Happy Ending! Author Who Uploaded His Manga HORIZON to a Pirate Site Will Be Officially Published in English
In February of this year, the story of mangaka Shiten Akiyama became a well-known topic. He gained popularity because of what he tried to do with HORIZON, his manga. As it was his first work and believing in the potential of his story, Shiten himself was translating the chapters of HORIZON and uploading them on MangaDex.
However, everything came to an end when his publisher told him to stop. Even being the author of the work, he does not hold its rights. His story drew a lot of attention from foreign otaku, who began massively supporting him on social media and also on crowdfunding platforms.
And now, after a few months, HORIZON will be officially published in English.
Happy Ending! Author Who Uploaded His Manga HORIZON to a Pirate Site Will Be Officially Published in English
The publisher Kodama announced that it has acquired the rights to the manga HORIZON and will begin publishing it, with the first volume scheduled for release in January 2027
Shiten Akiyama shared the announcement on tweet and said this about the achievement:
“This is my first manga. In Japan it is relatively unknown, and there were moments when I didn’t know if it would even be able to continue.
There were moments when I felt completely frustrated and powerless, unsure of what I should do next.
Then, I started hearing voices from readers overseas. I believe this marks a historic moment in the history of manga. This is something we achieved together.
It was made possible by Kodama, who had the vision to believe in this work, and by every reader who believed in it and continued to make their voices heard.
To all of you, I send my deepest respect and love.”
The story of HORIZON begins with an exhausted office lady hitting 30 who pretends to be a high school girl at a park one night while talking to a lonely teenage boy. From there, it escalates to an absurd degree — to the point where reality itself is not safe anymore.
Happy for the author.