Shosen Co., Ltd. Pre-orders begin on Saturday, October 18th! Shosen Co., Ltd. will publish a doujinshi of Katsunori Asukabe’s latest work, “Fifth 2: Love in a Secret Room”!!

【Shosen Co., Ltd.】 Pre-orders start on Saturday, October 18th! Shosen Publishing will publish Katsunori Asukabe’s latest work, “Fifth 2: Love Behind Closed Doors,” as a doujinshi!! ​
Animate Holdings Co., Ltd. Press Release: October 18, 2025 Asukabe Katsunori, author of “Torture of the Fallen Angel” and “Elimination of the Goth Gods,” has released his latest work, “Fifth 2: Love in a Closed Room,” which will be published as a doujinshi by Shosen Co., Ltd. as the 8th installment of “10 Books with Yorindo Bookstore, Season 2”! Pre-orders start on Saturday, October 18th!! The “Journey to the Middle Ages” series was a huge success, and the re-release project “10 Books with Shosen” and “10 Books with Horindo Bookstore” began with this. This project has been carried out with the cooperation of Shosen Co., Ltd., publishers, and authors to reprint and republish previously published masterpieces that are no longer in stock and are difficult to find. This time, the doujinshi published by Shosen/Horindo Bookstore, Katsunori Asukabe’s latest work, “Fifth 2: Love in a Closed Room,” will be available for pre-sale at Literary Flea Market Tokyo 41. It will then be available for general sale at Shosen/Horindo Bookstore.
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“Fifth” is a short story by Katsunori Asukabe that was published in the “This Mystery is Amazing!” Grand Prize STORIES (Takarajimasha) in 2010. The story was written with a sequel in mind, and the author himself had stated his intentions in interviews, but a long time had passed without any opportunity to release it. However, since the paperback version of the doujinshi “Fifth,” which includes an original short story, was released in December 2024 by Shosen and Horindo Bookstores, it has received a tremendous response from all quarters, and to date, our company alone has sold over 1,800 copies. In August 2025, Katsunori Asukabe released his first new full-length novel in 15 years, “Eradication Goth Gods” (Hayakawa Publishing), marking a complete comeback. Now, Shosen and Horindo Bookstores have teamed up once again to bring you the series’ greatest masterpiece, with the help of illustrator Yasushi Suzuki, who also worked on the cover and illustrations for the previous work. Today, October 18th, marks Asukabe Katsunori’s birthday, and we are finally releasing information about our new work. The title is “Fifth 2: Love Behind Closed Doors.” To celebrate the book’s release, mystery writer Rin Hayasaka sent us a recommendation. “I admire the women Asukabe-sensei writes about. Perhaps Asukabe-sensei’s mysteries are stories that unravel the mysteries of women.” We’ve once again created a paid bonus version featuring the cover illustration, a B6-sized acrylic board, for pre-orders, which was extremely well-received last time. Pre-orders will begin on Saturday, October 18, 2025, at Shosen Online, Horindo Bookstore Takadanobaba, Shosen Grande, and Shosen Book Tower. The in-store release date will be Monday, November 24, 2025. In addition, prior to the in-store release date, the book will be available for pre-sale at the “Horindo Bookstore Takadanobaba Branch” booth at the “Bungaku Flea Market Tokyo 41,” to be held at Tokyo Big Sight on Sunday, November 23, 2025. January 2025. At a basement restaurant in the Takadanobaba FI Building, we confirmed that we shared Asukabe’s desire to “not finish until I see Samurai Gen-san drawn by Yasushi Suzuki,” and decided to make a sequel on the spot. We poured our efforts into expressing the charm of Asukabe Katsunori, which is somehow different from his highly readable full-length novels such as “Annihilation Goth Gods” and his many outstanding short stories that have yet to be published in book form, and which can only be brought out in the “Fifth” series. Please enjoy the world created by these two geniuses. Thanks to everyone’s support, I’ve been able to publish “Fifth 2.” I’m truly grateful. I’ve added a medium-length story to the two previously published short stories, and written around 150 new pages, including an afterword. My new work, “Love in a Closed Room,” is a straightforward doll battle that truly embodies “The Fifth.” Strangely enough, a locked-room murder is also involved, and once you’ve read this story from the protagonist’s perspective, and the events surrounding Ranrei’s own case, you’ll likely hear a strange voice saying something like this: –Do you like Mayaya? A Frankenstein story by everyone’s favorite author, Katsunori Asukabe. The title story, “Love in a Closed Room,” is as destructive as a movie! A masterpiece! I was completely captivated by it. Thank you, tears! The cover illustration is based on Samurai Gen, who is apparently appealing to certain people. This time, I also had the honor of illustrating the main page. It seems there’s also an acrylic plate included as a paid bonus, so please consider it. PS: Although I’m not particularly involved, I also highly recommend Asukabe-sensei’s recent book, “Eradication Goth Gods” (published by Hayakawa Publishing). It’s fantastic. Please consider it the bible of the goth world! [Product information] “Fifth 2: Love Behind Closed Doors” (Author: Katsunori Asukabe, Illustration: Yasushi Suzuki) : Shosen Publishing Co., Ltd. Sales Price: ¥1,500 (tax included) (¥1,364 (base price)) Format: A6 paperback
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/16756/7387/16756-7387-0207fa221bf5debfba741c5c3ee1648d-1240×1748.jpg “Fifth 2: Secret Room Love” Paid Bonus Edition (Includes the book “Fifth 2: Secret Room Love” plus a B6-sized acrylic plate featuring an original cover illustration by Yasushi Suzuki) Sales price: ¥3,700 (tax included) (¥3,364 (base price))
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/16756/7387/16756-7387-f0dbdc50c7d92d22c1cc471917b69949-586×586.jpg Synopsis: A light, gory entertainment novel that combines mystery and the supernatural. This latest installment in the series depicts the battle between high school girl Ranrei, whose mission is to eradicate the wooden people, and her slave, college student Suzumori Ikki, as they face a new, powerful enemy: No Face. ■ Reservation start date: Saturday, October 18, 2025 Shosen
Online:https://shosen.tokyo/apps/note/?e-landing-page=fifth_2 Standard version:https://shosen.tokyo/?pid=188961103 Paid bonus
version:https://shosen.tokyo/?pid=188961101 Horindo Bookstore Takadanobaba Branch / Shosen Grande / Shosen Book Tower ■ Pre-order deadline: Sunday, November 23, 2025 ■ Estimated delivery date: Ships after Tuesday, November 25, 2025 ■ In-store release date: Monday, November 24, 2025 [Company Profile] Shosen Co., Ltd. They operate two bookstores, “Shosen” and “Horindo Shoten.” They offer a wide selection of books and merchandise in a variety of genres, including “railways,” “idols,” “pro wrestling,” “mathematics,” and “fortune telling.” They also hold numerous events related to their books. Shosen URL: https://www.shosen.co.jp/ “Shosen and 10 Books” Project Overview and Sales Results to Date Recently, numerous previously published books that are hard to find are being traded on various online services at exorbitant prices. While it may seem at first glance that “those who want it should pay what they can,” we believe this is not the case. We are committed to delivering the classics that fans crave and that we ourselves highly recommend, at “reasonable prices.” And this cannot be achieved by us, the bookstore, alone. We believe that by working together with authors, publishers, fans, and everyone we have a connection with, we can make this challenge a reality, even if only little by little. We named this project “10 Books with Shosen” and “10 Books with Horindo Bookstore.” The title of this project reflects our hope that “10 books will be released into the world by Shosen and those who have a connection with us.” Starting in August 2023, we will be introducing books that we would like to revisit through this project. In the first season, which ran until August 2024, we re-released 25 titles, selling a total of over 20,000 copies. “Shosen and 10 Books” Season 1 (August 2023 – August 2024)
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/16756/7387/16756-7387-b2a05738bbcea6d1125d0b68d5fe5ee6-864×635.png “Horindo Bookstore and 10 Books” Season 1 (September 2023 – August 2024)
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/16756/7387/16756-7387-d34ae9f0318906f185fe36eaa6532a44-864×285.png We are determined to continue this initiative as a regular feature, so that people will say, “When you think of Shosen, you think of 10 books,” or “When you think of Horindo Bookstore, you think of 10 books.” With this in mind, we renewed our determination to turn this into a regular feature, so that people will say, “When you think of Shosen, you think of 10 books,” and “When you think of Horindo Bookstore, you think of 10 books.” The second season of “Shosen and 10 Books” began in November 2024, and we were able to successfully republish all 10 books and conclude the season. “Shosen and 10 Books” Season 2 (November 2024 – October 2025)
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/16756/7387/16756-7387-616d6c1829f9b627d20619a7b645164b-947×421.png “Horindo Bookstore and 10 Books” Season 2
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/16756/7387/16756-7387-23420cbdbeffdc988ff1959fbd01c383-947×225.png The second season currently features 19 titles, and we have delivered a total of over 16,000 books to our customers. We look forward to hearing from publishers and authors who support this project. Shosen Co., Ltd. will be publishing “Fifth,” the latest book by novelist Asukabe Katsunori, author of “Fallen Angel Torture Punishment,” as a doujinshi as the first in the “10 Books, Season 2 with Horindo Bookstore” series! Pre-orders begin on Tuesday, November 5, 2024!! https://news.biglobe.ne.jp/economy/1105/prt_241105_8492432944.html
https://prcdn.freetls.fastly.net/release_image/16756/7387/16756-7387-e1279ffa1e3161506bff4d73c537492a-1240×1748.jpg 40 titles republished in two years. A total of over 65,000 books are back in the hands of readers! The republishing projects “10 Books with Shosen” and “10 Books with Horindo Bookstore” are still ongoing.
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