HarperCollins Brings Kazé Manga Imprint to the US in Fall 2027
HarperCollins will launch its manga imprint Kazé in the United States in autumn 2027, the publisher confirmed on 24 August 2026 (Publishers Marketplace).
Andrew Arnold, who already serves as publisher of Harper Alley — HarperCollins's existing graphic-novel imprint — will lead the US Kazé list. Editors Josh Sippie and Emilia Sowersby will acquire titles for the imprint (Publishers Marketplace).
Kazé US will publish manga from Japan, manhwa from South Korea, and manhua from China, according to Anime News Network (ANN). A HarperCollins release specifies that the range will include shonen (action-driven series aimed at teenage boys), shojo (romance and drama aimed at teenage girls), seinen (mature-audience titles for adult men), josei (mature-audience titles for adult women), and categories beyond those labels (Publishers Marketplace).
The imprint will launch with an initial lineup of seven titles, to be announced later in 2026, with releases arriving in 2027 (ICv2). HarperCollins president and CEO Brian Murray said the company is "thrilled" to expand Kazé to the US, building on what he described as its established presence in Japan (Publishers Marketplace).
Kazé's road to the US market has a few turns in it. In December 2025, HarperCollins announced that after three years the Crunchyroll Manga brand would revert to its original name, Kazé, and unveiled its 2026 line-up under the restored label (HarperCollins). The US launch, then, extends a brand already re-established in other territories.
For readers, the practical effect is straightforward: a major English-language trade publisher is adding dedicated manga capacity to its American list. HarperCollins already competes in the category through Harper Alley, but Kazé brings a separate imprint identity rooted in the manga market's own naming conventions and readership categories. The seven launch titles will be the first concrete test of how that identity translates to US shelves.
