Last summer, as at every Japan Expo for several years, the editions Vega-Dupuis and their webtoon label K Factory presented a very large part of their new products planned for 2025 (see news 1, news 2 and news 3). And in this first month of the year, three of these new releases are preparing to arrive in bookstores! We take stock for you today, without forgetting that we must add to these three Yashirojima titles that we presented to you last week.
The first volume of this series will arrive in bookstores from January 10at the price of 8,35€.
Remember that this shonen-ai of Yuzu Tsubaki (screenplay) and Sawa Kanzume (drawing) has been pre-published in Japan since 2019 on the Gene Pixiv site of Media Factory/Kadokawa, and it currently has 5 volumes. the work was adapted into a drama in its country of origin.
Synopsis :
Akira Minato, a 30-year-old businessman, decides, after leaving his job, to take over a laundromat. There, seeking to escape his stressful past and lead a quiet life, one day he meets Shintaro Katsuki, a 17-year-old high school student, in his laundromat. An astonishing budding friendship, also marked by an enriching age difference, gradually develops into something deeper. In this setting outside the world and its judgments, represented by the laundromat, they navigate together the challenges and joys of daily life.
Initially announced for 2024, this two-volume series will finally see its first volume published in our language on January 17again at the price of 8,35€.
From its original name Hoshikuzu Kazoku, this work is signed Aki Poroyama and was pre-published in Japan in 2022-2023 in the prestigious Comic Beam magazine from Enterbrain/Kadokawa editions. The publisher promises a story in which the author intelligently addresses a social issue on the renewal of generations and overpopulation, but does not forget to be interested in the feelings of these crash-test children.
Synopsis :
In an increasingly complex Japanese society, the subject of children has become extremely sensitive. Only carefully selected parents can claim offspring. How to ensure their quality? By making them pass a crash test! A child is loaned to them by the administration, and it is responsible for testing the parent applicants. Welcome to a world under control.
This two-volume webtoon will see its two volumes published simultaneously on January 17at the price of 16€ each.
Published in Korea in 2023 by Kakao, this work sees SPOON (Tell me, Princess!) adapt an original work by Choi Rome. The publisher promises us here bold and profound psychological portraits, disturbing and endearing, in the service of a splendid relationship between two beings.
Synopsis :
Once upon a time there was a castle covered in thorns and ice, where a prince lived who hated smiles… In our lives, it is the young Gu Won, from a wealthy industrial family, who can’t stand them. Also, when Cheon Sarang, the bubbly child of a new domestic worker, arrives in his life, Gu Won immediately uses his authority to make the latter stop smiling! Except that little Cheon Sarang is overflowing with uncontrollable joy, kindness and imagination… Gu Won, a child whose mother has disappeared and whose father, immensely rich, puts him in competition with his big sister for the future control of the family group, will he resist the life, the real one, which suddenly opens up to him? A magnificent sentimental odyssey in two volumes, exploring the past and future of the heroes of The Empire of Smiles, the famous South Korean drama of the same name!
