Some exciting news came out over this last weekend…. Hiroyuki Takei’s latest manga, Nekogahara has been licensed in English by Kodansha Comics! That’s right, more of Hiroyuki Takei’s manga is coming out in print form later this year!!

Here’s the news from Kodansha Comic’s Tumblr:

Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai

Our first new print license of the day is Nekogahara: Stray Cat Samurai. This is a stylized action manga from Hiroyuki Takei, creator of the smash hit manga and anime Shaman King.

In medieval Japan, a bell hanging on the collar is a sign that a cat has a master. Norachiyo’s bell hangs from his katana sheath, but he is nonetheless a stray – a ronin. This one-eyed cat samurai travels across a dishonest world, cutting through pretense and deception with his blade.

The unique visual style of Nekogahara blends traditional Japanese ink painting with modern street art, perfectly suited for badass cat samurai action. Vol. 1 is coming this Fall. (English title tentative.)

Stay tuned to kodanshacomics.com for another new print license one hour from now!

It’s exciting to hear that we can get Volume 1 as soon as this fall! So that could be as close as only 6 months away!!! That’s really quick turnaround, and could be the first print edition outside of Japan!

Of course, with this announcement, we will discontinue all plans to release any scanlations of Nekogahara. Everyone should support the official release by Kodansha Comics! This is the BEST news that can happen, so it’s a reason to celebrate! They will treat the series well and we are grateful for them to take on the challenge of bringing this series over in English!

But… if you say “6 months is too far away… can’t we get it sooner!?” Well, there is some options for digital chapters to come out sooner! Here’s the current steps you can take to help make it happen!:

1. Post on Kodansha Comic‘s Tumblr or Twitter that you would like to read it digitally, and have monthly chapters closer to the Japanese monthly releases prior to the print release this Fall (Sept-Dec).

2. Post on Crunchyroll‘s Tumblr or Twitter that you want them to license the manga digitally for release. They don’t have the manga license yet, but they have gotten titles that Kondasha Comics/Vertical had for print.

Please remember to be respectful when posting/requesting. You may not get any responses, but they do listen to requests, so the more people ask, the better chance they can try and make something happen.