It seems that Titan Manga and Newtype will be bringing the long-running mech manga The Five Star Stories Westward at the start of next year.
According to a panel at this year’s Anime Expo, the manga will be published in English starting in March 2026.
The Five Star Stories is arguably one of the most popular modern manga series ever made and has been serialized in Newtype magazine since 1986.
The manga is also still ongoing and doesn’t look like it will be finishing anytime soon either.
Created by renowned mecha designer Mamoru Nagano, The Five Star Stories is an immense tale spanning billions of years and makes Frank Herbert’s Dune seem like a quaint bedtime story.
Set in the Joker star cluster, which comprises five stars (hence the manga’s title), the story deals with ancient warring houses and kingdoms using immense mecha known as mortar headds.
Due to the complexity of these giant mecha, they require two pilots. The first being a headdliner, which is equivalent to a knight but with much faster reflexes, and the second being an artificial humanoid known as a fatima, who controls most of the mecha’s movement and general operation.
In a way, the headdliner is the “conscious” pilot, with the fatima acting as the mortar headds unconscious.
As most of the fatimas tend to be women, much of the story also deals with the romance and bonding they have with their respective headdliners. With some mortar heads, such as Vatshu, having their fatima pick the most suitable headliner.
A good while back, Nagano had a big chunk of the manga translated into English, but he wasn’t entirely happy with the results.
He explained that when I interviewed him, the type of language used in Japanese was quite complex and bespoke and required a very diligent form of translation.
It seems that Titan Manga and Newtype have managed to convince Nagano that they are up to the task, which is a sizeable one as The Five Star Stories is a genuinely immense and highly complicated manga series.
In any case, The Five Star Stories is one of the cultural heirlooms of manga, and I am both glad and wary about how its release will be handled.
Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
