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Kodansha Comics Adds 3 Digital Manga, 5 Digital Yaoi Manga in August

Kodansha Comics announced three new digital-first manga licenses on Saturday. The company also revealed five new yaoi manga licenses, all from Kodansha's "Honey Milk" imprint in Japan. Kodansha Comics will release the five manga digitally on August 21.

Title: My Boy in Blue (P to JK)
Author: Maki Miyoshi
Debuts on August 7
Story summary: Kako gets tangled up when she lies about her age in order to attend a company-mixer party for singles and ends up totally infatuated with her young local policeman! And it looks like it's mutual with Kota… until he finds out Kako's still in high school. Read on to see if straight-arrow Kota manages to find a way to do the right thing as our story unfolds in the first volume of this upbeat new romantic comedy from Maki Miyoshi!

The manga inspired a live-action film adaptation that opened in Japan in March 2017.

Title: Back Street Girls
Author: Jasmine Gyuh
Debuts on August 14
Story summary: Tough gangland retribution takes a disturbingly bright, shiny turn in this insanely guilty pleasure about 3 yakuzas who, as repayment for their failures, must undergo major surgery and become … a hot female idol trio! So what happens when they become the next big pop sensation!?

The manga is inspiring a television anime that premiered on July 3.

Title: Peach Girl
Author: Miwa Ueda
Debuts on August 28
Story Summary: Yes! The complete 18-volume run of Miwa Ueda's '90s shojo megahit Peach Girl is back! Suntans and bleached hair were never quite so problematic, and high school drama was never quite so …. dramatic! This digital reissued edition combines the original Tokyopop run of Peach Girl and Peach Girl: Change of Heart.

Tokyopop published both the original manga and the Peach Girl: Sae's Story spinoff in North America, but split the original manga into two separate series: Peach Girl and Peach Girl: Change of Heart. Ueda launched an ongoing sequel manga series titled Peach Girl NEXT in Kodansha's Be Love magazine in August 2016.

The original manga inspired a live-action drama in Taiwan in 2001 and a Japanese television anime in 2005. Funimation released the anime adaptation. A live-action Japanese film opened in May 2017.

The five yaoi manga licenses are:

Title: Stray Bullet Baby
Author: Kei Ichikawa
Debuts on August 21
Story Summary: Chihiro Murakami works at a film advertising firm and looks up to Kiyoharu Honna, the stylish editor of the trendy magazine his company does business with. He's cool, his smile is beautiful, and he's good at his job. But Chihiro hasn't had a chance yet to get close to him. However, one day he ends up looking after a dead-drunk Honna and goes home with him and … !? A selfish beauty and the man wrapped around his finger.

Title: Keeping His Whims in Check
Author: Pi
Debuts on August 21
Story Summary: Proclaimed handsome elite businessman, Yuto Shinonome, falls in love at first sight with Tamaki, a beauty who's exactly his type. It hits him like a ton of bricks when he finds out Tamaki is actually a guy!! Nevertheless, Yuto still acts like a kid with a crush and teases Tamaki like there's no tomorrow … How can perverse Yuto handle love!?

Title: Intertwining Lives
Author: KAZU
Debuts on August 21
Story Summary: Yoshiya thinks it's fate when he's reunited with his first love; however, he learns they can never be together … For middle-aged scriptwriter Makoto and beautiful actor-in-the-making Yuu, it's a chance meeting in which admiration turns to love, and love turns to doubt …?! A young and heartrending adolescent love story and a bittersweet mature romance. The stories of a group of men who mingle, intertwine, and change.

Title: Key Ring Lock
Author: ymz
Debuts on August 21
Story Summary: Permanent part-timer, Yui, discovers a worn-out man fallen on the street. Unable to leave the strangely charming Toshiki alone, Yui helps him back home and then accepts Toshiki while being manipulated by him. However, when Yui gets up in the morning, he finds himself locked in and unable to leave. “Confinement is my hobby,” says a smiling Toshiki. Is this confinement, or is it … Their sensitive love flickers in the space between the normal and abnormal!

Title: Trap in a Skirt
Author: Puruchome
Debuts on August 21
Story Summary: Androgynous Aoi has a traumatic past that makes it difficult for him to get the true satisfaction he desires. Meanwhile, Aoi's classmate, Takano, the rough class outsider, makes a move on Aoi whenever he has the chance. Aoi doesn't take him seriously in the beginning, however …

Kodansha Comics announced at Anime Expo earlier this month that it will publish both boys-love and yuri titles, starting with 10 Dance, Hitorijime My Hero, and Yuri Is My Job! in print in January 2019. The company added these titles are "just the beginning," and stated it plans to release more boys-love and yuri manga in the future.

Thanks to Morgan for the news tip.

Source: Kodansha Comics