Viz Media Announces Original Manga Publishing Imprint, New Series

It looks like Viz Media has plans to expand your manga library soon. The popular publisher has plans to roll out your favorite Japanese manga titles along with original series from a brand-new publishing imprint stateside.

The big announcement was made over the weekend at Emerald City Comic Con. It was there Viz Media let fans know it is launching an English-language graphic novel imprint known as VIZ Originals.

“VIZ Originals will expand VIZ Media’s renowned catalogue of popular titles by collaborating with manga-inspired creators to develop original stories that ignite the imagination. The imprint’s first titles will debut in 2020,” the announcement confirmed.

“VIZ Originals will be an incubator for innovative ideas and storytelling,” Leyla Aker, Executive Vice President & Publisher, said in a recent statement.

“There’s a demonstrated appetite for manga and manga-inspired content. With VIZ Originals, we have an opportunity to leverage over 30 years of experience in the industry to bring original, creator-owned content from top creative talents to fans worldwide.”

This original publishing branch will start sharing original stories come 2020, but Viz Media has plenty more manga to come before then. Not only is the company sharing its usual titles but it has accumulated new licenses for publication. You can check out the company’s newly acquired titles below:

THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM: PERFECT EDITION, By Kazuo Umezz
In the aftermath of a massive earthquake, a Japanese elementary school is transported into a hostile world where the students and teachers are besieged by terrifying creatures and beset by madness. The PERFECT EDITION features an all-new translation with new content and revised story elements in a deluxe hardcover design that reestablishes Kazuo Umezz’s THE DRIFTING CLASSROOM as a timeless horror classic.

AN INCURABLE CASE OF LOVE, By Maki Enjoji
After witnessing a handsome and charming young doctor saving a stranger’s life five years ago, Nanase Sakura trained to become a nurse. But when she meets the doctor again and they start working together, she finds Kairi Tendo to be nothing like the man she imagined him to be!

A TROPICAL FISH YEARNS FOR SNOW, By Makoto Hagino
When Konatsu Amano’s dad gets a job oversees, she has to leave the Tokyo life she’s always known and relocate to a small seaside town to stay with her aunt. The move also means starting a new school surrounded by complete strangers, and it’s a lot to handle for a shy, anxious girl who has trouble with change. But on the first day of classes, Konatsu meets an older girl who instantly makes her want to form a connection. Konatsu’s introverted tendencies are hard to overcome, but maybe she’s found something worth coming out of her shell for?

JUJUTSU KAISEN, By Gege Akutami
In a world where demons feed on unsuspecting humans, fragments of the legendary and feared demon Ryoma Sukuna were lost and scattered about. Should any demon consume Sukuna’s body parts, the power they gain could destroy the world as we know it. Fortunately, there exists a mysterious school of Jujutsu Sorcerers who exist to protect the precarious existence of the living from the undead!

Will you be checking out any of these new series? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!