Manchuria Opium Squad
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
;Isamu HigataPublication
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.