Fantagraphics Launches Takumigraphics Imprint With Yudori’s Lovers of the Empire

Fantagraphics is launching Takumigraphics, a new imprint dedicated to East Asian comics, with Yudori’s Lovers of the Empire Volume 1 as its first release. The 224-page full-color hardcover was released on August 18.

The new series comes from the South Korean cartoonist behind Raging Clouds and is planned as a trilogy. Set in 1920s Korea during the Japanese colonial period, Lovers of the Empire follows two teenagers from different social backgrounds while combining romance with themes of class, colonialism and cultural change.

Arisa Jo is the daughter of a wealthy merchant living in Gyeongsung, the contemporary name for Seoul under Japanese rule. Influenced by Western fashion and modern values, she is paired with Jun Seomoon, a traditionally minded young man from the countryside, after Arisa’s father assigns him to escort her to the city. Their conflicting personalities gradually develop into a relationship against the political and social changes surrounding them.

Check out some preview pages below:

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Takumigraphics will serve as Fantagraphics’ dedicated imprint for manga, manhwa, manhua and other comics from East Asia. According to associate publisher Eric Reynolds, the line is intended to bring the publisher’s growing selection of works from Japan, South Korea, China and elsewhere under a single imprint.

Fantagraphics has also listed several upcoming Takumigraphics releases for 2026:

• On Their Frontlines: The Lives of Japanese War Brides by Marina Lisa Komiya, August
• Wandering Son by Takako Shimura, September
• Wandering Cat’s Cage by Akane Torikai, October
• The Ultra Power Mongol Invasion by Shintaro Kago, November

Source: Press Release