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Kodansha USA Adds The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days, Love in Focus, Witch Hat Atelier Manga

Anime News Network's coverage of Anime Expo 2018 is sponsored by Yen Press.

Kodansha Comics announced new manga licenses and print releases at a joint panel with Vertical Comics at Anime Expo on Saturday. Kodansha Comics will release the following series:

• The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days
• Boarding School Juliet (in print)
• Love in Focus (Renzu-sō no Sankaku)
• Witch Hat Atelier (Tongari Bōshi no Atelier)
• Gleipnir
• Quintessential Quintuplets (in print)
• Edens Zero (in print)
• Hiro Mashima's Playground (Mashima-en)
• Fairy Tail: Lightning Gods
• 10 Dance
• Hitorijime My Hero
• Yuri Is My Job! (Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigoto Desu!)

In addition, the companies announced that the 35th anniversary Akira manga box set will be back in stock in September.

Kodansha Comics is already releasing the Boarding School Juliet, Quintessential Quintuplets, and Edens Zero manga digitally. Boarding School Juliet will debut in print in October 2018 (the same month the anime adaptation will premiere), Quintessential Quintuplets will debut in print in January 2019, and Edens Zero will debut in print in October.

Yō Kokikuji's Nanatsu no Taizai: Seven Days ~Tōzoku to Seishōjo~ (The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days ~The Thief and the Holy Girl~) manga adapts Mamoru Iwasa's Nanatsu no Taizai: Seven Days (The Seven Deadly Sins: Seven Days) spinoff novel. The Shōnen Magazine Edge website describes the story:

In the land north of Britannia, there is a forest where humans are not allowed to go, and it is known as the "Fairy King's Forest." The one known as the Fairy King, Harlequin, has not been seen for 700 years. His younger sister Elaine guards the Fountain of Youth from human greed by herself. After many partings and 700 years of isolation, her tears are about to dry up. Then, a young man appears seeking the Fountain of Youth. That young man's name is Ban.

Over the course of seven days with Ban, Elaine's heart is healed. The distance between them closes, but...

Kokikuji launched the manga in Shōnen Magazine Edge on in January 2017, and ended it last September. Kodansha published the manga's second and final compiled book volume last October. Kodansha Comics will release both volumes of the manga in English in October and November, respectively.

Yōko Nogiri's Love in Focus manga centers on Mako, a girl with a passion for photography. She moves away from her childhood home and begins living in the Renzu dormitory in order to attend a high school with a famed photography club. In her new home, she encounters her childhood friend Kei, as well as Amemura, an unsociable person who doesn't like photos.

Nogiri launched the manga in Kodansha's ARIA magazine in November 2016, and ended it on March 28 in the magazine's final issue. Kodansha published the manga's third compiled book volume on May 7, and the manga will have four volumes total. Kodansha Comics will debut the manga in English in March 2019.

Kodansha Comics previously published all four volumes of Nogiri's That Wolf-Boy is Mine! manga.

Kamome Shirahama's Witch Hat Atelier centers on Koko, a girl who lives in a little village, and who has always dreamed of becoming a wizard. But being born without magical aptitude meant that she could never become a wizard, and could never hope to witness magic's spark. She gave up on her dream. But one day, a traveling wizard named Kiefley came to her village, and she happened to see him performing magic.

The manga launched in Kodansha's Morning Two magazine in July 2016. Kodansha published the manga's third compiled book volume on February 23. The manga was nominated for this year's 11th Manga Taisho awards. Kodansha Comics will debut the manga in English in March 2019.

Shirahama previously drew the character designs for little cheese's Kuro to Kin no Akanai Kagi. game. The game inspired an OAV adaptation in 2013.

Sun Takeda's Gleipnir manga centers on Shūichi Kagaya, an intelligent and friendly high school student satisfied with his normal everyday life, which is why he is very careful to protect his secret: that he can transform into a terribly cute monster. The story begins when he uses his powers and risks discovery to save a girl.

Takeda launched the manga in Kodansha's Young Magazine the 3rd in October 2015. Kodansha published the manga's fifth compiled book volume on June 20. Kodansha Comics will release the manga's first volume in March 2019.

Hiro Mashima's Playground collects short manga by manga creator Hiro Mashima. Kodansha released two books in the series, each of which collects four short manga by Mashima. The first volume contains the short manga "Fairy Tail" that Mashima would eventually turn into his Fairy Tail serialized manga. The books shipped in 2003. Kodansha comics will release the books in one 400-page book in October.

Kyōta Shibano's Fairy Tail: Lightning Gods (Fairy Tail Gaiden: Raigō Issen) manga is a spinoff of Mashima's Fairy Tail manga. The manga focuses on the character Laxus Dreyar.

Shibano launched the manga in May 2016, and ended it in September of that year. The manga is the third and last installment of Shibano's Fairy Tail Gaiden spinoff series, which also includes Fairy Tail: Twin Dragons of Sabertooth and Fairy Tail : Rhodonite. Kodansha Comics published the former in English in 2016, and the latter in 2017. Kodansha shipped the one compiled book volume for Fairy Tail: Lightning Gods in Japan in November 2016. Kodansha Comics will release the manga in English in November.

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

Satoh Inoue's 10 Dance manga "introduces two bitter rivals – dance champions known as the 'kings of the ballroom' – who are forced to train together. The sweat and skill they display engenders a grudging respect that gradually develops into something more."

Kodansha released the manga's first volume in Japan in August 2017, and released the fourth volume on May 18.

Memeco Arii launched the Hitorijime My Hero manga in Ichijinsha's Gateau boys-love manga magazine in 2012. The manga is a spinoff series of Arii's earlier Hitorijime Boyfriend manga. Ichijinsha released the manga's seventh volume in Japan on January 30.

The manga inspired a 12-episode television anime adaptation that premiered in July 2017. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime, and it describes the story:

High schooler Masahiro Setagawa is a fairly helpless delinquent, so much so that the neighborhood bullies use him to run their errands. His life changes when he meets high school teacher Kosuke Oshiba, a man whose fighting abilities have earned him a powerful reputation on the streets. Oshiba finds himself with a desire to protect Setagawa, and despite swearing that he's not interested in men, Setagawa finds himself getting more involved in Oshiba's affairs…

Sentai Filmworks streamed the series in the U.S. on Amazon's now-defunct Anime Strike streaming service as it aired. HIDIVE began streaming the series outside of the U.S. in July 2017, and began streaming the series in the U.S. in December. Sentai Filmworks plans to release the series on home video with an English dub.

Miman's Yuri Is My Job! centers on Hime, "a high school girl who deeply cares about her image as a sweet, helpful princess but on the inside only cares about herself. Against her will, Hime gets manipulated into working as a waitress at a place that's part café, part theater, where all the waitresses pretend to be students at a fictional German all-girls boarding school. Hime finds herself falling for another waitress at the café, who in front of the customers gives Hime love and devotion like she's never known. There's just one problem: Behind the scenes, Hime's crush hates her guts."

Miman launched the manga in Ichijinsha's Comic Yuri Hime magazine in November 2016, and Kodansha published the manga's third volume in Japan on April 18.

Source: Email correspondence, Kodansha Comics and Vertical Comics panel at Anime Expo (Lynzee Loveridge)