KODANSHA COMICS ADDS THREE NEW TITLES TO FALL LIST: MISSIONS

New series to join Kodansha’s stellar fall lineup, which includes New York Times bestsellers like Sailor Moon and Negima!

NEW YORK, NEW YORK (April 23, 2012) – Kodansha USA Publishing is excited to announce three new titles set to debut in the final two months of the year. November sees the publication of popular shojo author Ema Toyama’s newest manga, Missions of Love, while December marks the return of Yukito Kishiro’s classic manga, Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, and the debut of fan-favorite author Natsume Ono’s Danza.

Missions of Love was originally published as Watashi ni xx Shinasai! In school, Yukina is a cold and distant girl, while Shigure is the most perfect, good-looking guy. But the two of them have a secret, and their extraordinary “love” is about to start! Yukina, under the pen name ‘Yupina’, is actually a popular cell phone novelist. When she discovers Shigure’s devious womanizing ways, she blackmails him to complete daring ‘missions of love’ for her to write about. Will these missions give them an opportunity to fall in love with each other? Author Ema Toyama is well known to American audiences for I Am Here!, which is published by Kodansha Comics, and Pixie Pop.

Battle Angel Alita: Last Order takes readers back to the world of cyborg battles and intrigue made so popular by creator Yukito Kishiro. Alita is a cyborg reborn with no knowledge of her mysterious past. Fighting in the Zenith of Things Tournament is the only way to rescue the brain of her friend, Lou, and the tournament has entered into its final rounds. Will Alita survive to fulfill her quest? Find out in Battle Angel Alita: Last Order, volume 16, the first volume in the series to be published by Kodansha Comics!

Danza is a collection of six short stories that chronicle interpersonal relationships by House of Five Leaves and Ristorante Paradiso author Natsume Ono. In “Rubber Boots,” the death of a business partner brings an estranged father and his adult son back together. The sudden appearance of a mysterious stranger helps a widower father reconnect with his precocious young son in “Memories of the Lake.” A German-American man struggles to bond with his “Diorama”-constructing Japanese father-in-law. A young Italian officer experiences payback of a humorous nature in “The Gelateria and the Carabinieri.” “Smoke” finds a man confronting the older brother he resents when they are both trapped in the rubble of a castle after an earthquake hits. And in “Partners”, a rookie cop in the NYPD starts harboring distrust towards his veteran partner after hearing some unsettling rumors.