News
Phoenix Gramedia Licenses 5 Light Novels, 1 Manga for Indonesia

posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Makeine, SHIBOYUGI, Silent Witch, more licensed


makeheroine

Kadokawa and Gramedia's Phoenix Gramedia company announced on April 11 and 17 that it has licensed the light novel and manga of Too Many Losing Heroines!, as well as the Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table, Secrets of the Silent WitchEven a Replica Can Fall in Love, and I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class light novel series.

Takibi Amamori's Too Many Losing Heroines! novels center on Kazuhiko Nukumizu, a guy who fades into the background of his classroom. When he unintentionally witnesses Anna Yanami, a popular girl in her class, get turned down by her childhood friend, he ends up talking to Anna in the aftermath. In a mix of sadness and anger, Anna reveals that her childhood friend had promised to marry her in the past, though it was when they were four or five years old. While Kazuhiko feels sorry for Anna, he also can't help but think that kind of promise made in childhood doesn't count. Before he knows it, he starts meeting girls at school who have all been turned down by guys they like, forming friendships with them as they all support each other.

Amamori released the first volume of the novel series in July 2021 under Shogakukan's Gagaga Bunko light novel label, with illustrations by Imigimuru. "Volume 8.5" of the novels (the 10th overall volume of the series) shipped on January 26. The novel won the 15th Shogakukan Light Novel Award in 2020.

Itachi launched the manga adaptation of the novels titled Make Heroine ga Ooisugiru! @comic in Shogakukan's Manga ONE service in April 2022. Shogakukan published the manga's fifth volume in September 2025.

The novels' television anime premiered in July 2024. Aniplus Asia aired a simulcast of the anime as it aired in Japan. The anime will have a second season.

shiboyugi-ind
Image via Phoenix Gramedia's X/Twitter account

Yūshi Ukai's Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table (Shibō Yūgi de Meshi o Kuu) novels are set in a "deranged world" that puts girls in various televised death games for the entertainment of the general public. The girls are all in some way vulnerable, whether emotionally, financially, psychologically, or otherwise coerced. The story centers on a girl named Yūki, a girl who, by her own assesment, would not survive the outside world, and sets a goal of surviving and clearing 99 games.

Kadokawa's MF Bunko J imprint published the light novel series' first volume in November 2022, after it won the Excellence Award at the 18th MF Bunko J Light Novel Newcomer Award that same year. The novels' ninth volume shipped January 23. The light novel series also ranked #1 in the New Title category of Takarajimasha's 2024 Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! (This Light Novel Is Amazing!) rankings. 

Banzai Kotobuki Daienkai launched a manga adaptation in Kadokawa's Comp Ace magazine in April 2023. Kadokawa published the manga's fifth volume on January 23.

The novels inspired a television anime the premiered on January 7. Muse Asia streamed the anime as it aired in Japan. The anime  will have a new film titled SHIBOYUGI: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table 44: CLOUDY BEACH that will have a limited two-week screening run in Japan starting on July 10.

silentwitch-ind
Image via Phoenix Gramedia's X/Twitter account

Yen Press licensed author Matsuri Isora and artist Nanna Fujimi's Secrets of the Silent Witch novels in English, and it describes the story:

Monica Everett, the Silent Witch, is the world's only practitioner of Voiceless Magic, a veritable heroine who single-handedly fended off the Black Dragon of legend. However, the young prodigy is actually…super-duper shy! Yup, turns out she only learned Voiceless Magic to avoid speaking in public. Ignorant of this, the Seven Sages have placed her on a top-secret mission to guard the Second Prince. Can Monica keep it together as she contends with both social interaction and the evils targeting the young royal?

The original novels debuted on the Shōsetsuka ni Narō (Let's Become Novelists) website in February 2020. Kadokawa began publishing the light novels in June 2021, and it released the 11th volume on January 9.

Tobi Tana launched a manga adaptation in Kadokawa's B's-LOG COMIC in July 2021. The manga's sixth compiled book volume shipped in Japan in September 2025.

The novels inspired a television anime that premiered in July 2025. Aniplus Asia aired a simulcast of the anime as it aired in Japan.

replica-ind
Image via Phoenix Gramedia's X/Twitter account

Yen Press publishes Harunadon and raemz's Even a Replica Can Fall in Love (Replica Datte, Koi o Suru) novel series in English, and it describes the story:

When she doesn't feel well, when there's a test, when she doesn't want to go to school…I take her place. I'm her replica. I'm not meant for anything else. But that changed when I fell in love. I wear my hair up so the boy I fell for knows it's me. We skip school and promise to meet again tomorrow–and every day after. I'm her replica. Everything about me is borrowed and empty, but my heart is mine.

The story won the grand prize in the 29th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2022. Kadokawa's Dengeki Bunko imprint began publishing the novel series on February 10, 2023, and it shipped the sixth volume on April 10.

Momose Hanada has been serializing a manga adaptation in Kadokawa's Dengeki Maoh magazine since April 2023, and Kadokawa published its fourth volume in August 2025.

The novels are inspiring a television anime that premiered on April 7, and is ongoing.

secondprettiestgirl-indo
Image via Phoenix Gramedia's X/Twitter account

Yen Press is publishing Rin Ono's manga adaptation of Takata and Azuri Hyūga's Class de 2-ban Me ni Kawaii Onna no Ko to Tomodachi ni Natta (I Made Friends with the Second Prettiest Girl in My Class) light novel series novels in English, and it describes the story:

Maki Maehara is always on his own at school. He has no friends or hobbies others share, and he doesn't expect the upcoming academic year to be any different, even surrounded by new faces. And six months later, it seems like he was right—until he runs into his popular classmate Umi Asanagi at a video store! Always at the center of attention and called the “second prettiest in class” by the boys, Asanagi's from a totally different world. But it turns out the two have more overlapping interests than just the B-grade movies they came to check out...and Asanagi asks Maehara to be her friend!

Takata launched the story on Kadokawa's Kakuyomu website in November 2020, and it won a special prize in the romantic comedy division of the 6th Kakuyomu Web Novel Contest. Kadokawa's Sneaker Bunko imprint began publishing the novel series in print in December 2021. Kadokawa shipped the ninth volume on April 1. The novel series will end in its 10th volume.

Ono launched the manga on Kadokawa's Comic Alive+ website in 2022, and Kadokawa published the manga's seventh compiled book volume in December 2025.

The light novels' anime adaptation premiered on April 7, and is currently ongoing. Aniplus Asia is airing a simulcast of the anime as it airs in Japan.

Source: Phoenix Gramedia's X/Twitter account (link 2) via Kaori Nusantara (link 2)



Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.

discuss this in the forum |
bookmark/share with: short url

News homepage / archives