Disclosure: Three former Crunchyroll employees are among the founders of Azuki.Digital manga service Azuki had a handful of new titles to announce during its Anime NYC panel this weekend, including two for print in a collaboration with Scholastic Graphix. Both Mai Matsuda’s Hikaru in the Light! and Yoshino Koyoka and TriF’s Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms are getting full-color print releases in English in spring 2025. Read on for more on the print editions, including full-color sample pages, and a look at what Azuki has added from MediBang.
Azuki x Scholastic Graphix
Hikaru in the Light!
by Mai MatsudaSynopsis:
Middle-school student Hikaru Ogino is known as the “songbird” of her family’s bath house in Tokyo. But when her best friend Ran — a former girl group idol — invites her to try out for a pop star “survival camp” together, it’ll put her talents to the test. Can Hikaru outshine the
competition and make her stage debut, or will she fall flat?
Full-color sample:
Mecha-Ude: Mechanical Arms
by Yoshino Koyoka and TriFSynopsis:
Kita-Kagami City is a pretty normal town… except that some people have gotten their hands on Mecha-Ude: powerful, sentient, mechanical beings that attach themselves to their human hosts and have awesome capabilities. When middle-school kid Hikaru accidentally activates Alma, a robotic arm Mecha-Ude that has no memory of its past, they must team up to uncover the mystery of Alma’s identity and prevent the powerful Mecha-Ude from ending up in the wrong hands.
Full-color sample:
New MediBang Additions
Available now
Kotonoha
by KisugaeSynopsis:
When Fujita was in high school, she had but one romantic encounter — and it was with another girl. It happened one day when they ended up kissing. However, somewhere inside her, she knew a girl kissing another girl was wrong, so she chose to remain as just friends. Even when graduation came, she could not confess her feelings, and so the two girls split ways. Five years later, Fujita still thinks back to that romantic encounter. Meanwhile at work, due to one of her colleagues going on maternity leave, a new designer is brought into the company… and who does that designer turn out to be? None other than her high school crush!
Ryoji Renjo: Gourmet Detective
by Tadashi KatoSynopsis:
Ryoji is just supposed to be that private detective everyone hires to solve their trivial personal cases. But why does he have this outstanding cooking skill that mesmerizes every cook he meets in the investigation? What is his connection with the famous head from Togawa restaurant? Together with Aoi, the outgoing woman who’s also a foodie, Ryoji spreads his cooking skill that will bring more taste to Japan’s urban culinary scene!
Sweeter Than Cake
by Yuga KuromiyaSynopsis:
For Takuya Otsuki, his everyday routine after school is to pick up his brother Yuta at daycare, then go home and make dinner for the two of them, while their parents both work. He doesn’t stop by the game center, go out for karaoke, or visit cafes like the rest of his classmates. He is responsible for Yuta… who’s just disappeared into thin air!? As big bro Takuya chases after his small but swift baby brother, he finally catches him at the park, ogling at some cakes held by a suspicious looking red-haired man! Uh oh… What will Takuya have to do to pay him back for the trouble Yuta has caused….? Be his cake taster…? Is that… some sort of euphemism…?
Dreamnautes
by Yasuyuki OshimaSynopsis:
Every time Nattsu shuts his eyes, his world changes into a cloudy dimension with bizarre creatures and strange humans. What exactly is Nattsu’s purpose in that world? Why does he keep getting more and more tired? Dreamnautes is an instant shonen classic with unique art and a charming concept. Not to be missed.
Source: Press Release
