Manchuria Opium Squad

is a Japanese manga series written by and illustrated by . It was serialized on Kodansha's Comic Days app from April 2020 to September 2021, when it was transferred to Weekly Young Magazine.

Plot

In the puppet state of Manchukuo during the Second Sino-Japanese War, a young man named Isamu Higata is sent to serve the Imperial Japanese Army's Kwantung branch. After his mother contracts plague, he utilizes botanical and chemical knowledge to make money from producing opioids, slipping into a deeper conspiracy where he encounters various gang members and oppressive government officials.

Characters

Originally a soldier for the Kwantung Army, Isamu becomes the breadwinner of his mother and two siblings. After his mother catches the plague, Isamu becomes a manufacturer of opium to afford medicine. Isamu has extensive knowledge on chemistry and plants, which gives him the skills to create pure opium. After the death of his mother, Isamu vows to give his siblings a better life. Isamu befriends Li Hua, a former member of the Green Gang, and begins his infiltration of the opium trade in Manchuria. After some obstacles and hardships, Isamu's morals change for the worse. His opium causes an increase in addiction and death, which Isamu claims is a necessary cost for a better life. Eventually, Isamu becomes the Emperor of the criminal underworld, a complete change to the man he was in the past.

Publication

Written by and illustrated by , Manchuria Opium Squad started on Kodansha's app Comic Days on April 9, 2020. Its 64th and latest chapter on the platform was published on September 9, 2021, and the series was transferred to Weekly Young Magazine on September 18 of the same year. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first volume was released on August 11, 2020. As of November 6, 2025, 22 volumes have been released.

In October 2025, it was announced that the manga would switch to an irregular release schedule out of consideration for Shikako's health. On December 22, 2025, the manga editors announced that Shikako died on November 8 due to a choroidal melanoma. The illustrator wanted someone to complete the series in their place, and the Young Magazine staff stated they will respect their wishes, adding that plans to find a replacement artist were undetermined at the time of the announcement.

Kodansha publishes the series digitally in English on its K Manga service. Kodansha USA started publishing the volumes digitally on September 10, 2024.

Volumes

Reception

The manga was nominated for the 47th Kodansha Manga Award in the general category in 2023. It was also nominated for the 70th Shogakukan Manga Award in 2024.

References

External links