May 23
Yen Press announced nine new license acquisitions during its industry panel at Anime North 2026 in Toronto on May 22. The slate includes two novel series and seven manga titles, scheduled for release in December 2026 and winter 2027. The novel pickups are a prequel to the manga "Wistoria: Wand and Sword" by Fujino Omori with illustrations by Yunagi, and a novel adaptation of "Honey Lemon Soda" by Anju Goshirakawa based on Mayu Murata's original story. The seven manga are "Snowmelt and Agapanthus" by Nauchi, "Witch and Cat" by Yodaka Kuroi, "Sinful Is the Angel Who Loves" by Yukari Sakai, "Shigahime" by Hirohisa Sato, "Studio Cabana" by Uma Agri, "Gusts and Beats" by Karuho Shiina, and "Twilight Vessel-Gods" by Shin Yamamoto. The genres span supernatural romance, psychological horror, action, and queer romance. The "Wistoria" prequel novel, titled "Tsue to Tsurugi no Wistoria Grimo Acta: Hajimari no Namida" in Japanese, arrives as the manga's second anime season began airing on April 12, 2026.
May 16
Yen Press announced on May 15 that it has licensed 11 manga and six light novel series for release in November 2026. The manga slate includes "Moscow 2160," a near-future story by Kumo Kagyu with art by Kōtarō Sekine; "Love at the City's Edge on a Moonlit Night" by Sakuhiro, about an onmyoji and a demon; "Terrarium in a Drawer," a collection of 33 short stories by Ryōko Kui of "Delicious in Dungeon" fame; "He Was My Brother" by Minoru Matsuda; "egg: I'm Your Child" by Sino Torino; "After-School Duty" by Meiji and Gakuto Coda; "Contract Sisters" by Hijiki; "Izumi and the Dragon Encyclopedia" by Nagimiso; "My Girlfriend Is a Colossal Cutie" by sanorin; "Tale of the Wizrain Kingdom: The Dragon Is the Bride" by Hyōgo Amagasa and sugino; and "Witch and Hound" by Rainy Kamitsuki and Minori Tsukahara. The light novel licenses are "Argonaut: Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Tales of Heroes" by Fujino Ōmori; "The Story of the Moon Waiting for the Evening" by Akumi Agitogi; "Valkyrie Bullet" by Yomu Mishima; "On the Way Home After Defeating the Demon King" by Ichiro Sakaki; "Rise of the Lowborn" by Kosaka Hanane; and "The Demon King Seems to Have Infiltrated the Hero's Party" by Kamaseinuesu. Yen Press also plans an audiobook for Keiichi Hikami's "Elden Ring"-themed novel "See You at That Site of Grace After Work."
May 16
Yen Audio will release an audiobook adaptation of Keiichi Hikami's light novel See You at That Site of Grace After Work in November 2026. The announcement came from Yen Press on May 15, 2026. The novel, which Yen Press licensed in April, follows Wataru Aida, a socially awkward salesman whose only joy is playing video games alone. His routine shifts when senior coworker Reito Kashima catches him reading a game guide and asks for help with Elden Ring. What begins as cooperative play becomes a story of friendship and connection. The English hardcover and digital editions from the Yen On imprint are scheduled for October 13, 2026, a month before the audiobook. Hikami wrote the original work, with illustrations by lack. Kadokawa first published the book in Japan on March 29, 2024. The audiobook will be available on Spotify, Audible, Google Play, and other streaming platforms.
May 16
Yen Press will debut a new imprint in October 2026, launching with two titles. The first is Ryoko Kui's The Dragon School is Atop the Mountain, an early collection of one-shots from the Delicious in Dungeon creator that treats the extraordinary as ordinary daily life. The second is Futa Kimura's Fate Rewinder: All Great Feats Require Time, a children's manga about agents who use micro-time machines implanted in their eye sockets to rescue people from tragic deaths. The imprint arrives as part of a broader wave of licensing news. Glacier Bay Books will publish Marco Kohinata's Akari in June 2026, a standalone story about mistaken identity and found family selected for the MINT manga initiative. Mangalith will release Hideko Mizuno's Fire! on October 14, 2026, bringing the 1969 shojo manga that helped open the genre's 1970s flourishing to English readers in a single volume. Kodama Tales will publish Hisae Iwaoka's The Magical Forest of Hoshigahara in November 2026. Manga Mavericks Books will release Minami Q-ta's Ball and Chain in March 2027, a story about two queer people pushing back against assigned gender roles and the expectations of marriage. The licensing announcements follow the death of Yoshiharu Tsuge on an unspecified date. Tsuge, born October 30, 1937, was the creator of the surrealist manga Nejishiki and an artist who twisted the medium with an uncompromising personal vision shaped by postwar poverty and lifelong anthropophobia.