6 Standout Manga and Books Announced at Anime Expo 2026
There’s always something new to discover at Anime Expo, and this year, manga publishers brought their A-game. Dark Horse, Square Enix Manga and Books, Kodansha, Inklore, and more debuted a ton of new manga translations for both new and existing properties. Here are some of the best manga announced at Anime Expo 2026.
Deva Zan Second Edition by Yoshitaka Amano
Release Date: March-April 2027
Publisher: Dark Horse
Description: “In Japanese Buddhism, twelve generals—the Juni Jinsho—stood guard over the cosmos at the points of the zodiac. But now they have vanished, and nothing stands between us and the forces of darkness, except Deva Zan, a samurai without a memory. To restore order to existence, he must marshal not only his own fighting skill, but find companions that can cross the boundaries of time and space—to join him in a battle that will stretch from the fields of ancient Japan, to the streets of modern New York City—and to dimensions beyond human comprehension!
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth: Dear Destiny by Kazushige Nojima
Release Date: January 28, 2027
Publisher: Square Enix Manga & Books
Description: “The life stories of Aerith Gainsborough and Tifa Lockhart leading up to the main narrative of Final Fantasy VII continue in this sequel to the global hit novel Traces of Two Pasts.
Tifa struggles with painful memories of Nibelheim while trying to both make a living at Seventh Heaven and evade the Turks’ investigation into Avalanche. Aerith finds a place for herself selling flowers in Midgar, all the while wondering and worrying about the absence of someone very dear to her. And an angel takes flight from a run-down church, leading to a reunion in the Sector 7 slums that will set the wheels of destiny in motion.
This volume also includes a bonus short story set during Cloud’s time as a Shinra trooper.”
Ikoku Nikki by Tomoko Yamashita
Release Date: Summer 2027
Publisher: Inklore
Description: Better known as Journal with Witch in English, “this beloved manga follows reclusive novelist Makio, who finds her world changed when she takes in her orphaned teenage niece, Asa.” This is the first English print edition of Ikoku Nikki.
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam Define by Hiroyuki Kitazume and SUNRISE
Release Date: TBA
Publisher: Yen Press
Description: “Char Aznable, once the most iconic ace for the enemy in the previous war, is now a Federation soldier going by a different name. When the theft of a new Gundam leads him to cross paths with a Newtype boy named Kamille, their meeting sparks a conflict between the anti-government AEUG and the Federation’s brutally oppressive faction known as the Titans…”
Osamu Tezuka’s Phoenix Deluxe Edition by Osamu Tezuka
Release Date: March 16, 2027
Publisher: Kodansha
Description: “From the premiere of Astro Boy on television in 1963 to the release of Buddha, Princess Knight, Dororo, Black Jack, and other English editions in the 21st century, Americans have become familiar with the vast breadth of Osamu Tezuka’s stunning career, over which he produced more than 150,000 pages of comics.
Yet the most conspicuous omission from Tezuka’s English catalog has long been the series he considered his magnum opus, one he worked on and reworked from the 1950s until his death in 1989: Phoenix. Known as Hi no tori (“firebird”) in Japanese, this meta-series—inspired by Tezuka’s omnivorous appetite for Asian folklore, American science fiction, Russian ballet and animation, and anything he he found fascinating—leaps through extremes of time and space, encompassing exciting action and experimental suspense, stark philosophy and intimate drama.
Tying it all together are the recurring “actors” of Tezuka’s “Star System”; themes of mortality, legacy, love, and ego; and the titular bird herself: at times a mythical being living in a volcano, at others a spiritual presence in deep space, always a mystery.
This new Kodansha edition features the acclaimed original translation, commissioned during Tezuka’s lifetime by his production company, from Dadakai—a collective consisting of Jared Cook, Shinji Sakamoto, and Frederik L. Schodt, the inaugural inductee of the American Manga Awards Hall of Fame. This translation was previously published by Viz Media from 2002–2008 but is long out of print, and Schodt and Cook themselves have returned to assist in updating it for this edition.
The art draws on a new restoration published in Japan in 2020, intended to replicate the visuals of Phoenix precisely as it would have appeared to Japanese readers experiencing it for the first time in COM, Tezuka’s seinen manga magazine, in the 1960s. This edition features recreations of two–, three–, and four-color art treatments that were forgotten for decades, with new lettering from master letterer and font designer Sara Linsley, wrapped in a cloth cover with screenprinted and foil-stamped trade dress.”
Witch Hat Atelier: Special Stories by Jun Esaka; created and supervised by Kamome Shirahama
Release Date: Spring 2027
Publisher: Kodansha
Description: “Supervised by Kamome Shirahama, this prose collection contains three exclusive side stories starring beloved characters from the Witch Hat Atelier manga series. Between Olruggio stumbling upon a mysterious magical creature, the apprentices tending to a silver dragon, and the Knights Moralis going undercover, adventure abounds on every page!”
io9 is on the ground at Anime Expo 2026. We’ll be bringing you updates on all the biggest panels, screenings, and announcements, plus exclusive one-on-one interviews with the people behind some of the best and most popular anime around. You can check out all of io9’s Anime Expo coverage here.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.