Manga Mavericks announced two exciting licenses this weekend.
At Anime Boston, Manga Mavericks revealed two new manga will make their debut in October. Both stories are queer tales that will surely resonate with readers. Ball & Chain and Oni & Dawn: Bakumatsu High School Girls will release a print and digital version in the fall.
Hana Ikuta, the creator behind Oni & Dawn: Bakumatsu High School Girls said, “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.”
Minami Q-ta, the non-binary creator behind Ball & Chain, described their story as “two people who discover and free themselves. I hope you give it a try and ultimately enjoy it!”
Ball & Chain
Minami Q-ta
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.
Oni & Dawn: Bakumatsu High School Girls
Hana Ikuta
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.
Source: Manga Mavericks
