All Drifters Manga Volumes: 7 in Japan, 6 in English (Series Ongoing)
Here’s the full picture: Drifters (ドリフターズ) currently has 7 volumes in Japan and 6 volumes in English from Dark Horse Manga, an American publisher that translates and releases Japanese manga for English-speaking readers. The series is ongoing — but “ongoing” deserves a big asterisk here.
Created by Kohta Hirano, the artist and writer behind Hellsing, Drifters has been running in Young King OURs, a Japanese manga magazine, since June 2009. Here’s how manga publishing typically works: chapters come out individually in a magazine first, then get collected into book-format volumes later. That process is called serialization. In Drifters’ case, new chapters arrive very slowly — which means those collected volumes trickle out at a glacial pace. Over sixteen years of serialization has produced just seven collected volumes. If you’re used to series like One Piece or My Hero Academia putting out multiple volumes a year, Drifters operates on a completely different timeline. We’re talking years between individual volume releases.
The English edition from Dark Horse currently sits one volume behind Japan — Volume 7, which released in Japan in August 2023, has not yet been published in English. So if you’re shopping for the complete English set right now, you’re looking at six books.
This is important to know going in. Drifters is not a series you binge through dozens of volumes. It’s a slow burn in the most literal sense — not because the story is slow (it’s extremely not), but because Hirano takes his time.
Volume-by-Volume Breakdown
Here’s what each volume covers and when it originally released in Japan. English editions from Dark Horse followed later for each volume. This should help you gauge the pacing and figure out where you are in the story.
Volume 1 (JP: July 2010) — This is your entry point. The premise: famous warriors from across human history are pulled out of their timelines at the moment of death and dropped into a fantasy world. The main character is Shimazu Toyohisa, a real Japanese samurai from the late 1500s who died at the Battle of Sekigahara — one of the most important battles in Japanese history, the battle that ended Japan’s Sengoku era and established Tokugawa rule. He wakes up in a strange corridor, gets deposited into a world full of elves and dwarves, and discovers he’s not the only historical figure who’s been dragged here. Oda Nobunaga — Japan’s most famous warlord, known for his ruthless military genius — and Nasu no Yoichi, a legendary archer from the 1100s, are already waiting. The concept is wild, the art is immediately recognizable as Hirano’s, and the dark humor hits from page one.
Volume 2 (JP: October 2011) — The factions crystallize. You learn that there are two groups of displaced historical figures: the Drifters, who are essentially recruited as weapons of war, and the Ends, a rival group of historical figures who’ve been twisted by grief and rage. The clash between these two sides becomes the engine of the series. Expect big personalities, messy alliances, and Hirano’s signature blend of extreme violence and absurd comedy.
Volume 3 (JP: April 2013) — The conflict escalates significantly. More historical figures get revealed on both sides, and the scope of the war expands. This is where the series starts showing just how ambitious its world-building is. The fantasy setting isn’t just a backdrop — it has its own politics, its own oppressed populations, and its own history that the Drifters are crashing into.
Volume 4 (JP: November 2014) — Deeper world-building and large-scale battles. The war moves from skirmishes to something resembling genuine military campaigns. Hirano’s experience drawing detailed action in Hellsing translates perfectly here — the battle sequences are dense, kinetic, and often brutal. This volume rewards readers who enjoy strategic warfare alongside supernatural spectacle.
Volume 5 (JP: June 2016) — Major turning points in the war arrive. The stakes increase substantially, and several storylines that have been building since Volume 1 start paying off. This is generally the point where readers who were on the fence about the series become fully committed.
Volume 6 (JP: December 2018) — This is the most recent volume available in English from Dark Horse. The story continues to develop, and while it does leave storylines that clearly need continuation, it arrives at a natural pause in the action — you won’t feel like you’ve been dropped mid-sentence. Finishing Volume 6 means you’re caught up with what’s available in English, and you’ll be ready when Volume 7 arrives.
Vol 7 and the English Release Gap
Volume 7 released in Japan in August 2023, nearly five years after Volume 6. That gap alone tells you everything about the series’ publication pace.
As of this writing, no confirmed English release date for Volume 7 has been announced by Dark Horse. The translation and adaptation process (called localization) takes time, and given that the Japanese volume has been out for a while, English readers are understandably watching for announcements. But until it’s officially confirmed, there’s no point speculating on specific dates.
The bottom line: if you start Drifters today, you can read six volumes in English and know that at least one more is waiting in the wings.
Reading Order and Where to Start
Good news — Drifters has one of the simplest reading orders in manga. Start with Volume 1, read through to Volume 6 (or Volume 7 once it’s available in English), and you’re done. That’s it.
There are no side stories, no prequel books, no companion series, and no alternate versions to worry about. Drifters is a single, self-contained ongoing series. You don’t need to read anything else before picking it up, and you don’t need supplementary material to understand what’s happening.
If you’ve read Hirano’s earlier work Hellsing, you’ll immediately recognize his art style — the sharp linework, the exaggerated expressions, the love of detailed carnage — and his particular brand of dark humor. But there is zero story connection between Hellsing and Drifters. They share a creator and a sensibility, not a universe. You can read Drifters without having touched Hellsing, and vice versa.
For complete newcomers to Hirano’s work, just know that the tone is aggressive, the comedy is dark in ways that can catch you off guard — imagine a scene where characters discuss military tactics for conquering a fantasy kingdom, then immediately devolve into petty insults and slapstick. The violence is intense and the humor comes from the same characters in the same moments. If that sounds like your thing, Volume 1 will confirm it within the first few chapters.
Manga vs Anime — What the Drifters Manga Volumes Cover Beyond the Show
The Drifters anime aired in 2016 and adapted roughly the first three volumes of the manga. If you watched the anime and loved it, the manga continues well beyond what the show covered.
The volumes released after the anime’s covered material contain story content that has not been animated. Given the manga’s irregular publication schedule — remember, we went from 2018 to 2023 between Volumes 6 and 7 — the anime’s continuation has remained uncertain. There’s been no shortage of fan demand for more animated Drifters, but the slow trickle of new manga chapters makes it a complicated production to plan around.
What this means for you as a reader: the manga is currently the only way to continue the story past where the anime stopped. If you want to know what happens next, the volumes are waiting for you.
A practical note: if you’re jumping from the anime to the manga, you may want to start from Volume 1 anyway rather than trying to find the exact chapter where the anime ended. The manga includes details, humor, and character moments that the anime condensed or skipped, and Hirano’s artwork is a major part of the experience. Six volumes isn’t a huge time investment, and reading from the beginning gives you the complete picture.
Where to Buy Drifters Manga Volumes in English
All 6 English volumes are published by Dark Horse Manga and are widely available through major manga retailers including Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
The individual volumes are standard manga size — roughly 5 by 7.5 inches, the same dimensions as most manga you’ll find on a bookstore shelf. If you’re building a collection, they’ll sit nicely alongside other Dark Horse titles.
For readers who want to grab the series, here’s the latest English release to check availability and see if the series is right for you:
Drifters
One thing to note about buying Drifters manga volumes: because the series publishes so infrequently, individual volumes tend to stay in print and remain easy to find. You’re unlikely to run into the out-of-stock nightmares that plague faster-publishing series. That said, stock levels can always fluctuate, so if you see the volumes available, it’s not a bad idea to pick them up.
Is Drifters Worth Reading?
Let’s be real about who this series is for and who might bounce off it.
Drifters is ideal if you like:
- Dark, violent historical fantasy with supernatural elements
- The “historical figures thrown into a fantasy world and forced to fight” concept
- Kohta Hirano’s art — detailed, brutal, and unmistakable
- Stories that blend extreme action with absurd comedy
- Manga with mature themes and content aimed at older readers
The biggest caveat is the release schedule. If you hate waiting, Drifters will test your patience. The gaps between volumes — sometimes measured in years, not months — are the single most common complaint about the series. You will catch up faster than new content arrives. That’s just the reality of following this manga.
But here’s the flip side: because there are only six English volumes right now, catching up is genuinely easy. You’re not staring down a mountain of 30+ books wondering if you’ll ever finish. You can read the entire available English run in a weekend if you’re motivated. And each volume is dense enough with action, world-building, and Hirano’s distinctive artwork that they reward rereading.
If you enjoyed Hellsing and want more of Hirano’s creative vision applied to a dark fantasy war setting — where real historical figures are transported to another world and Oda Nobunaga cracks jokes while planning the conquest of a fantasy continent — Drifters delivers exactly that. It’s wild, it’s violent, it’s funny in the most inappropriate ways, and the artwork carries a level of detail and energy that makes every page worth studying.
Just go in knowing that you’re signing up for a long, slow ride. Grab Volume 1, see if the premise hooks you, and if it does, you’ve got five more volumes waiting. And eventually, a seventh.