Dark Horse Manga has announced the license acquisition of four new manga series for print release, including Asobi Asobase and Babanba Banban Vampire. All the titles are now available for pre-order with multiple bookstores, comic shops, and online retailers.
Here are the details on its latest manga licenses:
Babanba Banban Vampire
Story and Art: Hiromasa Okushima
Release Date: November 10, 2026
The supernatural Boys’ Love manga series will be translated into English by Kumar Sivasubramanian and lettered by Steve Dutro.
The manga inspired a 12-episode TV anime series in 2025 that was streamed on Netflix, as well as a live-action film released in the same year.
Synopsis:
An unassuming worker in a long-established public bathhouse is really the lustful 450-year-old vampire Ranmaru Mori! The heir to this esteemed Koi No Yu Bathhouse, Rihito Tatsuno, is a fifteen-year-old virgin—who is about to fall in love for the first time with a girl in his class! Ranmaru begins to weave a desperate plan to prevent Rihito from losing his virginity and to make him fall for Ranmaru instead, so the bloodsucker can eventually have pure, eighteen-year-old virgin blood for his own vampiric self!
Asobi Asobase
Story and Art: Rin Suzukawa
Release Date: November 17, 2026
The first volume will be released in paperback omnibus format and collects volumes 1-3 of the original manga series and some parts of the fourth volume. It will be translated into English by Jongwoo Kim and lettered by Thiago Péres, Lucas Saguista, and Naaice.
The manga was adapted into a 12-episode TV anime series in 2018 and is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.
Synopsis:
Hanako, Olivia, and Kasumi are three Japanese schoolgirls who love to play games—so they create a special club for themselves to challenge each other to intense, over-the-top games and dares! As they struggle with their own unique personalities, they also struggle to make their group an official club in the eyes of the student council.
Suicide Island
Story and Art: Kouji Mori
Release Date: December 8, 2026
The manga will be released in paperback format. It will be translated into English by Kumar Sivasubramanian and lettered by Steve Dutro.
Synopsis:
In a story evoking both Lord of the Flies and Battle Royale, a young Japanese man, Sei, is transported to the mysterious, remote Suicide Island after a failed suicide attempt—where he must live the rest of his days or figure out how to die! With society turning its back on many suicidal citizens, the island fills up with haunted, driven characters, often in conflict with each other and sometimes barely holding onto sanity!
Forget-Me-Not
Story and Art: Kenji Tsuruta
Release Date: January 5, 2027
The manga will be released in oversized paperback format. It will be translated into English by Dana Lewis and lettered by Susie Lee.
Synopsis:
Stroll along the banks of the canals in beautiful Venice, Italy, and you’ll see the slacker—a young woman noodling on her guitar, pecking a bit at her laptop, and maybe getting a little reading in. But watch your step in this ancient town, because some of the other people you might run into—the ragged derelict, the drunken streetwalker, even that clean-cut gondolier—they’re all her, too! She’s Mariel Imari, of Italian and Japanese descent, whose skill at disguise comes from being part of a famous dynasty of detectives.
But Mariel hasn’t yet cracked the one case that would allow her to inherit her grandfather’s estate—Forget-me-not, the painting stolen from the mansion 22 years ago, which she needs to recover as a condition of his will. You see, Mariel is brilliant, but also a bit lazy and slovenly and bored…and about to be a bit embarrassed, too, when her sisters show up from Japan, under the impression that she’s rich! Will Mariel ever catch the master thief standing between her and an aristocratic lifestyle?
