Digital manga subscription service, Azuki, announced during the industry panel at Anime NYC on Nov 19, 2022, that they have exclusively licensed Shunsuke Sorato’s romantic comedy manga Natsume & Natsume. The manga will be getting a worldwide release in English starting Dec 2, 2022, on the platform.

The first three chapters of the manga will be released on Dec 2.

In addition, Azuki will also be adding three manga published by Star Fruit Books, namely Tribals, Toki, and Myosotis.

Both Tribals and Toki manga are available to read on the manga platform, while Myosotis will be available starting Dec 3, 2022.

Azuki describes the plots of the manga as follows:

Natsume & Natsume:

Natsume & Natsume is a shojo manga from Shunsuke Sorato (The Girl with the Sanpaku Eyes) and Japanese magazine Comic Elmo (The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting). High schooler Natsume Shiranui has the face of a villain, but secretly he yearns to a hero like his childhood friend — the kind, brave, and beautiful Natsume Minazuki. Can he become her hero, or is he destined to always be the one getting rescued?

Tribals:

Tribals is a high-octane action one-shot from writer-artist team Yoshiaki Tabata and Yuki Yogo (Ninja Slayer). Mizuhara is a klutzy high school student by day, but by night another personality takes over: Tribal, a scantily clad assassin who crawls the streets of the dangerous R-18 district in Tokyo.

Toki:

Toki by Tatsuya Ihara is a one-shot set in 1959 about a rural midwife maintaining traditional Japanese birthing practices in the face of an increasingly Westernized medical system. At once an educational manga and a poignant human drama, it’s a story that will leave readers with lots to think about.

Myosotis:

Myosotis is the latest one-shot from acclaimed artist Minami Q-ta (Pop Life, The Blood Red Boy). The story will also be available in the first issue of Star Fruit Books’ upcoming Comic Bright manga magazine.

Azuki currently has a catalog of ongoing manga including EDENS ZERO and The Yakuza’s Guide to Babysitting, with chapters released on the same day as Japanese editions. Along with it, they have a catalog of over 200 series that have finished serialization, including Attack on Titan.

All titles are available worldwide in English, except Japan.

Kodansha USA was the first publisher that Azuki collaborated with, making the most popular titles of Japanese publisher’s available for on-demand viewing. This was followed by tie-ups with Glacier Bay Books and Star Fruit Books, which gave Azuki access to their selection of their critically acclaimed indie manga, and then an exclusive partnership with Los Angeles-based manga publisher, Kaiten Books.

 Azuki, created by KiraKira Media Inc., debuted on June 28, 2021, on iOS, Android, and web browsers.

Select chapters with advertisements are available to free users. Customers can also purchase a subscription for US$4.99 that allows them to read manga without advertising. Each chapter includes comment threads for registered user conversations.

Source: Press Release