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If you ask many manga fans about their licensing "white whales," they'll likely serve you up a list of titles that have gained renown in Japan, but have yet to be translated and shipped out in any official capacity to North American readers. Well, recently, more than a few of those fans crossed a series off their lists: Kingdom, Yasuhisa Hara's historical adventure manga that runs in the anthology Weekly Young Jump (which skews a bit older than something like its brother publication Weekly Shōnen Jump,) will be published by VIZ Media in the US beginning in November 2025. It's been a long time coming: Kingdom first hit Japanese shelves back in 2006.
But this isn't just a victory for devotees of Kingdom, or more likely anyone that happened to check out its Wikipedia page and thought "Man, that sounds cool. Wish I could read it!" Kingdom's North American licensing is representative of a growing trend, one that finds publishers of all sizes attempting to corner a passionate and growing market.
For those that have never heard of it, Kingdom is a fictional take on the rise of Li Xin, an orphan who dreamed of becoming the world's greatest general during an era of Chinese history known as the "Warring states period." Kingdom isn't alone in taking real-life events and filtering them through the narrative beats of a heavily serialized manga: Vinland Saga is another epic manga that riffs on history, with this one adapting an Icelandic/Viking story. One thing that is different, however, is that Vinland Saga began its publication just a year before Kingdom, but was already in North American stores in 2013. Meanwhile, Kingdom sold over 100m copies, has received plenty of awards, and has five full anime seasons available on Crunchyroll – but has never made the jump to an English translation.
Manga is full of cases like it. After years of half-hearted releases, One Piece had to push its publication schedule to warp speed in 2010 in order to catch up with the Japanese volumes. Crime thriller Golgo 13 has been a manga staple since the late '60s, but any North American releases have been scattershot collections of stories rather than full completist volumes. It took decades for the popular boxing manga Hajime no Ippo to get an English release. And there are many comedy and romance series that have garnered popular acclaim in Japan but struggle to get placement in the US due to preconceived notions that manga is best reserved for action-hungry boys and few others.
However, that world is changing. VIZ Media, thanks to its status as top dog amongst licensors and its powerful industry connections, is a reliable purveyor of Japanese manga, even if it is primarily known for its big franchise titles like Dragon Ball, Jujutsu Kaisen and the works of Junji Ito. Newer publishers like Yen Press, Seven Seas Entertainment and Azuki have been able to prove that those "niche" products, like shojo manga (stories aimed at girls and young women) and light novels have a very hungry audience. Even smaller comic publishers, like Living the Line, have made strides in releasing older horror/sci-fi manga, with titles like Her Frankenstein and UFO Mushroom Invasion feeling akin to miracles. Over the past few years especially, it's remarkable how many times "That will NEVER get a release over here" has evolved into one simply receiving a book in the mail or picking it up at a bookstore.
As such, Kingdom is part of not just a thriving market, but a burgeoning wave of new (old) manga. It's especially ripe for the picking – One Piece essentially dispelled any notion that readers won't stick around for long-form manga storytelling and rich characterization, the kind you only get when a plot is allowed to accrue a broad mythology and only pays off for those willing to stick around. Rather than seem like a bar to entry, Kingdom's gargantuan set of volumes (74 as of December 2024, with the 75th set to come in March) is an alluring factor. To some, it will prove that Kingdom is worth investing in, taking its time and building its momentum rather than aiming for a quicker wrap-up.
Of course, length isn't the sum total of a manga's quality and behind-the-scenes accounts of series that went on far too long and eventually exhausted their creators is another frequent theme. But if the immediate reaction to the news is any indication, Kingdom's English translation will quickly gain its footing and its story, one that moves with both chess-like geopolitical action and gigantic battle set pieces, will only gather more attention. And hopefully situations like Kingdom taking almost 20 years to receive a North American publication, will become more and more rare. There are still some white whales left in manga, and millions that are eager to catch them.
Kingdom Vol. 1 is published by VIZ Media on November 11, 2025.
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