Manga went on hiatus in January 2025

Kodansha‘s Comic Days website posted on Friday a new chapter of Yuri Sonoda‘s Cat Companions Maruru and Hachi (Tsureneko Maruru to Hachi) manga, marking its return from hiatus. Sonoda added that the manga will take a slower pace than before, but promises to continue draw each chapter with care.

Sonoda put the manga on hiatus in January 2025 due to health reasons. 

Seven Seas Entertainment publishes the manga in English, and it describes the story:

An odd couple of stray cats team up to share the trials and tribulations of life in this heartwarming manga.

Maruru lived a pampered life till one day, he ran after a flock of sparrows and couldn’t find his way back home. He encounters Hachi, a tough stray, who says he doesn’t need a spoiled house cat on his territory and chases him away. But then Maruru helps Hachi out of a jam, and they team up to face life on the street together.

Sonoda launched the manga on Kodansha‘s Comic Days website in December 2021, and Kodansha published its sixth volume in December 2024. Seven Seas Entertainment published the sixth volume in English on April 28.

The manga won the grand prize in the Comic division of the 54th Japan Cartoonists Association Awards last year.

Source: Comic Days, Yuri Sonoda‘s X/Twitter account

Animation production and planning company Twin Engine and Bandai have entered a strategic partnership aimed at jointly creating and developing new intellectual properties (IPs), with the two companies planning to invest up to 4 billion yen (approximately US$25.25 million) in manga development and animation production.

Under the partnership, the companies will jointly develop original manga projects with animation adaptations in mind, and pursue their expansion into licensed merchandise and other areas as part of a long-term IP development strategy. By collaborating from the earliest stages of IP development, Twin Engine and Bandai aim to establish an integrated system for creating and nurturing IPs over the long term.

Partnership to Cover IP Development Through Merchandising

The partnership comes as IP businesses based on manga and other original works continue to expand globally, with successful properties increasingly being developed across animation, merchandise, services and other forms of entertainment.

Twin Engine and Bandai noted that when original development, animation production and subsequent business development are handled by separate organizations, it can be difficult to establish a consistent long-term strategy for an IP. The two companies therefore intend to combine their respective expertise from the initial planning stages and jointly develop manga-based IPs with their future expansion in mind.

Twin Engine operates as an animation production and planning company with capabilities spanning planning, production, promotion and distribution. Its group includes 18 animation studios and creative units, giving it an extensive production infrastructure while allowing it to develop IP around individual creators and their creative strengths.

Bandai, meanwhile, has extensive experience in developing and commercializing character-based IPs. Its business spans planning, product development, marketing and licensing across categories including toys, capsule toys, cards, food and confectionery, apparel and household goods.

The companies will combine these capabilities to jointly develop original manga projects intended for animation and produce the resulting animated works. They have committed to investing up to 4 billion yen in total toward original development and animation production.

Following the production stage, the partnership will expand the IPs into licensed merchandise and other fields, with the goal of creating additional value and developing properties that can be embraced by fans around the world over the long term. The companies said details of the specific projects under the partnership will be announced at a later date.

Twin Engine Expands Its IP Strategy Through SBI Alliance

The Bandai partnership is the latest in a series of moves by Twin Engine to expand beyond its role as an animation producer and strengthen its ability to create and develop IPs.

In May 2026, Twin Engine announced that it had signed a basic agreement with SBI Holdings toward a capital and business alliance focused on IP creation and the production of animated visual content.

Under that alliance, the two companies plan to develop new IP seeds from multiple source categories, including manga, novels and indie games, and expand them into various forms of visual content, including anime and live-action productions.

A key component of the planned collaboration is the establishment of a joint venture combining Twin Engine’s planning and production capabilities with SBI Group’s capital and financial technology. The joint venture is intended to lead the development of original anime IPs targeting global markets, while incorporating SBI Group’s financial schemes from the early stages of production to help establish a sustainable environment in which creators can focus on their work.

The alliance also includes plans to leverage SBI Group’s broader “neo-media ecosystem” to expand Twin Engine’s IPs into areas including promotion, merchandising and overseas markets.

SBI Group is also planning a content fund with a scale of approximately 100 billion yen (approximately US$631.55 million), to which Twin Engine is expected to contribute its expertise in the anime industry and its ability to evaluate creative projects. The companies intend to use this collaboration to help maximize the value of investment targets and content projects.

Moving Toward a More Integrated IP Business

Taken together, Twin Engine’s partnerships with Bandai and SBI reflect an increasingly broad strategy centered on IP creation, production and commercialization.

The agreement with Bandai focuses on building new properties from the manga-development stage through animation and licensing, while the planned alliance with SBI brings financial resources, investment capabilities and an international business network into Twin Engine’s IP development strategy.

For Twin Engine, which has built an extensive production infrastructure around its “studio-first” philosophy, these partnerships could provide additional avenues for financing, commercializing and expanding original properties beyond the traditional anime production process.

The company has emphasized its goal of continuously creating and nurturing global IPs. Its recent expansion into partnerships spanning animation production, merchandising, investment and overseas development suggests a strategy aimed at establishing a more comprehensive business platform around original content.

Source: Branc, KAI-YOU

Amazume to take hiatus from commercial manga serialization

Manga creator Ryuta Amazume announced on August 6 that they have been diagnosed with cancer. Amazume stated that they will undergo treatment and aim for a complete recovery. Amazume added that they will be going a hiatus from commercial manga serialization for a while. 

Amazume’s Sefure manga recently ended serialization on July 27. Amazume launched the series in Shōnengahōsha‘s Young King magazine in March 2019. Shōnengahōsha will ship the 12th and final compiled book volume on September 14.

Amazume ended the Omae no Kao wo Tashikametai (Let Me See That Look on Your Face, image right) manga on April 23. Amazume launched the series on Kodansha‘s YanMaga Web website in September 2025. Kodansha shipped the second and final volume on June 19.

Amazume’s Jofū manga ended in March 2025. Amazume published a one-shot version of the manga in Hakusensha‘s Young Animal magazine in March 2021, and launched the full serialization in December 2021. Hakusensha published the manga’s seventh and final compiled book volume in May 2025.

Amazume launched the Nana & Kaoru (Nana to Kaoru) manga in Hakusensha‘s Young Animal Arashi magazine in 2008, and the series switched to the main Young Animal magazine in 2009. The series ended in August 2016. FAKKU has licensed the manga. Denpa began distributing the manga starting in October 2022 in a 3-in-1 omnibus edition.

Nana to Kaoru inspired an original video anime (OVA) project and two live-action films. Amazume wrote the spinoff manga series Nana to Kaoru: Black Label that ended in 2014.

Amazume launched the Nana to Kaoru: Kōkōsei no SM Gokko (High Schoolers’ S&M Play) spinoff manga in the inaugural issue of Hakusensha‘s Harem magazine in November 2018, and ended the series in October 2021. The manga’s fifth and final volume shipped in December 2021. The manga is set during Nana and Kaoru’s third year of high school.

Source: Ryuta Amazume‘s X/Twitter account