©Takako Shimura, Kodansha
The January 2026 issue of Kodansha‘s Kiss magazine announced on Tuesday that Takako Shimura‘s Hatsukoi no Tsugi (My First Love and Next) manga will end in the magazine’s next issue on December 25.
The manga centers on Akai and Chika, sweethearts who are now married. They should grow even closer and spend days in bliss together, but the shadow of Akai’s first love threatens to upend it all.
Shimura launched the manga in Kiss magazine in April 2024. Kodansha published the manga’s first compiled book volume in December 2024, and the second volume on June 13.
Michi Ichiho and Shimura’s Only Talk manga recently ended on February 25. The manga launched in Shodensha‘s OnBLUE boys-love magazine in April 2024.
Shimura is best known for her Wandering Son and Sweet Blue Flowers manga, both of which have inspired television anime series in 2011 and 2009, respectively. She also drew the original character designs for the Aldnoah.Zero anime, Battery the Animation, and the Overtake! racing anime. She drew a short-run manga adaptation for the Battery novels. Fantagraphics Books is releasing her Wandering Son manga in North America, and Viz Media is releasing Sweet Blue Flowers. Seven Seas is releasing Shimura’s Even Though We’re Adults (Otona ni Nattemo) manga digitally and in print. That manga inspired a live-action series that debuted on April 26.
Shimura’s Happy-Go-Lucky Days (Dōnika Naru Hibi) manga inspired an anime film that opened in Japan in October 2020.
Source: Kiss January 2026 issue
