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If the upcoming Lilo & Stitch live-action remake has you wanting to revisit the series, but you’ve already seen the original animated movie and its TV series spinoffs enough times, you might want to check out the official Lilo & Stitch manga series where Stitch winds up in feudal Japan and befriends and brutal samurai warlord. Yes, it’s a real thing, and you can grab the entire series with the Stitch and the Samurai: The Complete Collection, which is on sale for $20.45 (was $22) at Amazon.
$20.45 (was $22)
Stitch and the Samurai is an official manga series by Hiroto Wada set in an alternate plotline where Stitch crash-lands in Sengoku-era Japan instead of modern-day Hawaii. The warlord Lord Yamato discovers Stitch and believes him to be a “blue tanuki” he can deploy in battle–only for the cute alien to slowly soften the samurai’s stoic disposition. The full series is now available in a single 564-page hardcover omnibus, Stitch and the Samurai: The Complete Collection, for $20.45 (was $22). The series was previously published in three separate volumes, which are also available. Buying the paperback volumes separately is more expensive than the omnibus version, but their smaller format makes them much easier on your hands.
Surprisingly, Stitch and the Samurai isn’t the only Lilo and Stitch manga. The Stitch manga, illustrated by Yumi Tsukurino, sees the adorable superweapon travel to a Japanese island near Okinawa, where he befriends a young girl named Yuna who excels at karate, and wacky hijinks ensue. You can pick up the full series in a 352-page omnibus collection for just $12 (was $15). The two original separate volumes are also available for purchase. The series was followed up by two sequels, Best Friends Forever and the upcoming Best Food Forever. There’s also the Disney manga series Magical Dance, which features Stitch and a few other characters from the House of Mouse helping aspiring performer Rin to realize her dream of becoming a dancer.
More Lilo & Stitch Manga
Over in the US, there have been quite a few Stitch graphic novels published as well. Last year saw the release of a new adventure set after the first film, written by one of the best talents to ever work on Marvel’s Incredible Hulk, Greg Pak, and illustrated in vivid detail by Giulia Giacomino. This is a nice 104-page graphic novel for kids that you can pick up for $11.18 (was $13) and it follows Stitch as he takes on evil aliens and giant robots powered by his own DNA. The second volume is also out soon on July 8, and this storyline sees Lilo recruited by the Galactic Federation to be their go-to expert for animal control.
On the prose side, there are also the kid-friendly books in the Agent Stitch book series. Written by Steve Behling and featuring illustrations by Arianna Rhea, these books revolve around Stitch investigating paranormal activities on Earth on behalf of the Galactic Federation. The first book sees Stitch travel to Paris to uncover the disappearance of one of the federation’s best operatives, Cobra Bubbles, and rumors of snail-like aliens known as Snailiens, and the second book sees Stitch land in New York City to solve a missing persons case involving shape-shifting aliens. Book three shifts the action to Korea as Stitch teams up with K-Pop idols to aliens operating in the city of Seoul.
$41
As much fun as Lilo and Stitch’s expanded adventures are, nothing beats the animated source material. Over 20 years later, Lilo and Stitch still holds up as one of Disney’s best traditionally animated films, and you can grab it on 4K Blu-ray for $41. This edition includes 4K, Blu-ray, and digital download versions of the movie, plus a bunch of bonus features like a lesson on how to do a Hula dance, music videos, audio commentary, featurettes, and the cheeky promotional materials where Stitch “invaded” other Disney movies.
Disney also released manga based on its Nightmare Before Christmas film, so if you’d like a creepy tour of that movie in print format, you can pick this up right now. The 176-page full-color edition is available for $16 (was $20) through Amazon, and there’s also the deluxe Collector’s Edition that combines the entire Zero’s Journey series into one full-color book. This one was originally priced at 450 when it was first released, but it’s on sale for 50% off currently.
