Space Brothers Manga to Be Drawn in Space Via Robotic Arm on ISS
The project turns a fictional technology from the manga into a real-world engineering demonstration, using JAXA's commercial Kibo utilization program for the first time to produce a comic in microgravity.
Reporting from 1 sources: Denfaminicogamer.
Kodansha announced Mission: SPACE COMIC, a project to draw a special chapter of Space Brothers aboard the ISS using a robotic arm in the Kibo module. The arm will replicate the hand movements of creator Chuya Koyama, producing the untold chapter 425.5. The chapter will be released on July 22, 2026, alongside the final 46th volume.
Kodansha announced on June 11 a plan to draw a new chapter of Space Brothers on the International Space Station. The project, called Mission: SPACE COMIC, will use a robotic arm inside JAXA's Kibo module to replicate the hand motions of creator Chuya Koyama. The arm was launched in 2025 and this is its first commercial mission. The special chapter, numbered 425.5, fills a gap between existing chapters and will be released on July 22, 2026, the same day the final 46th volume goes on sale.
The control software is named Verrocchio, after the teacher of Leonardo da Vinci, referencing the remote-operated robot Davinci that appears in the manga's 34th volume. Multiple companies are involved: Meno handles the arm's control software and motion programming, Celsys provides technical support for transmitting pen data from its Clip Studio Paint software, and Space Entry, TBWA Hakuhodo, and others contribute to the mission.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.