Shogakukan Asia to publish BanG Dream! manga in English

Visited Chara Expo and Anime Festival Asia in Singapore last year? You all must known about this new title from Bushiroad! What is it? They will release BanG Dream! manga for South East Asian readers! Please look forward to volume 1 of the BanG Dream! English manga arrives in bookstores in Southeast Asia end March! Think your country is not on their list? Don’t worry, Shogakukan Asia is still exploring further opportunities for a release in other territories.

Shogakukan Asia Pte Ltd (Shogakukan Asia), a manga and educational books publisher, has announced its acquisition of the English-language publishing rights to Bushiroad Media’s highly popular BanG Dream! manga series. Written and illustrated by Mami Kashiwabara, BanG Dream! tells the story of 1st year high school student Kasumi Toyama, who endeavours to form a band after a series of chance encounters reunites her with the “beat of the stars” sensation she first experienced as a kid.

While the BanG Dream! manga shares the same premise with the hit television anime series currently airing in Japan, the manga provides more comprehensive details to each character and features additional scenes not seen in the anime. Volume 1 of the BanG Dream! English manga is slated for an end March release, and is expected to go on sale in bookstores in the following six countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, Thailand and The Philippines. Shogakukan Asia is also exploring opportunities with overseas partners to release the manga in other territories beyond Southeast Asia.

About BanG Dream!
The newest title from Bushiroad Inc — the entertainment company behind Cardfight!! Vanguard, Future Card Buddyfight, Detective Milky Holmes, Weiss Schwarz and other titles – BanG Dream! is a media mix project featuring animated music videos, comics, song releases and much more. What’s more, the voice cast for the characters of BanG Dream! also perform in concerts in real-life as the girls’ band “Poppin’Party”.

BanG Dream! Volume 1 synopsis
Kasumi Toyama has always been captivated by the “beat of the stars”. Since then, she’s been searching for something… a spark that’ll excite and thrill her! Following a trail of star-shaped stickers, she soon stumbles upon a Random Star guitar at her school mate’s house! Could this mark the start of something amazing? A sparkling, heart-racing high school life begins for Kasumi as she decides to form a band!

About Shogakukan Asia Pte Ltd
Shogakukan Asia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shogakukan Inc in Japan, which was first established on 8 August 1922 as a publishing house that specialises in educational magazines for elementary school children and teachers in Japan. Over the years, Shogakukan gradually expanded both its scale and its range of publications in order to cater to the various needs of its readers from different age groups and demographics.

Established in Singapore on September 2013, Shogakukan Asia was set up to lead the Japanese publisher’s business expansion into Asia, especially Southeast Asia. Based in Singapore but with Asia in its vision, Shogakukan Asia adopts the direct publishing model, leveraging the rich experience and know-how in overseas licensing and publication of educational materials. Since September 2013, Shogakukan Asia has published 95 manga titles and 20 children’s educational titles. Its best-selling manga titles include Detective Conan, Silver Spoon, Doraemon, Future Card Buddyfight and Pokémon.

For more information, please visit:
[Official website] http://shogakukan.asia/
[Facebook page] http://www.fb.com/ShogakukanAsia/