Mahjong manga fans, this one is niche but honestly quite interesting.
Mahjong Pros Publishing has announced at San Diego Comic-Con that it has licensed two manga for English release: Bird: Mahjong's Deadliest vs The Master Illusionist and Akayoroshi: Hanafuda Shadow Games. Both titles are scheduled to launch in November 2026, with releases planned across physical and digital formats.
For Malaysian and SEA readers, the mahjong angle is the obvious hook. Mahjong is not some distant Japanese-only thing for us — a lot of people here grew up hearing tiles being shuffled at family gatherings, kopitiam corners, or auntie-uncle sessions that somehow last until 2AM. But these manga are not cosy family-table stories. They go full underground gambling thriller.
Bird turns mahjong into a battle of tricks
Bird: Mahjong's Deadliest vs The Master Illusionist comes from writer Hiromi Aoyama and artist Kazutoshi Yamane. The story centres on a fight over underground casino territory, but instead of guns or boardroom politics, the conflict gets decided through mahjong.
One side brings in Kazuya, the secret genius behind the famous illusionist known as Bird. His opponent is Snake, an unbeaten gambler who can apparently bend even a fully automated mahjong table to his advantage — the kind of setup meant to remove cheating completely.
So the real tension is not just “who has the better hand?” It is a mind game where Kazuya has to figure out Snake's method before Snake sees through his own deception. If you like gambling anime and manga where every move has three layers of bluffing, this sounds very much in that lane.
Akayoroshi goes darker with hanafuda
The second title, Akayoroshi: Hanafuda Shadow Games, is written by Yume Yamaguchi and illustrated by Yadokugaeru. This one shifts from mahjong to hanafuda, the traditional Japanese flower cards.
Set in Yokohama in 1876, the manga follows a boy with flawless memory who gets dragged into an underground gambling world. The stakes are brutal: flower-card matches decide not just money, but physical consequences too. The premise positions it as a historical thriller about debt, deception, obsession, and people who cannot stop risking everything.
Hanafuda might be less familiar to most Malaysian readers than mahjong, but that could make Akayoroshi the more educational pick. If the localisation does its job well, this could be a solid gateway into a card-game tradition that rarely gets mainstream attention here.
Why this licensing matters
Mahjong Pros Publishing is the imprint of mahjong set company Mahjong Pros. The imprint focuses on licensing, localising, and distributing mahjong-themed manga and textbooks. The company first announced the publishing imprint in June 2025.
That focus is pretty specific, but it makes sense. Most English manga licensing tends to chase huge fantasy, romance, isekai, or action titles. A publisher building around mahjong and related tabletop culture could help bring over works that bigger companies might ignore.
For SEA readers, especially those who already understand how intense table games can get, these releases could hit differently. The cultural context is already partly there. We know the sound of tiles, the tension of waiting on one draw, and the drama when someone thinks another player is too lucky. Bird and Akayoroshi just crank that familiar energy into crime-thriller territory.
Both manga are currently set for November 2026 English release, so still a long wait. But if you enjoy Kaiji-style psychological gambling stories, sharp mind games, or manga built around traditional games, these two are worth keeping on your radar.
Reporting source: Anime News Network