It’s a wonderful time to be a fan of Osamu Tezuka’s work. Following the recent announcement of a new Black Jack Deluxe Edition, Kodansha is giving English readers another reason to celebrate: a stunning deluxe edition of the God of Manga’s magnum opus, Phoenix, arriving in Spring 2027.
First announced at Kodansha’s panel at Anime Expo 2026, Osamu Tezuka’s manga masterpiece Phoenix was a highlight of the publisher’s Spring 2027 licensing lineup. The deluxe edition’s first volume collects the first two stories in publication order—’Dawn’ and ‘Future’—and is presented in a large trim size with a silkscreen-printed and gold foil-stamped cloth cover, priced at $49.99. It will be released on March 16th, 2027 and is available to pre-order on Amazon.
It features fully restored art, color pages recovered from the original serialization, and other material never before presented in any English edition, totaling 670 pages of manga and bonus content. It also includes brand-new introductions by translator and author Frederik L. Schodt (Manga! Manga!) and Hugo Award finalist Dr. Ada Palmer (Too Like the Lightning).
This new edition from Kodansha also features the acclaimed original translation, commissioned during Tezuka’s lifetime by his production company, from Dadakai—a collective consisting of Jared Cook, Shinji Sakamoto, and Frederik L. Schodt—for which they were made the inaugural inductees of the American Manga Awards Hall of Fame. This translation was previously published by Viz Media from 2002-2008, but has been out of print, both Schodt and Cook have returned to help update the translations for this edition.
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The art draws on a new restoration published in Japan in 2020, intended to replicate the visuals of Phoenix precisely as it would have appeared to Japanese readers experiencing it for the first time in COM, Tezuka’s seinen manga magazine. This edition features recreations of two–, three–, and four-color art treatments that were forgotten for decades, with chapter title pages and new lettering never seen before, wrapped in a cloth cover with screenprinted and foil-stamped trade dress.
Phoenix (火の鳥, Hi no Tori) was written and illustrated by Osamu Tezuka. Widely regarded as his life’s work and magnum opus, the series consists of 12 parts. Each tells a self-contained story set in a different historical era, with the narrative shifting back and forth between the distant past (prehistoric times) and the far future. Tezuka worked on Phoenix for over three decades, but the epic remained unfinished at the time of his death in 1989.
It previously received an English release from Viz Media between 2002 and 2008 (now long out of print). Kodansha’s new deluxe edition marks a welcome return with fully restored artwork, larger trim size, and additional material never before available in English.
Several arcs have been adapted into anime, including theatrical films and OVAs such as Phoenix: Chapter of Dawn, Yamato Chapter, Space Chapter, and Karma Chapter. A 13-episode TV anime series aired in 2004, and the Dawn arc also received a 1978 live-action film (with animated sequences). The 2007 tv anime adaptation is available to watch for a limited time on TUBI, both English-subtitled and English Dubbed.
Source: Press Release
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