Viz Media Announces Splatoon Manga Western Launch

Viz Media tweeted out yesterday that the manga series based off of Nintendo’s Wii U exclusive Splatoon will debut in the US this year.

The Splatoon manga stars Goggles-Kun along with his three friends, Headphones-Chan, Glasses-Kun and Knit Cap-Chan, four young inklings. Most of the series plot focuses on the four taking part in turf wars as the blue team, expanding on the mode found in the game. The manga began in 2015 in Japan’s CoroCoro magazine with a fan made issue by Sankichi Hinodeya, depicting a battle between the blue and yellow teams. Sankichi returned later that year with the series’ official first issue. Ten issues of the Splatoon manga have been released in CoroCoro since then with two official volume releases. The Splatoon manga contains a healthy amount of comedy thrown in, representing the world of Splatoon in a child-friendly way, matching that of the game.

CoroCoro Magazine is a popular monthly magazine published by Shogakukan Inc. CoroCoro is mainly targeted at elementary school aged boys, featuring hit properties such as Pokémon, often offering new information about upcoming titles. A number of manga titles are serialized in the magazine, many of them inspired by video games such as Super Mario, Animal Crossing, Yokai Watch and many more.

The Splatoon manga’s debut will add to the company’s already expansive lineup of manga titles based on video game properties. Viz Media currently offers a number of different series based off the Pokémon franchise. They also offer a manga focusing on Capcom’s Resident Evil series. Earlier this year, Viz Media announced the launch of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess’ adaptation. The manga was created by Akira Himekawa, the team widely renowned for Zelda adaptations in the past.

While no exact release date was announced, Viz Media plans to launch the series in fall of this year.