August is ripe with releases for the animanga community, including the Netflix premieres of Sailor Moon Cosmos and season 3 of Kimi ni Todoke. With these exciting air dates fast approaching for anime watchers, manga readers gear up to bid farewell to some other favorites. Read on to find out which series are reportedly ending in Bookstr’s latest otaku news round-up!
Komi Can’t Communicate by Tomohito Oda
Komi’s journey to 100 friends is coming to an end. The slice-of-life rom-com was recently revealed to be heading into its final arc beginning on July 31st. The news comes straight out of Weekly Shōnen Sunday, which publishes the series in Japan, further detailing that the manga’s last storyline will be titled Training Camp Arc.
Komi Can’t Communicate was first serialized in May 2016 and has since received an anime via Netflix and a live-action drama in 2021. The story follows Komi, a beautiful girl with social anxiety whose goal is to make 100 friends before the end of high school. The series has been one of the most popular shonen rom-coms in recent years with its title character becoming iconic among manga readers.
You can read Komi Can’t Communicate on the Viz Media app, where new chapters are available worldwide every Tuesday.
My Girlfriend’s Child by Mamoru Aoi
Mamoru Aoi’s My Girlfriend’s Child has ended this month with the promise of a spin-off. The award-winning series about a high school couple dealing with teen pregnancy first debuted in 2021, with its ninth and final volume set to release in Japan on August 9th. Right after publishing the manga’s last chapter, Bessatsu Friend magazine announced that a four-chapter spin-off will begin on August 13th. The spin-off will then be compiled into a bonus volume scheduled to come out on October 11th.
My Girlfriend’s Child has been critically acclaimed due to its delicate and grounded approach to its heavy subject matter. Back in May, it was nominated for Best Publication for Teens in the 2024 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, while last year it won Best Shoujo in the 47th Annual Kodansha Manga Awards.
The series has also spawned a Japanese live-action drama that premiered this June. The manga is currently published in the U.S. by Seven Seas Entertainment, with volume five due to release in English on August 20th.
Kaiju No. 8 by Naoya Matsumoto
After a successful anime adaptation that launched in spring, Kaiju No. 8 is reported to be reaching its climax. Earlier this month, the manga’s latest volume surpassed a milestone of 15 million copies in circulation, prompting mangaka Naoya Matsumoto to make the surprising revelation that the action series was close to ending. Matsumoto-sensei issued a comment, saying in part:
With the release of volume 13 on July 4th, Kaiju No. 8 has surpassed 15 million copies in domestic circulation! To everyone who has been reading since the beginning and to new readers who started after watching the anime, we have been able to achieve such a significant number thanks to the support of so many readers! Thank you very much.
The mangaka followed up his message to the fans by adding:
The story currently being serialized is reaching its climax, but I will continue to put my all into drawing Kaiju No. 8, so please continue to support us.
The news came around the same time a second season of the anime was confirmed, and the manga’s spin-off, Kaiju No. 8: B-Side, also concluded. Meanwhile, a gag manga titled Kaiju No. 8 Relax began serializing in Japan exclusively back in June.
Kaiju No. 8 tells the story of Kafka Hibino, a 32-year-old man who gets turned into a monster in the midst of enlisting in the defense force in charge of annihilating such monsters. The manga’s licensed in America by Viz Media, while individual chapters publish globally on the Manga Plus platform and the Shonen Jump+ app.
You can check out these titles in Bookstr’s Illustrious Comics, Manga, and Graphic Novels bookshelf on Bookshop.org. Don’t forget to also follow us on our socials, and let us know what August releases you’re most excited about!
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