Summer 2026 Manga Guide by ANN: Billy Bat, Cocoon, MARS Re-released for its 30th Anniversary - Summer Lineup Packed with Shoujo and Seinen

The Summer 2026 Manga Guide by Anime News Network is online. Good news for readers who prefer seinen and shoujo to the big mainstream shonen: the top three sent by the ANN editorial team is Billy Bat, Cocoon, and the anniversary re-release of MARS.

The guide at a glance

Anime News Network has just released its Summer 2026 Manga Guide - a much-anticipated event for the English-language manga critics. The principle has been stable for years: only volume 1s (series debuts or restarts), a three-month release window, daily updates, ratings out of 5 by a panel of critics (Rebecca Silverman, Erica Friedman, Caitlin Moore, Kevin Cormack, Lucas DeRuyter). A light novels guide and an 18+ guide are announced separately in the coming weeks.

What's worth checking out

The titles that stand out with multiple positive reviews:

• MARS - 30th Anniversary Edition. Re-release of an iconic shoujo by Fuyumi Soryo, originally published starting in 1996 in the magazine Bessatsu Friend (Kodansha). A love story between a shy high school girl and a biker that marked a whole generation. The re-release is the perfect opportunity to discover this classic with a fresh eye on its dark themes (violence, grief) that remain brutally relevant.

• Billy Bat. Re-release or new print - the manga by Naoki Urasawa and Takashi Nagasaki (20th Century Boys, Monster, Pluto) about a drawn bat that crosses the history of the 20th century. Four ANN reviews at once, which is rare and signals an entry that divides/passionates. For fans of Urasawa's work, not to be missed.

• Cocoon. Also covered by four reviews. To be situated in the contemporary josei/seinen movement; the relative unanimity of the ANN reviews suggests a solid entry.

• The Woebegone Wonder Girl Wants to be Wicked (two reviews). Title to decode: the English name is already an alliteration play with a suspected pun in the original Japanese - to be seen with the publisher.

• I'm No Angel (three reviews).

• Assassin's Creed Shadows: Tales of Iga. Manga adaptation under Ubisoft license, to be situated in the long tradition - of variable quality - of transmedia video game → manga. Reserved for fans of the game; to be evaluated according to the criteria of historical gekiga rather than action shonen, if one wants to be fair.

Our take

This summer 2026 guide is faithful to the beyond mainstream shonen spirit that we defend: no big Shonen Jump name on the cover, but two heritage re-releases (MARS, Billy Bat) that invite us to revisit major works with the maturity of a reader that we may not have had at the original release. Re-release is not an editorial cover-up: it is sometimes the best entry point to a long and demanding work.

For readers who follow Japanese indie studios and mangaka (avant-garde, alt-manga, contemporary gekiga), this guide remains focused on what English-language publishers (VIZ, Kodansha USA, Yen Press, Seven Seas) publish - so the titles will have to be cross-referenced with Francophone releases (Kana, Delcourt/Tonkam, Ki-oon, Glénat, Panini).

Go read the full guide on ANN for detailed ratings by critic - the collaborative format adds a lot of value to the purchase decision.