Shadow and the Flower in English.
Cover not finalImage courtesy of Manga Mavericks
© 2024 Qta Minami/MAGAZINE HOUSE Co., Ltd
Title: Ball & Chain omnibus volume 1
Creator: Minami Q-ta
Release Date: March 2027
Summary: “Maybe I could have chosen something different…”
Keito is a late-20s company employee who’s planning to get
married as a “woman,” despite not feeling cemented into a specific
gender or sexuality.
Meanwhile, Aya is a married woman in her 50s who continues
playing out the role of “wife” despite being in a marriage that’s long
since gone cold.
They both struggle with a gender that was decided upon birth
and the “wife” role that became nothing more than a pantomime at
some point.
This is a story of two queer people who harbor doubts about how
they’ve been treated and shoved into a “normalized” box, and try to
take back their true selves.
Ikuta stated about the English release:
“Hello! I’m Minami Q-ta, a manga artist who lives in Tokyo.
I’m really excited about Manga Mavericks’ upcoming English release of Ball & Chain!
This manga has two main characters. One is Aya, a 50-something homemaker who has a
husband and child. Aya’s life seems to be stable, but Aya also constantly wishes for an escape
or the chance to travel somewhere far away. The other main character is Keito, a 20-something,
energetic company employee. Keito is planning to get married to a boyfriend. They met through
their job, but recently they’ve been fighting a lot, which has created mixed feelings within Keito.
This is never clearly explained in the manga, but both of these characters are non-binary. This
story is about two people who discover and free themselves. I hope you give it a try and
ultimately enjoy it!
Manga Mavericks also stated in its announcement that manga creator Minami Q-ta is also non-binary.
The manga was nominated for the 30th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in February, and also ranked at #3 on the 2025 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of manga for female readers. The manga runs on the SHURO website, and Magazine House has so far published three volumes.
Manga Mavericks will release the manga in 2-in-1 omnibus format at A5 size.
Star Fruit Books previously licensed Minami Q-ta’s Yurayura, Below the Ceiling, Pop Life, The Blood Red Boy, Birds of Passage, and Not All Girls Are Stupid manga.
Source: Press release
