Gengoroh Tagame’s Fish and Water Manga Heads to English

Manga artist Gengoroh Tagame announced on Bluesky this week that Pantheon, part of Penguin Random House, will release his manga Fish and Water in English. Both physical and digital editions are set for June 23.

Fish and Water comes from the creator of acclaimed works like My Brother’s Husband and Our Colors. It tells the gentle, unlikely love story of two men who consider themselves straight friends, Akira, a sales administrator, and Koji, a freelance writer who loves to cook.

After meeting at a mutual friend’s wedding, the two grow close. When Akira is given a case of fresh cabbage he has no idea what to do with, he offers it to Koji, and amid the loneliness of pandemic era shutdowns, that simple gesture becomes an excuse to start spending time at Koji’s home.

As they relax into each other’s company, the two begin to wonder whether what they share is really just friendship. Tagame originally ran the series on Futabasha’s Web Action from 2022 to 2023 after an earlier one shot.

Tagame is an internationally recognized creator, with My Brother’s Husband earning honors that include a nomination at the Angoulême festival and a Japan Media Arts Festival award, so this new English release is a welcome addition.

My take: Tagame has such a tender, thoughtful touch with stories about connection, and a quiet romance that grows from a box of cabbage is wonderfully human. I am really looking forward to this one.