COSMOS — the runner-up overshadowed by Ichi the Witch

An unusual story of aliens, lies and insurance

The premise of COSMOS is one of those ideas that sounds almost too strange to work.

Its protagonist, Kaede Mizumori, has a very particular ability: he can smell when someone is lying.

He doesn’t necessarily know why they’re lying. He just knows that they are. And that has left him rather detached from the people around him.

Then he meets Rin Homura, a mysterious girl working for an organisation called COSMOS: an insurance company specialising in extraterrestrials.

In Tamura’s world, aliens live on Earth. They have problems, cause accidents, suffer damage, commit fraud, lose family members and carry financial responsibilities.

Someone has to deal with all of that, right?

The publisher itself describes the series as an “SF human drama” built around aliens and insurance investigations.

And this is where COSMOS gets interesting. It doesn’t simply use aliens as monsters or enemies. It uses them as a mirror.

A way to explore lies, family, identity, loneliness, loss, money and living alongside one another.

The science fiction is always there, but the heart of the story remains deeply human.

COSMOS comes from the creator of Beelzebub

Ryuhei Tamura is hardly a newcomer.

He is best known for Beelzebub, which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump, reached 28 volumes and received a 60-episode anime adaptation.

COSMOS, however, comes from a very different setting. It runs in Sunday GX, Shogakukan’s monthly magazine.

And it made quite an entrance. The May 2023 issue, released on 19 April 2023, featured:

• COSMOS on the cover;
• opening colour pages;
• an 80-page first chapter.

You can feel the change of pace. To my eye, Tamura has more room for his artwork, atmosphere, backgrounds and quieter, more contemplative scenes than under the weekly pressure of Jump.

The result feels like a manga from a second phase of his career. He isn’t trying to recreate Beelzebub. This is something more measured and mature.

Then comes volume 1

The first Japanese volume of COSMOS went on sale on 17 November 2023.

And its original obi carried a huge name: Tite Kubo, the creator of BLEACH.

His message was simple and powerful. To paraphrase the original comment:

“The first two pages are all you need to know it works.”

That obi immediately became part of volume 1’s original identity. More than just another advertising band.

It captures one specific moment: COSMOS was still a young series, and one of the biggest manga creators of recent decades had chosen to put his name behind it.

If you’re comparing dates, here’s a detail worth knowing: the photographed colophon below gives 22 November 2023, with the wording 初版第1刷発行 — first edition, first printing. That differs from the publisher’s commercial release date. You’ll find both in the volume dossier.

And Kubo isn’t the only one

Later volumes brought more huge names:

• Kazuhiro Fujita — Ushio and Tora;
• Hiromu Arakawa — Fullmetal Alchemist;
• Rumiko Takahashi — Inuyasha, Ranma.

Shogakukan kept building this sequence of endorsements as the series grew, as its announcement for volume 6 explains.

That doesn’t automatically make the manga a masterpiece. But it’s hard to ignore the fact that so many major creators have chosen to associate their names with a relatively young series.

The numbers hold up, too

In February 2026, COSMOS passed 900,000 copies in cumulative circulation, including print and digital.

With volume 9, released on 18 June 2026, the official listing announced that the series had passed 1.4 million copies worldwide.

And that growth has come alongside the awards:

• 2024 — fifth at the Next Manga Awards, print comics category;
• 2025 — second at the Next Manga Awards, behind Madan no Ichi;
• 2026 — one of the Shogakukan Manga Award winners.

There’s one more interesting detail: as of 11 October 2026, we found no anime adaptation announcement in the official sources we checked.

That means this growth is being built on the strength of the manga itself. And that matters.

Final thoughts

COSMOS is in an interesting position. It’s no longer unknown.

It already has major awards. It already has impressive circulation. It already has recognition from some enormous names.

Yet it’s still a relatively young series.

That’s exactly why, in my view, a Japanese first printing of volume 1 with the original Tite Kubo obi, preferably sealed, is one of the most interesting pieces to pick up if you want to start collecting this series.

When you look for your copy, let the details do the talking: the obi, the colophon and the condition. Sealing alone doesn’t establish a first printing. This volume’s appeal begins with the history it records.