Kodansha announces BLOOD BLADE manga digital launch

During a panel at SDCC immediately, Kodansha introduced they’ll be bringing a brand new manga to US readers this fall. Oma Sei‘s Blood Blade will make its world debut in English on the kodansha.us digital service this fall, with new installments to launch weekly and totally free to Kodansha Reader Portal account holders. A print assortment of the manga will arrive in Spring 2024.

Here’s how Kodansha describes Blood Blade:

In the world of BLOOD BLADE, Count Dracula is reborn as a katana-wielding younger vampiress in a brand new, never-before-seen motion manga set in a gritty, alternate-history Europe. Fans of cinematic, gory, supernatural alternate histories, like Vampire Hunter D, Hellsing, and Vampire within the Garden, will wish to sink their fangs into BLOOD BLADE.

After the reincarnated Dracula rescues a lady named Clara from a mysterious stranger, Clara explains that she is the creation of a sure Victor Frankenstein. She additionally reveals that she is fleeing from a company known as Cerberus, which seeks to seize and research “monsters” comparable to herself with the intention to create a military of human-monster hybrids. Clara begs the vampiress to flee together with her to an island of monsters.

In a press release saying the launch, mangaka Oma Sei described among the influences for the brand new collection:

“BLOOD BLADE was heavily inspired by classic horror films and dramas. Though it is filled with vampires, golems, and mummies, many of these monsters have waned in popularity since their heyday on the silver screen. Monsters that once inspired terror in humans have been left behind by the passage of time, to the point that one might call them an endangered species. In writing this series, I aim to bring the spotlight back onto these monsters of yore.”

Kodansha USA Publishing President & CEO Alvin Lu elaborated on the discharge plan for Blood Blade as a primary for the writer:

“BLOOD BLADE is an all-new kind of manga publishing effort, in which Kodansha premieres the works of an outstanding Japanese talent like Oma Sei to a worldwide English-reading audience first. And we are inviting anyone to jump right into this manga series by offering each exciting new episode of BLOOD BLADE free for a limited time at the new Kodansha Reader Portal.”

Check out a number of preview photos from the collection under. Blood Blade will launch on kodansha.us this Fall, and can come to print from Penguin Random House in Spring of 2024.