Kodama Tales Licenses Mitei Hattori’s Smile! Psychological Horror Manga Series
Kyodo Printing Co., Ltd.’s Kodama Tales imprint announced at a San Diego Comic 2025 panel that it has licensed Mitei Hattori’s psychological horror manga series Smile! The title will be published for the first time in English starting in January 2026.
☻ Will you join the Smiling Hearts Society? ☻Smile! by Mitei Hattori is a bestselling psychological horror manga with over 1.4 million copies sold in Japan!!Grief. Obsession. Cults.This mind-bending thriller drags you into a world where even pain wears a smile. pic.twitter.com/2xzeGQN3HX— Kodama (@KodamaTales) July 26, 2025
Hattori first launched the manga in Nihonbungeisha’s Weekly Manga Goraku magazine on November 19, 2021 under the title Smiley. The series concluded on March 7, 2025 and published a total of 11 tankobon volumes in Japan.
© Mitei Hattori/NIHONBUNGEISHA
Kodama Tales describes the main synopsis of Smile! as:
Yuushi Kamome is a journalist who lost his beloved daughter in an unforeseen accident. His descent into despair following her death drove his wife to leave him, and he lives each day a shell of the man he once was.
But his fate changes one day when members from a religious organization, the Smiling Hearts Society, knock on his door and hand him a flyer. A flyer that, oddly enough, has a picture of his long-estranged wife smiling at him, ever so softly…
Kodama Tales announced this past May that it will be publishing more titles from other Japanese publishers such as Asahi Shimbun Publications, Coamix, Daiwa Shobo, HERO’S, Nihonbungeisha, Shodensha, and Shonengahosha.
The company will be releasing the long-running Baki the Grappler manga in English worldwide in “Complete Edition” format, containing 24 volumes, starting in October 2025.
Sources: Kodama Tales Official Twitter, Anime News Network
Welcome to Billionaire Club Co LLC, your gateway to a brand-new social media experience! Sign up today and dive into over 10,000 fresh daily articles and videos curated just for your enjoyment. Enjoy the ad free experience, unlimited content interactions, and get that coveted blue check verification—all for just $1 a month!
Account Frozen
Your account is frozen. You can still view content but cannot interact with it.
Please go to your settings to update your account status.
Open Profile Settings