The Japanese version of the series ended back in 2021.
Manga creator Yayū Murata has announced on his Instagram account that he is launching a Kickstarter campaign to fund the English version of his manga “Across the Strange Edge” (Okashiki Sekai no Kyōkaisen). The project will launch on 1 April. If it’s successful, then Murata plans to release the manga’s first volume’s physical copies in English.
Across the Strange Edge Kickstarter details
As to why he launched the Kickstarter for the English version, Murata writes:
Set in Japan, it tells a story about human connection and the boundary between the visible and invisible worlds.
I came to feel that I wanted to share this story with readers beyond language and national borders,
which led me to pursue the creation of an English edition.However, publishing a translated edition through traditional publishers proved difficult due to contractual limitations and production costs.
After carefully and amicably resolving the rights situation, I decided to take on the challenge of translating and publishing the work independently.Through this project,
I hope it can become one small step toward making Japanese manga more freely accessible to readers around the world.
The Kickstarter also describes the story of the manga as:
Misuzu has lived her life without ever knowing what a true “friend” is.
After losing her mother at a young age and being raised by a father who was constantly busy, she grew up with little emotional expression and found it difficult to connect deeply with others.
Her classmate Chizuru , bright and energetic by nature, is isolated for a different reason—
she can see beings that do not belong to this world, a trait that makes people keep their distance.Their paths draw closer on the night of a summer festival, after an unsettling supernatural incident.
When Misuzu is nearly tricked out of money by her classmates, Chizuru appears and delivers a warning from the spirit lingering behind Misuzu.
From that strange encounter, the distance between the two girls begins to shrink.
As they spend more time together, they slowly share the “worlds” they each live in,
and within the brief span of that summer, they quietly—but unmistakably—form a bond that feels special.
But the closer they become, the more they step toward a boundary they were never meant to cross.
And soon, the two worlds they belong to begin quietly pulling them apart.
A line between two irreconcilable realms.
How far can one go for a friend, before crossing it?A quiet, bittersweet tale of two girls and the summer that changes them..
Okashiki Sekai no Kyōkaisen was originally published as a one-shot in Shogakukan’s Manga ONE platform. After winning an award, it was serialised on the same platform in 2020. The series ended the following year and Shogakukan shipped the fifth and final volume of the manga in August 2021.
Murata’s other works include: Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru (My Wife Will Become an Elementary School Student), Hatsukoi Aite no Kimi wa Dare?, and Unjō ni Utaite, Kimi wo Matsu (I’m Singing Above the Cloud, Waiting for You). My Wife Will Become an Elementary School Student was also adapted into an anime in 2024.