Star Wars and anime fans, this one is very much in the “keep an eye on it” folder. Creator duo Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi have announced that their new manga, Star Wars: Visions: Tsukumo, will make its debut at San Diego Comic-Con this July.
The announcement came through the pair’s joint X account. For now, the launch detail is focused on the Comic-Con debut, while the Japanese release timing will be shared later. The English side is already locked in: Viz Media has licensed the series.
That is good news for SEA readers, because Viz licensing usually means the manga has a clearer path toward official English availability. For Malaysian fans who follow manga through imported volumes, digital platforms, or Kinokuniya-style pickups, this is the kind of title that could actually be accessible without waiting years for a random localisation miracle.
What is Tsukumo about?
The story is set after Order 66, during the Empire’s campaign to wipe out the Jedi. Anti-Jedi propaganda is everywhere, and one surviving Jedi Knight, Nagi Tsukumo, is in seriously bad shape — betrayed, poisoned, and forced to run.
His unlikely allies are two droids, Dee-Seven and Ee-Ten, who are chasing coordinates to a legendary place known as Droid Paradise. Of course, because this is Star Wars, nobody gets a peaceful road trip. An Imperial assassin is hunting them down, and the group has to reach this supposed utopia before the Empire catches them.
The hook is very Visions-coded: a Jedi survival story, droid mythology, sacrifice, and that mix of samurai-drama energy with space opera vibes. If you liked how Visions let Japanese creators bend Star Wars into something moodier and more stylised, Tsukumo sounds like it is playing in that same lane.
Why this matters for anime fans here
For Malaysia and SEA, Star Wars: Visions has always been interesting because it sits right between two fandoms: the global Star Wars crowd and the anime/manga audience. A lot of us may not be deep into every Star Wars comic timeline, but give us a strong creator team, a clean premise, and some anime DNA? Okay lah, now we’re listening.
The Visions project started as an anthology concept, letting different animation studios tell standalone Star Wars stories with their own flavour. Volume 3 debuted on Disney+ last October and featured nine shorts from nine Japanese animation studios. It also continued threads from three Volume 1 shorts: “The Duel,” “Village Bride,” and “The Ninth Jedi.”
Before that, Volume 2 launched on Disney+ on May 4, 2023, which is Star Wars Day. Unlike the first volume’s Japan-focused lineup, Volume 2 went global with studios from countries including Japan, India, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Chile, France, South Africa, South Korea, and the United States.
That wider approach is exactly why Visions has become one of the more exciting Star Wars side projects. It does not feel trapped by the usual franchise formula. For anime fans, it is a chance to see creators treat Star Wars as a playground instead of a museum.
Strong creators behind it
Shimizu and Shimoguchi are not random names either. The duo are known for Linebarrels of Iron and their Ultraman manga.
Linebarrels of Iron began in 2005 in Akita Shoten’s Champion RED magazine and ended in April 2014, with 25 volumes published. It also received a 24-episode anime adaptation in 2008, later released in North America by FUNimation Entertainment in 2010.
Their Ultraman manga, based on Tsuburaya Production’s iconic live-action hero, launched in Monthly Hero’s magazine in 2011. Hero’s Inc. published the manga’s 22nd volume on November 25, and Viz Media is also releasing that series in English. The manga inspired a 3D CG anime from Kenji Kamiyama, Shinji Aramaki, and Production I.G, which premiered globally on Netflix in April 2019 and later received second and third seasons.
So yes, Tsukumo has a team with proper sci-fi action credentials behind it. If they bring that sleek Ultraman-style intensity into Star Wars, this could be one of the more interesting manga launches tied to the franchise.
Source: Anime News Network