Manga Mavericks x NIUHI: A New Era for Indie Manga
The landscape of the manga industry is always changing – even if the mainstream doesn’t always notice. That’s why I’m glad that NIUHI is here to provide new inroads for independent creators, and that’s exactly what they’re doing with their new business partners, Manga Mavericks.
Manga Mavericks began life as a podcast for the site allcomic.com back in 2016 by Siddarth Gupta and his friend Colton, while Siddarth’s brother Varun collaborated occasionally and handled the business side of things. The podcast evolved and grew in popularity, and the Gupta brothers’ love of manga only grew with it. Through visiting Japanese conventions and viewing independent artists’ work on social media, the Gupta brothers realized there was an entire independent manga space that had, for the most part, gone untouched by the American market. And so, in April 2025, Siddarth and Varun Gupta launched Manga Mavericks Books (MMB), an independent localization and publishing house for manga.
MMB stands out among the larger manga publishers because they take chances that the others won’t. Not only are the mangaka that MMB publish independent, but they also eschew traditional publication demands, like volume length. This is something I didn’t realize until now: manga published in the United States almost always have to reach a 200-page minimum to even be considered for acquisition. This hard limit makes it impossible for one-shots or shorter length series to get a foothold here in America. Thankfully, all that is changing.
In March, the online manga platform NIUHI announced their partnership with Manga Mavericks Books for online distribution for several of their titles. At time of writing, NIUHI is hosting seven MMB titles, all produced by Japanese mangaka: ALTERNATIVE by Chiaki Yagura, BONDS by ZENZO, Great Metal God by Iwakuni Kogyo, First Time in Taiwan: A Delicious Adventure by Muta Yuki, Princess Da Huang & Other Tales by Ohtori, Path from Tanuki Temple by Shinkuro Koma, and Zigoku's Foreman by 9banta.
ALTERNATIVE follows a young woman who has been struggling to make her mark as an artist, wondering if she’s been living life to the fullest. Chiaki Yagura’s meditative prose and love of music shines through in this short story.
BONDS adapts a portion of the famous epic Journey to the West with its own unique twists and turns. ZENZO’s unique art and distinctive characterization brings the old-world formula back in an exciting new way.
Great Metal God is a largely wordless story about a metal giant arriving on earth, and the fallout that comes with it. Iwakuni Yogyo’s immaculate artwork is in full command here, and the sense of scale and visual storytelling is excellent. As a fan of Kaiju, this title is an easy standout for me.
First Time in Taiwan: A Delicious Adventure is a cute, creative nonfiction manga about the author’s culinary tour through the neighboring country of Taiwan. Muta Yuki’s animal characters and the loving depictions of local cuisine make this an especially cozy read.
Princess Da Huang & Other Tales is a manga anthology focusing on people interacting with various figures and creatures from Asian folklore. The attention to historic detail and attractive art style immediately draws the eye to the page.
Path from Tanuki Temple follows a Tanuki princess, disguised as a human, who leaves her hometown to travel with a wandering dancer. Shinkuro Koma’s full-color manga (a rarity for the medium) pays homage to series from the 1960s and 70s, with large eyes, extremely expressive characters and a dedication to traditional Japanese culture. This is a multi-volume series, and I’m very interested to see where these quirky characters go next.
Zigoku’s Foreman centers on a man who went to Hell, and became foreman of a construction crew there. 9Banta’s work has the distinction of being not only one of the few Manga Mavericks Books titles to have multiple volumes, but it’s also unique in how it presents itself. What I mean by that is that Zigoku’s Foreman is part manga, part artbook, part light novel. Some parts of the story are told in traditional written prose, while others are in comic form. Additionally, the book has pages toward the front dedicated to behind-the-scenes character design work done by 9Banta for the series. I would say that for sheer variety of content alone, Zigoku’s Foreman is one of the most unique manga I’ve ever seen.
All of these wildly different manga have been united by Manga Mavericks Books, and now given wider distribution thanks to our friends at NIUHI. Every single one of these titles can be read in English or their original Japanese on NIUHI’s website, and purchased for less than half the cost of a new manga volume. And, for those of you who prefer physical media, print copies of MMB’s manga can be purchased through their online store.
Every day, I’m more and more grateful that a platform like NIUHI exists, to bring new stories to people who didn’t even know they wanted them. Who knows how many other stories are out there, just waiting to be experienced? This is only the beginning of what I hope to be a long, beautiful partnership between NIUHI and Manga Mavericks Books. When these two work together, the possibilities seem endless.
