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Denpa Licenses Romy Oishi, meshe's Lockdown Zone: Level X, Kengo Hanazawa's Under Ninja Manga
posted on by Crystalyn Hodgkins & Alex Mateo
Manga publisher Denpa announced during the Anime Expo Lite virtual event on Friday that it has licensed Romy Oishi and meshe's Lockdown Zone: Level X manga, Kengo Hanazawa's Under Ninja manga, and Shūzō Oshimi's Miss Kusakabe manga.
Denpa is publishing the Lockdown Zone: Level X sci-fi horror manga as a simulpub this summer, and it will release the first two chapters free on its digital reading platform.
Denpa teased on Twitter that the manga is an "apocalyptic horror story about a teen who wakes up in lockdown."
The manga will launch in Japan on Futabasha's Web Comic Action website on July 10. Futabasha's Manga Action magazine will publish a 24-page preview of the manga on July 7.
NHK World TV's imagine-nation, an English-language program shown on the international broadcast service, had stated in March that Hanazawa's Under Ninja manga would begin publication in the U.S., Italy, China, and other countries in April.
Hanazawa (I am a Hero) launched the manga in Kodansha's Young Magazine in July 2018. The third compiled book volume shipped on February 6.
The manga takes place in a modern world where roughly 200,000 ninja live in secrecy and blend into daily life as normal people. The story centers on Kurō Kumogakure, a ninja who is unable to find work. One day, he finally receives a job and begins to infiltrate a school.
Hanazawa launched the I am a Hero manga in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits magazine in 2009, and ended the series in 2017 with 22 volumes. The manga inspired two spinoff series. A live-action film adaptation opened in Japan in April 2016. Dark Horse Comics is releasing the manga in North America.
Denpa published Miss Kusakabe on Denpa Reader, its digital reading platform, on June 26.
Oshimi published a one-shot with the title "Kusakabe-san" when Futabasha opened the renewed version of its Web Comic Action website as Web Action on March 27. The 25-page manga then released digitally on Amazon on April 30. Amazon describes the one-shot as centering on a girl who has a "sexy face" who leaves her youth behind.
Oshimi also recently launched a new manga titled Okaeri Alice (Welcome Back, Alice) in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine on April 9.
Vertical published Oshimi's The Flowers of Evil manga in English, and the manga inspired a 2013 television anime series, and a live-action film that opened in September. Oshimi's Inside Mari manga inspired a live-action series adaptation in March 2017, and his Drifting Net Café manga also inspired a live-action series in 2009. His Sweet Poolside manga inspired a live-action film in 2014.
Oshimi launched the Happiness manga in Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in February 2015, and ended the series in March 2019. Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga in English. Vertical is also publishing Oshimi's Blood on the Tracks manga.
Denpa announced last July that it will release Oshimi's Shino Can't Say Her Name (Shino-chan wa Jibun no Namae ga Ienai) manga. The manga inspired a live-action film that opened in Japan in July 2018.
Source: Email correspondence
