NakiNagi

NakiNagi
First tankōbon volume cover
ナキナギ
GenreRomantic comedy
Manga
Written byKeigo Maki
Published byKodansha
English publisher
ImprintShōnen Magazine Comics
MagazineMagazine Pocket
Original runApril 2, 2025 – January 28, 2026
Volumes3

NakiNagi (ナキナギ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Keigo Maki. It was serialized on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket service from April 2025 to January 2026, with its chapters being compiled into three volumes as of December 2025.

Plot

Nakika and Nagisa are two best friends studying at the same school. While Nagisa is a cheerful and friendly human, Nakika is actually a sea witch who came to the surface to understand humans and their emotions. Nagisa is in love with her classmate Mozaki and wants to get closer to him, but has lacked opportunities to do so. Nakika, being friends with Nagisa and wanting to help her, uses her powers to help Nagisa, using this as her opportunity to understand humans better.

Characters

Nakika (ナキカ, Nakika)
A student and Nagisa's best friend. She is actually a witch who is studying at a human school to understand them better. She has a cool personality. She sometimes uses her powers to help Nagisa get closer to Mozaki. Among her powers is the ability to manifest octopus-like tentacles.
Nagisa (汀)
Nakika's best friend and a cheerful student. She has feelings for their classmate Mozaki. However, she also deeply cares about Nakika.
Mozaki (茂崎)
Nagisa and Nakika's classmate, whom Nagisa has feelings for.

Development

Keigo Maki originally developed the idea for the series while working on his previous series Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie. Nakika was inspired by a doodle of a girl with an octopus tail that he posted on Twitter, with him fleshing out the story and characters as he went on. The original concept involved a male and female lead duo, but as he felt that this angle did not work, he made the second main character a female instead, becoming the basis for Nagisa. He went with a sea theme for the series, with Nakika being inspired by octopuses and Nagisa being inspired by dolphins, with the premise being inspired by his own fear of sea creatures.[1]

In 2024, Maki released a one-shot titled SeaWITCH on the Magazine Pocket service; while the two main characters were also named Nakika and Nagisa, the two are otherwise unrelated, featuring different premises and being set in different universes. The series' architecture and themes were inspired by Denmark, given its association with The Little Mermaid, with Frederiksborg Castle being cited as an inspiration. Maki originally planned to visit Kiribati for research, knowing that its mythology included the octopus-like deity Na Kika, which served as the inspiration for Nakika's name, but gave up due to logistical reasons: he instead visited Kohama Island in Okinawa.[1]

Maki aimed for the series to have a somewhat dark theme, being inspired by the idea of how sea creatures can appear friendly but can also be deadly. The contrast between the cheerful Nagisa and the cool, kuudere Nakika was meant to reflect this. Nakika was originally conceived as a tsundere and Nagisa as a male character with a dark past, but as Nakika was already the "dark" character, Nagisa was revised to be a cheerful girl to contrast with her.[1]

Publication

The series is written and illustrated by Keigo Maki, who previously serialized the manga Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie. It was serialized on Kodansha's Magazine Pocket online service from April 2, 2025,[2] to January 28, 2026.[3] It received a simultaneous English release on Kodansha's K Manga service.[4] The first tankōbon volume was released on July 9, 2025;[5][6] three volumes have been released as of December 9, 2025.[7] The series is licensed in English by Kodansha USA.[8]

No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1July 9, 2025[6]978-4-06-540011-1November 17, 2026[9]979-8-88-877948-4
2October 9, 2025[10]978-4-06-540705-9——
3December 9, 2025[7]978-4-06-541898-7——
4April 9, 2026[11]978-4-06-543317-1——
5April 9, 2026[12]978-4-06-543451-2——

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c 『可愛いだけじゃない式守さん』から２年――新連載も“優しさ”あふれる物語に！ 『ナキナギ』真木蛍五先生インタビュー (in Japanese). Kodansha. July 9, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  2. ^ 『式守さん』作者の新連載開始 『ナキナギ』見守りコメディ (in Japanese). Oricon. April 2, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  3. ^ Tai, Anita (January 28, 2026). "Keigo Maki's NakiNagi Manga Ends". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  4. ^ Mateo, Alex (April 1, 2025). "K Manga Adds Keigo Maki's NakiNagi Manga as Simulpub". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  5. ^ 恋する女子とクーデレ魔女、「式守さん」の真木蛍五が描く見守りコメディ「ナキナギ」. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 9, 2025. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  6. ^ a b ナキナギ（１） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  7. ^ a b ナキナギ（３） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  8. ^ Mateo, Alex (January 8, 2026). "Kodansha USA Licenses AIDOL, NakiNagi, Say Hello to Mr. Wallaby! Manga". Anime News Network. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  9. ^ "NakiNagi 1". Penguin Random House. Retrieved March 5, 2026.
  10. ^ ナキナギ（２） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  11. ^ ナキナギ（４） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved March 5, 2026.
  12. ^ ナキナギ（５） (in Japanese). Kodansha. Retrieved March 5, 2026.
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