Kodama Tales, a subsidiary of Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd, has announced the license acquisition of two new manga series: New Grappler Baki and The Magical Forest of Hoshigahara. Both titles will be released sometime in November 2026.
Kodama Tales co-founder Pierre Dubost confirmed in a response tweet that New Grappler Baki will be released in a similar 2-in-1 format to its Baki the Grappler English omnibus volumes. Dubost added that the publisher’s English release for the series will follow the original Japanese kanzenban (Perfect Edition) format, condensing its original 31 Japanese volumes into 17 English omnibus releases.
Keisuke Itagaki’s New Grappler Baki manga series was serialized in Akita Shoten’s Weekly Shonen Champion magazine from September 16, 1999 to November 24, 2005. Media Do International licensed the series for English digital release in 2018.
Itagaki’s Baki the Grappler manga series was licensed by Kodama Tales in May 2025 and released its first omnibus volume in English in October 2025. It describes the main premise of the first volume as:
A seventeen-year-old boy with a white belt enters a karate tournament and shakes the foundations of Japan’s martial arts scene. As he effortlessly defeats his opponents, the world’s top fighters are left to ask: just who is this bizarrely strong young man, and what is he trying to achieve?
Hisae Iwaoka’s The Magical Forest of Hoshigahara slice of life fantasy manga debuted in Asahi Shinbusha’s Nemuki magazine on August 12, 2008 and was serialized there until December 13, 2012. It was moved to the Nemuki+ magazine and resumed publication there from April 13, 2013 to April 13, 2015. A total of five tankobon volumes were released in Japan.
Source: Kodama Tales Official Twitter (2)
