Inklore to begin releasing in summer 2027
Image via Comic Natalie
© Tomoko Yamashita, Shodensha
Inklore announced during its panel at Anime Expo on Friday that it has licensed Tomoko Yamashita’s Ikoku Nikki manga and will release the first volume in print in summer 2027.
The manga centers on 35-year-old novelist Makio Kōdai, and her 15-year-old niece Asa, who live together under one roof. Makio took Asa in on a sudden impulse after Asa’s parents, which included Makio’s older sister, passed away. The next day, Makio returns to her senses and remembers that she does not do well in the company of other people. So begins their daily life, as Makio attempts to acclimate to a roommate, while Asa attempts to get used to an adult who never acts like one.
Yamashita (The Night Beyond the Tricornered Window, Don’t Cry Girl, Mo’some Sting) launched the manga in June 2017 in Shodensha’s Feel Young magazine, and ended it in June 2023. The manga’s 11th and final compiled book volume shipped in August 2023. The manga was nominated for the 28th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in 2024. The manga also ranked at #5 on the women’s list of the 2024 edition of Kono Manga ga Sugoi!, topped Da Vinci’s 23rd annual “Book of the Year” list for manga in December 2023, and was nominated for the 13th Manga Taisho awards in 2020.
The manga inspired a live-action film that opened in June 2024. The manga then inspired a television anime that debuted on January 4 earlier this year. Crunchyroll streamed the anime with the title Journal with Witch.
Yamashita launched the Tatsumaki manga on Shodensha’s Our Feel web manga site on January 4 earlier this year.
Sources: Anime Expo 2026 panel (Wonhee Cho), Press release
