Kodansha is facing public scrutiny over editorial failures following allegations from Cells at Work! creator Akane Shimizu, while simultaneously expanding its global reach through a joint venture in India, new print releases, and a catalog partnership with Crunchyroll.
Kodansha's most recent public actions center on two opposing tracks. On July 7, 2026, the company's Monthly Shonen Sirius editor-in-chief Takashi Yamaguchi issued a formal apology to Akane Shimizu, creator of Cells at Work!, acknowledging failures in medical supervision, working environment, editor conduct, and crediting of derivative works. The apology came days after Shimizu posted a detailed account of years of editorial mistreatment, including claims that Kodansha failed to provide promised medical supervision, dismissed her requests for assistants, and subjected her to personal criticism that contributed to suicidal thoughts. Shimizu confirmed receiving the apology and said discussions with Kodansha are ongoing.
Simultaneously, Kodansha has been expanding its business. At Anime Expo on July 3, Kodansha USA announced seven new print releases for spring 2026, including Witch Hat Atelier: Special Stories, Fatale Game, and a new edition of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix. In June, the company set up a joint venture in India with Dai Nippon Printing, aiming to localize and publish manga in English and Hindi, with plans to release 200 titles per year. The move makes Kodansha the first Japanese publisher to directly enter the Indian market. On the digital side, Kodansha partnered with Crunchyroll in May to add 23 back-catalog titles to the Crunchyroll Manga app, including Attack on Titan and Tokyo Revengers.
Other recent developments include the conclusion of Akane Torikai's Bad Babies Don't Cry in Morning magazine, the announcement of a January 2027 premiere for the Historie TV anime adaptation, and Hiro Mashima's Dead Rock going on hiatus ahead of a new arc. The 50th Kodansha Manga Awards in May saw Gachiakuta win the Shonen category, Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn't Remember Me win the Shojo category, and The Darwin Incident win the General category. The company also made the full first season of the Drifting Dragons anime available for free on YouTube for a limited period, timed to the manga's 10th anniversary.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself sourced, then editorially reviewed. Every fact links the story it came from.
Structured graph also available as JSON at /public/entities/kodansha.
CC BY 4.0.
When a claim about Kodansha was confirmed, debunked, or disputed against open-web sources. The record stays even after a claim drops off the facts list.
Negi Haruba's Go! Go! Loser Ranger! manga is going on hiatus due to the creator's health, according to the 32nd issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine. The series will resume sometime in August. This follows a previous hiatus in February 2026, after which the manga returned and entered its final arc. The series launched in February 2021 and has two television anime seasons.
Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Sirius editor-in-chief Takashi Yamaguchi issued a public apology to Cells at Work! creator Akane Shimizu on July 3, acknowledging failures in medical supervision, working environment, editor conduct, and crediting of derivative works. Shimizu confirmed receiving the apology and said discussions with Kodansha are ongoing.
Kodansha USA Publishing announced during its Anime Expo panel on Thursday seven new print releases for spring 2026, including the prose collection Witch Hat Atelier: Special Stories, the yuri thriller Fatale Game, and the historical fantasy The Chronicles of Leënde. Other titles are The Serenade of Spring Thunder, Myther, and the classic Phoenix, along with Historié.
Akane Shimizu, creator of Cells at Work!, posted a series of allegations on X on July 1 and 2 detailing what she describes as years of editorial mistreatment during the manga's serialization. She claims Kodansha failed to provide promised medical supervision, dismissed her requests for professional assistants, and subjected her to personal criticism that contributed to severe mental health struggles, including suicidal thoughts.
The 30th issue of Kodansha's Morning magazine published the final chapter of Akane Torikai's Bad Babies Don't Cry manga on Thursday. The series, which launched in July 2024, follows four strangers who saved a 10-year-old girl from a train platform and must reunite years later to save her again. The manga entered its final arc on April 30.
Kodansha will begin localizing and publishing manga in India this autumn through a joint venture with Dai Nippon Printing, becoming the first Japanese publisher to directly enter the Indian market. The venture aims to release 200 titles per year in English and Hindi, printed locally to reduce costs and compete with pirated editions.
Kodansha announced on June 5 that all 12 episodes of the TV anime adaptation of Taku Kuwabara's manga Drifting Dragons will be streamed for free on the Full☆Anime TV YouTube channel from June 5 to July 5. The limited-time release coincides with the manga's 10th anniversary and the launch of its 22nd volume.
The television anime adaptation of Hitoshi Iwaaki's historical manga Historie will premiere in January 2027, with Nobunaga Shimazaki voicing the lead role of Eumenes. The announcement came via the July issue of Kodansha's Afternoon magazine on Monday, alongside a second teaser visual and the first promotional video. LIDEN FILMS is handling animation production. The cast also includes Ryota Suzuki as Eumenes' brother Hieronymus, Kazuya Ichijo as his father Hieronymus, Yuko Kaida as Teresila, Wataru Takagi as Charon, Satoshi Tsuruoka as Hecataeus, Anri Katsura as Trax, Tsuguo Mogami as Aristotle, Miki Kariya as Periala, Seiyu Fujiwara as Nicogenes, and Junya Enoki as Tormides. Iwaaki began serializing Historie in Afternoon in 2003 (some sources say 2004), and the manga has 12 compiled volumes as of June 2024, with over 4.7 million copies in circulation. The series previously won the 2010 Ministry of Cultural Affairs Media Arts Festival Award for manga, the 2012 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, and the Best General Manga category at the 49th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2025. Iwaaki noted he first conceived the story over four decades ago.
Hiro Mashima's Dead Rock manga ended its Academy Arc on Thursday and will go on hiatus before returning with a new Godfall arc this winter. Kodansha's Monthly Shonen Magazine published the final chapter of the arc. The seventh compiled volume shipped on Friday.
Muchimaro's Even the Student Council Has Its Holes! manga is taking a break in Weekly Shōnen Magazine due to the artist's health, with a return scheduled for the 27th issue on June 3. The announcement noted Muchimaro's health is improving. The series, which launched in 2022, has 12 compiled volumes and is inspiring a television anime.
Crunchyroll announced a partnership with Kodansha USA to add 23 back-catalog manga titles to its Crunchyroll Manga app on May 18, alongside You Chiba's Dricam!! from Shueisha. The additions include major series like Attack on Titan, Tokyo Revengers, and Your Lie in April, marking a significant expansion of the app's library since its relaunch in October 2025.
Kodansha named the winners of its 50th Manga Awards on May 11, 2026. Gachiakuta, written and drawn by Kei Urana with graffiti art by Hideyoshi Andou, took the Shonen category. The series beat fellow finalists Ichi the Witch, The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity, and Utsuranain desu. Urana posted on X that she never expected the honor and would keep working at full speed. The prize includes two million yen, a certificate, and a bronze statue. In the Shojo category, Gin Shirakawa's Re-Living My Life with a Boyfriend Who Doesn't Remember Me won. The manga adapts Eiko Mutsuhana's light novel Return from Death, with original illustrations by Yugiri Aika. Shun Umezawa's The Darwin Incident won the General category after being a finalist in two previous years. The series follows Charlie, a half-human half-chimpanzee raised by human parents, who is pulled into an eco-terrorist plot. Judges for the 50th awards included Hiro Mashima, Hikaru Nakamura, and Natsumi Ando.