Daichi Matsuse is drawing two manga adaptations announced in 2026: The Faceless Mercenary Wants to Settle Down, which launched in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan on August 25, and Shinoblade, a new series with writer Shinya Murata in Kadokawa and Kakao Piccoma's Manga BAR magazine.
Daichi Matsuse's 2026 work spans two magazine serializations as a manga artist. On July 24, Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan announced that Matsuse is drawing the manga adaptation of Ryuto's The Faceless Mercenary Wants to Settle Down light novel series. The adaptation launched in the magazine's next issue on August 25. Seven Seas Entertainment will publish the first novel volume digitally on October 27.
Matsuse's other 2026 series is Shinoblade, which Kadokawa announced on Friday. The manga runs in the Manga BAR e-manga magazine, operated by Kadokawa and Kakao Piccoma. Shinya Murata writes and storyboards the series, while Matsuse draws. The story follows the strongest female ninja, who lived in Hattori Hanzo's shadow and wakes in another world at the moment she dies. The announcement ties Matsuse to a writer whose Killing Bites run continues on Comiplex, giving Murata a second serialization in the same year.
Both 2026 projects place Matsuse on adaptations and collaborations rather than original works. The Faceless Mercenary Wants to Settle Down is an adaptation of an existing light novel series and is tied to a television anime planned for October. Shinoblade is a new manga with an established writer. The two announcements arrived about two months apart, one from Square Enix and one from Kadokawa, and neither story says anything about how the two serializations will run alongside each other or whether Matsuse has other work in the same period.
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Kadokawa announced Friday that Shinya Murata has launched a new manga, Shinoblade, with artist Daichi Matsuse in the Manga BAR e-manga magazine, run by Kadokawa and Kakao Piccoma. Murata writes and storyboards; Matsuse draws. The story follows the strongest female ninja, who lived in Hattori Hanzo's shadow, and wakes in another world at the moment she dies.
Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan magazine announced on July 24 that Ryuto's The Faceless Mercenary Wants to Settle Down light novel series is getting a manga adaptation, drawn by Daichi Matsuse, launching in the magazine's next issue on August 25. Seven Seas Entertainment will publish the first novel volume digitally on October 27.