New Series From Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Creator Makes History With a First-Ever Milestone Achievement

Summary No/Name is the first European-created manga to be serialized on MANGA Plus and Shonen Jump+.

The series depicts a dystopian world where names determine power, engaging readers worldwide.

No/Name brings unique themes and political commentary, appealing to global manga lovers.

For anime fans who have not yet had the fortune to watch Studio Trigger's Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime, its principal creator and writer, Rafal Jaki, has hit a new milestone with his recent manga project, No/Name. The series was originally uploaded to the MANGA Plus Creators portal, allowing contributors worldwide to submit their envisioned manga series.

Rafal Jaki's (and his artist co-creator, MACHINE GAMU) latest achievement is a world-first that is set to shake up the manga world. It is a monumental achievement in and of itself, with No/Name being the first Western-created manga to get serialized on the main MANGA Plus and Shonen Jump+ platforms.

No/Name was first published on the MANGA Plus Creators platform on September 8, 2023, appearing as a one-shot while eventually amassing an incredible viewership in less than a year. The series depicts a sci-fi dystopia where names determine one's power and role in society, and a battle quickly ensues over the identity of a baby child born from horrific circumstances to a reprehensible, controlling father. Now readers can look forward to regular new installments of the No/Name manga by Rafal Jaki and MACHINE GAMU.

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No/Name Is the First Series by Western Creators on MANGA Plus

A Huge Achievement for Rafal Jaki and MACHINE GAMU

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No/Name is a stellar series, overlapping with common seinen manga themes, such as a dystopian sci-fi world, taboo subjects, and intense political commentary.

First published in Fall 2023, No/Name recently released a bundled version of its first and second chapters on MANGA Plus' main website and Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ digital publication. This means that No/Name is the first Western-created manga to achieve this. It doesn't get any bigger than Shueisha, as the series is set to release biweekly chapters, with its next chapter launching on August 13, 2024. This continues a recent trend of unorthodox developments within otherwise-entrenched industries, such as Japan's The Reason for the Twin Lady's Disguise webtoon hitting 90 million views.

No/Name is a stellar series, overlapping with common seinen manga themes, such as a dystopian sci-fi world, taboo subjects, and intense political commentary. It tackles tough social issues with the same poignancy and narrative style that turned heads for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, yet this is an entirely different series with vastly unusual gimmicks at play. This news is exciting for aspiring Western manga creators and readers craving something bold, new, and original to read on the platform.

Hot New European Manga Signals Heightened Potential for Global Market

Manga Already Outsells American Comics, Now Western Creators Can Flock to the Medium

MANGA Plus is a service intended for worldwide audiences, with the Creators initiative allowing writers and artists to contribute to its output and engage readers even further. It's a free platform, albeit with some caveats for larger serialized titles and completed series, which may require a subscription to enjoy every chapter. But this is no issue for new series like No/Name, with the manga already amassing a hundred thousand views in two days, with readers around the globe, including, strikingly, on the Shonen Jump+ app in Japan.

MANGA Plus Creators has proven its value with this development, rewarding a brilliant creative collaboration with an enticing incentive. The clearest indicator of its intent to drive new content is in its Monthly Awards, where Bronze, Silver, and Gold awards get published in the mainline MANGA Plus library. Unsurprisingly, No/Name won the Gold award after publishing its first chapter in September 2023, meaning a tidy cash prize and an incredible opportunity to be serialized by the largest manga publisher in the world. It means the global manga market isn't just interested in buying and contributing to the product.

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Fans Will Love the No/Name Manga

Rafal Jaki is certainly not new to the entertainment industry, being the former business development director at CD PROJEKT RED, the developers of the hugely successful Witcher games and of Cyberpunk 2077. Jaki also wrote a one-shot manga set in the Witcher universe, The Witcher: Ronin, but having the biggest manga publisher in Japan serialize his work must feel like a whole new achievement.

For those taking a detour out of Night City, No/Name offers a similarly bleak look at a sci-fi future where names bestow uncanny powers, including transformation, summoning creatures, and darkly powerful mind control abilities. Instead of the hopeless socioeconomic conditions driving others to crime, like in 2023's anime of the year Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, people are strictly assigned only certain groups of names to determine their future roles. This takes something as fundamental as a parent's privilege to name their child and turns it into a government affair, twisting it to the extreme in the No/Name manga.

The central source of intrigue early in the plot of No/Name is in how Bodil uses his name power or NP to effectively command other humans to do his bidding, including having Kára, his wife, unwillingly get pregnant and carry their child to term. With Ralf and Ula, two investigators on Bodil's case, No/Name follows an increasingly complex plot as they decide whether the system they uphold is above being influenced by horrific villains.

These themes aren't unique to Western manga creators, yet the premise of Rafal Jaki and MACHINE GAMU's series being available with new chapters biweekly is an enticing prospect. Readers and creators alike should look forward to new biweekly chapters of No/Name every Tuesday on MANGA Plus as a signal of what's to come for the industry.