Kodansha Announces Much-Anticipated Manga Coming Digitally This Month

Kodansha has a robust digital-first manga program. (They emphasize calling them “digital-first”, instead of “digital-only”, since a few of the more popular titles have later been released in print.) Their newest announcement, of a title coming to their various digital outlets on April 23, stunned me, since it’s a manga series that many said would be too challenging to release in the US.

Hikaru Nakamura, author of Arakawa Under the Bridge, has also created a more infamous story, about two friends rooming together in modern-day Tokyo — only they happen to be Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ.

Saint Young Men will be coming out digitally every month. There are 16 volumes so far out in Japan, titled Seinto oniisan, and it’s still ongoing. From the press release:

Volume 1 also features a specially-penned afterword by British Museum curator Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, who helped acquire pages from Saint Young Men for the British Museum’s nascent genga collection.

“The success of our digital-firsts program allows us to continue building a rapidly expanding English-language manga library based on diversity of content, regular and quick releases, and commitment to completing series,” said Alvin Lu, General Manager of Kodansha Advanced Media, the digital distribution arm of Kodansha Comics. “With our new debuts, each series will see one new volume published per month, until the series is completed or we catch up to the latest Japanese release.”

I can’t wait to read it! There are preview pages at the publisher’s website.