Hachi Report! October 2026

Welcome to Hachi Report, a monthly newsletter breaking down recent developments in the manga and manhwa world! Thanks to the efforts of our hardworking delivery fox Hachi, we have all the information you need about upcoming comics, new and notable events, and backstage publisher maneuvering. This month: Tapas’s demise, TOKYOPOP in danger, and the true identity of the artist behind a manga cult classic.

Licensing Highlights

Moon Child

Writer/Artist: Reiko Shimizu
Publisher: Comikey
Debut: September 11 2026

Synopsis: “Something tragic is bound to happen yet again…”

The mermaids, who have traveled across the universe for centuries, returned to the Earth for their mating season. Upon their arrival, however, they found out that Earth has changed significantly since they’ve left. What will be the fate of the human prince, Art, and the mermaid princess, Jimmy, who have fallen in love with each other?!

The Pitch: One of my favorite shojo manga from the 1990s, Moon Child is a bonkers concoction of psychic alien mermaids, ballet, environmentalism, and whatever else artist Reiko Shimizu finds interesting. Here’s hoping that we see the rest of her manga make its way abroad as well!

Chewed Flesh, Ground Bones

Writer/Artist: Paregoric
Publisher: Yen Press
Debut: To be Announced

Synopsis: 1999—the year that Nostradamus predicted would be the end of humanity. Riding a wave of unprecedented interest in the occult, Inubosaki (an editor for a third-rate paranormal mag) and Asama (a cameraman with a sixth sense) team up. They spend their days covering incident after bizarre incident…when Asama’s keen eye for the supernatural draws them into an encounter with a terrifying phenomenon. Decades into the future in 2023, an aged Asama is called on by someone searching for Inubosaki…

The Pitch: I’m a sucker for X-Files-style paranormal investigation. Plus, the mention of a time skip reminds me of one of my favorite recent horror novels, About a Place in the Kinki Region.

Breaking News

Kakao Entertainment Shuts Down Tapas

Per Comics Beat, Kakao Entertainment is shutting down its website Tapas. This comes at the same time as (says Anime News Network) the company is consolidating its Korean webtoon platforms Kakao Page and Kakao Webtoon into a single entity. In a statement posted to Instagram, Tapas wrote that “we know this news may come as a surprise to the Tapas community,” and that users may no longer acquire the Tapas currency Ink as of today, October 1 2026. Tapas will close on March 31, 2027; users may continue to spend their Ink reserves on the site until then.

According to the website’s new End of Service FAQ, users will no longer be able to access previously unlocked comics on Tapas following March 31st. Artists that wish to have their series removed from Tapas before closure may submit their request through the Tapas Creator Inquiry Form. Additionally, “questions regarding exclusivity will need to be reviewed based on the applicable agreement. Please submit your inquiry through the Tapas Creator Inquiry Form so it can be directed to the appropriate team for review.”

Tapas was originally founded in 2012 by Chang Kim and Young-Jun Jang as Comic Panda. It was later rebranded Tapastic and then Tapas. Daum Kakao (as Kakao Entertainment was then called) initially backed the company in 2015 before acquiring it outright in 2021 together with the webfiction platform Radish. (Radish itself was closed last year in 2025.)

On LinkedIn, founder Chang Kim mused, “why this sudden change? The app is still doing well…I suspect [Kakao’s] desire to control things more centrally from HQ, which was very clear from day one after the acquisition, might have finally won out.” He also suggested that since users found out the news second-hand, Kakao “lost the chance to share the facts and control the narrative.”

The site currently hosts many excellent Korean comics including A Compendium of Ghosts, A Bona fide Killer and Mystic Pop-up Bar. With luck these series will survive Tapas’s collapse and either appear on Kakao’s consolidated website, or on whatever English language webtoon site picks up the licenses. Other series made outside of Korea, like Daughter of a Thousand Faces, have deals with print publishers like Inklore. Hopefully they will survive as well, although you never know.

The real risk is to independent artists who used Tapas as a platform to upload their series. While Tapas was never as ubiquitous as its rival WEBTOON, it had (despite the company’s best efforts) a devoted audience of artists and readers. That audience has now effectively been disowned by Kakao Entertainment, which as far as we know has decided they are a rounding error. This is despite the fact that, as Comics Beat wrote, “Tapas alone…has 75,000 creators, 100,000 titles, and 10 million cumulative registered users.”

At the end of the day, though, audience numbers don’t really matter. What does matter is this: if you don’t own your platform, it can be taken from you at any time. Naver is no exception; if it wanted to shut down WEBTOON outside of Korea overnight, it probably could. All the webcomic community has is each other.

TOKYOPOP Sustains $997,647 Loss in 2025

According to Popverse, a new report from CPA firm SetApart Accountancy Corp. claims that TOKYOPOP has sustained such losses that its current funds “may not be sufficient to fund operations for the next twelve months…” This report was commissioned by TOKYOPOP itself, which has recently made some of its finances public as part of its ongoing experiment in soliciting fans to invest in the company. SetApart’s findings state that TOKYOPOP’s finances had a $997,647 loss in 2025, as well as a “negative cash flow of $1,966,546 in that same period.” The company is also $1.225 million in debt, “with $650,000…being a 0% interest loan from its separate-but-connected Japanese affiliate, Tokyopop K.K.”

Popverse Editor-in-Chief Chris Arrant cites TOKYOPOP’s purchase of rights to be “the exclusive Naruto exhibition promoter and producer in Europe” for 2025 as the “smoking gun” behind the company’s recent woes, citing an iCv2 interview with company founder Stu Levy where he says as much. As a reminder, Stu Levy claimed in a past newsletter that he once turned down the opportunity to publish Shonen Jump in the United States, putting the English language rights to Naruto out of his hands forever.

Seemingly in response to the breaking story, Levy sent out yet another newsletter admitting that (!!) he was “really jealous” that VIZ had the rights to Naruto. Putting on a Naruto exhibition in Berlin was his chance to finally “be in business with Naruto,” even though it likely ended up being much more expensive than the MENA exhibition originally pitched to him by a representative from Sony Music. Despite this, he asserts that “live experiences have a steep learning curve, and first-time operators often discover things that no spreadsheet can teach them.”

TOKYOPOP was once one of the most successful manga publishers in the United States before it collapsed in 2011. Since the revival of its US publishing operations in 2016, representatives at the company has sought to dispel its toxic reputation among manga and anime fans. In an interview with Anime News Network, Editor-in-Chief Lena Atanassova admitted that she remembers “the rocky ending of the previous era,” but that she is still committed to “publishing the series we represent with integrity and dedication to the very best of our ability.” In the meantime, TOKYOPOP has published some excellent titles, like Double, A Smart & Courageous Child, and Since I Could Die Tomorrow.

Despite the best intentions of its employees, though, TOKYOPOP cannot help but be itself. So what if the publisher becomes a new home for excellent BL and josei titles? These days Levy’s eyes are on what he calls “the Experiences business,” enabling fans to “step inside” their favorite stories. What is manga worth compared to that? Perhaps not much, to TOKYOPOP. Unfortunately, if it isn’t careful, TOKYOPOP soon might not have much “worth” left at all.

Shueisha Terminates Freelance Relationship With Editor Shihei Lin…Or Did They?

Per MangaAlerts, Shueisha released a statement saying that it has “terminated its outsourcing of editing and other related services to Mix Green Inc. as of July 31, 2026.” Mix Green is run by Shihei Lin, the former Shonen Jump + editor behind such popular works as Chainsaw Man, Spy x Family and Dandadan. Shortly after, Shihei Lin then released a statement on X saying that Mix Green will continue to handle editorial duties on the series Spy x Family, Dandadan, Centuria and WITCHRIV.

Shihei Lin left Sheuisha in 2022, and announced this April that his new company Mix Green was now accepting manga submissions. Up until this point he has worked as an editor for Shueisha on a freelance basis. While we don’t know why Shueisha has made the decision to terminate their relationship, it’s possible that the company may perceive Lin as a threat. Many of Shueisha’s latest hits have come out of Shonen Jump + rather than the traditional print magazine. Regardless, we’ll be keeping an eye on this story, since this is likely only the beginning.

K-Comics Origin Exhibit Launches in Los Angeles

Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles (KCCLA) together with Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) launched a new exhibition K-Comics Origin Los Angeles, which will run from September 11th to October 17th 2026. According to a press release, the exhibition explores “the evolution of K-Comics, from Korea’s 100-year history of comics to webtoon….” through the series All of Us are Dead, Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint and Solo Leveling. It also presents “examples of Korean webtoons expanding into dramas, animation, games, and other forms of content.” While it refers to this as “the One Source Multi-Use (OSMU) ecosystem,” manga readers likely recognize this strategy as “media mix.”

Wonhee Cho had the opportunity to visit the exhibition for a piece on Anime News Network. Noting that he “saw visitors taking photos at the Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint photo spot,” he goes on to say that “the exhibition succeeds in both introducing the global reach of Korean webtoons and giving fans a chance to interact with the properties they already love.” At the same time, he says that “I would have liked to see a broader selection of webtoons alongside the three major properties,” as well as “more displays focused specifically on what makes webtoons unique as a medium.”

Speaking personally, I’m surprised at the lack of range in this exhibit. All three series are action titles, and two of them began as webnovels. What about popular romance series like The Remarried Empress, or other works like Your Letter that are unique to the format? Thankfully conventions like Otakon have been generous in attracting talent willing to explain the full history of Korean manhwa, webtoons included.

Kodansha House Hosts Saka Mikami This October in New York City

Kodansha announced that its next featured artist at Kodansha House will be Saka Mikami, the artist behind romance series The Fragrant Flower Blooms With Dignity. Mikami will first appear on October 10th in New York City for a Q&A session and signing from 6-9 PM, then on October 11th for a signing between 2-4 PM. Mikami’s work was previously adapted into an anime series in 2025 last year. Visitors to Kodansha House in Los Angeles earlier this year in July include Blue Lock creators Muneyuki Kaneshiro and Yusuke Nomura, Witch Hat Atelier artist Kamome Shirahama, and Gachiakuta graffiti artist Hideyoshi Andou.

Shonen Sunday Announces Rumiko Takahashi Fantasy Manga Awards

Per Rumic World, Shonen Sunday has announced the new Rumiko Takahashi Fantasy Manga Awards. These awards will be judged by (as you may guess from the name) beloved manga artist Rumiko Takahashi, following the application deadline January 11th 2027. Shonen Sunday says that aside from the 42 page limit, “the only requirement is that the work contains at least one element of fantasy. Powerful characters, abilities, world-building… Yes, fill your work with your imagination and submit your entry!” Takahashi also exhorted contest participants to “Believe in your free imagination and characters, and enjoy working on your creation…good luck! I’m waiting.”

According to Anime News Network, the first and second place winners will receive 1 million and 500,000 yen respectively, and have “their manga…published in Weekly Shonen Sunday or a spinoff publication and on Shogakukan’s Sunday Webry manga website.” The honorable mention recipient will receive 300,000 yen and have their work published in Sunday Webry. Effort and encouragement prize recipients will receive money but not have their work published.

Long-Delayed Lain Spiritual Successor Despera to Become 2027 Manga

Per Anime News Network, screenwriter Chiaki J. Konaka announced at Japan Weekend Madrid that artist Yoshitoshi ABe is launching a Despera manga series in 2027. Konaka also clarified that “the manga’s setting and era will differ from those of the original project announcement,” and that “it is not related to” his earlier collaboration with ABe and the director Ryutaro Nakamura, Serial Experiments Lain. A scrmbl article confirmed that ABe and Konaka are starting with manga rather than anime “to inspire confidence in the project from potential investors and production partners…”

Despera was first announced in 2009 as a collaboration between Yoshitaka ABe and Chiaki K. Konaka, with Ryutaro Nakamura set to direct. A light novel version by ABe and Konaka was then serialized in Animage between 2009 and 2010. Unfortunately, the project was delayed after Nakamura passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2013. Since then the project has remained in development hell, although Konaka has always insisted it would one day be completed. While this new version of Despera may be very different from what the team first imagined, it may be the best opportunity this wisp of a story may have to become reality.

Hiroya Oku Revealed as Thunder 3 Artist

Manga artist Hiroya Oku (Gantz, Inuyashiki) announced via X that he drew the manga series Thunder 3. “As you all know,” he said, “Yuki Ikeda is my pen name.” He chose to disguise his identity in order to preserve the element of surprise. As readers of the series know, Thunder 3 pretends to be an old-fashioned gag manga before circumstance transports the characters to a violent and realistic science fictional world.

While Oku’s admission was unexpected, readers had been speculating about his involvement for some time. “If Thunder 3 isn’t directly created by Oku,” wrote Kevin Cormack in his review of the series, “then at least I think Ikeda must have been his assistant and likely remains associated with his studio. The similarities are too blatant.” As for Oku himself, he’s recently said that (per Automaton) he plans to retire from making manga after his newest work Kanrekihime.

Hachi Snacks

• Comics Journal published a piece analyzing the military fiction manga series The Silent Service and Aircraft Carrier Ibuki through the lens of politics.
• Anime Feminist and Comics Beat both published interviews with manga artist Akiko Higashimura (Princess Jellyfish.) If you enjoyed our own coverage this month, I recommend checking these out!
• Teen Vogue discussed how Pokémon trading cards have become a life-or-death endeavor.
• Fansplaining analyzed how convention artist alleys are becoming increasingly untenable.
• An older article, but I enjoyed this feature on Nippon.com about horror artist Kazuo Umezz and his relationship with Osamu Tezuka.
• MediaOCD has launched an editorial branch featuring columns by long-time writers Mike Toole and Jonathan Clements. While this site will likely be more anime-focused, features editor Coop Bicknell is no stranger to manga, so I hope to see relevant coverage eventually.

ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

Meanwhile, don’t forget to check out these Yatta-Tachi articles:

• October 2026 Manga, Manhwa, Light Novel, & Book Releases
• October 2026 BL / Yaoi Manga, Manhwa, Manhua, Danmei, & Light Novel Releases in Print