Titan Manga
Volume One releasing July 7, 2026
and Two on Oct 6, 2026
Thankfully, the Five Star Stories manga is still going strong in Japan. Even though it has effectively reinvented itself after Volume 12 of the tankōbon release, most people have rolled with the changes. While purists may take issue with the work being referred to as Gothicmade, the shift at least establishes a foundation for where future stories are headed. The scope feels less like a simple continuation and more like a reframing, one where the saga leans into legacy rather than immediate battlefield drama.
Instead of diving into a massive editorial on the changes, I’ll simply say this, as long as sales remain strong, I’m hopeful Titan Books’ new label stays committed to republishing the full Toypress run up to that volume, where it never saw a translation for the English-speaking market, and continues onward into the expanded era of the story. With a possible release of three volumes per year similar to the previous run, it won’t take long to catch up! To note, the English edition was further separated into smaller chapter releases. There are 26 books which cover Japanese Volumes 1 through 10. Volume 11 and onward have yet to be translated.
The English re-release is slated for summer, with Volume One and Two (Amazon USA links) already available to preorder ahead of its July 7, 2026 launch. For readers unfamiliar with the premise, the UK-based publisher released this teaser description:
Set in the vast and tumultuous Joker Star Cluster, this series brings together ancient empires, genetic engineering, and towering mechs known as Mortar Headds, piloted by elite warriors and their genetically engineered companions, the Fatimas. In Vol. 1, we meet Amaterasu, the immortal emperor of the Grees Kingdom, and his destined bride, Lachesis, as they navigate a world of intrigue, warfare, and forbidden power. As interstellar conflict rages, the stage is set for a war that could determine the fate of the galaxy.
Mamoru Nagano launched his science-fantasy epic in Kadokawa’s Newtype magazine in 1986, though the series has run intermittently across the decades. To mark the manga’s 25th anniversary in 2011, Kadokawa reissued the existing volumes in a “Repeat” edition that included previously unpublished art. The manga entered hiatus in 2006 and later resumed in the magazine’s May 2013 issue, following the theatrical release of Gothicmade. Sadly, that film is unlikely to ever see home video release, as Nagano has remained firm in his stance that it was created exclusively for the cinema experience.
Where things become especially fascinating is how the narrative was retrofitted to align with this expanded vision. Amateretsu’s era is no longer framed as the immediate present of the story, it’s treated as foundational history. Characters once followed in real time are elevated into near-mythic figures, respected more than worshipped, but honoured as pillars whose actions shaped entire epochs. Some historians may well want to equate the transition as similar to the dynastic times of the Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt, where statues and tributes are a common sight.
This tonal pivot was foreshadowed in the Five Star Stories OAV. By the film’s end, its central figures are framed less as individuals bound to a single planet and more like constellations, observed from above, fixed in symbolic positions no matter the world below them. It’s a cosmic vantage point that mirrors the manga’s later structure. Amaterasu shifts from active protagonist to historical gravity well, a sovereign whose influence is measured not by scenes of conquest but by the political, technological, and genetic legacies that ripple outward through centuries.
The manga’s continuation, which fully resumed compilation releases from 2016 onward, reflects that broadened scope. We see technological evolution across eras. Some designs appear more streamlined, while others depart sharply from Nagano’s earlier Mortar Headd aesthetics, especially with the transition toward the new visual language. Whether these changes feel like natural progression or stylistic heresy is, of course, open to debate among long-time readers.
What’s undeniable is the scale of the worldbuilding. For fans outside Japan, many of whom have only experienced fragments of the saga, it feels long overdue for Five Star Stories to reclaim space in global pop culture conversation. The universe Nagano built is as dense as Frank Herbert’s Dune. Only here, imperial theology and genetic destiny unfold alongside towering biomechanical knights, and history itself is written in chrome, lace, and starlight.
Five Star Stories OVA Trailer
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