Kara Dennison
September 26, 2024 
Before One Piece and Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, the artists behind your favorite manga told stories in short form. Some of those went on to inspire the series you love; others show unexpected sides of these creators’ artistic vision. And now you can peruse them in two new manga anthologies!
VIZ Manga is preparing to release English translations of two collections of manga shorts, and we’re diving into both. What’s good? What’s familiar? What stories will you discover? Read on!
Koyoyaru Gotouge Before Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
The first of our two new manga anthologies hails from Demon Slayer creator Koyoharu Gotouge. This collection is a must-have for fans for the manga or its anime adaptation, as it sheds interesting light on where and how Tanjiro’s story began. Some stories skirt the paranormal; others served as direct inspiration for the series we know and love.
The collection kicks off with Overhunter Hunter, the one-shot that led directly to the creation of Demon Slayer. This story of a one-armed, scarred swordsman singlehandedly hunting down demons changed a lot on its way to becoming a full series, but familiar threads are still there. The standouts of this volume are The Monjushiro Brothers (the start of an intended series about bug-powered siblings) and A Man Called Ribs (about a man with the power to sense emotions and a lot of emotions of his own).
Koyoharu Gotouge Before Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba goes on sale October 8.
Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Before One Piece
If taking on the entirety of the One Piece manga feels daunting, why not start with the second of these newly-translated manga anthologies? Wanted! consists of five one-shots, two of which will be familiar to fans of Oda’s long-running series. Monster, which got an anime adaptation not long ago, is present in these pages, alongside Luffy’s introduction in Romance Dawn.
While there’s not a bad story in the bunch, probably the most intriguing is Future Present from God. When God attempts to annihilate unrepentant pickpocket Branco with a meteorite, he accidentally writes down “Branch” (a local department store) in his Book of Fate with his Pen of Fate. But without the Eraser of Fate, the future can’t be changed. Now Branco has a chance to redeem himself… if he can convince everyone in the department store to evacuate.
Wanted! Eiichiro Oda Before One Piece goes on sale November 12.
Want to read more one shots? Check out Tatsuki Fujimoto Before Chainsaw Man!
