# Yotaka Futatabi (夜鷹ふたたび)
**Yotaka Futatabi** (夜鷹ふたたび, also rendered "Nighthawk Returns") is a Japanese seinen manga written and illustrated by Fuyuki Izumida (イズミダフユキ), serialized in Kodansha's weekly young magazine *Morning* since 2025. The story follows a woman once feared as the assassin "Yotaka," who has spent eight years out of the trade as an unemployed, chain-smoking heavy drinker until an invitation from a former junior draws her back toward the underworld.[1](https://morning.kodansha.co.jp/c/yotakafutatabi.html) • [2](https://www.anitrek.com/manga/details/202332/yotaka-futatabi)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Author | Fuyuki Izumida (イズミダフユキ), from Niigata Prefecture[1](https://morning.kodansha.co.jp/c/yotakafutatabi.html) |
| Magazine | *Morning* (Kodansha), weekly, ongoing[1](https://morning.kodansha.co.jp/c/yotakafutatabi.html) • [3](https://mangaseek.net/work/111495.html) |
| Serialization start | November 13, 2025 issue of *Morning*[4](https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/462107?page=1) |
| Volumes | Vol. 1 (2026-03-23, ISBN 978-4-06-542253-3), Vol. 2 (2026-06-23, ISBN 978-4-06-543657-8), Vol. 3 (2026-09-18)[5](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000422663) • [6](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000426965) • [3](https://mangaseek.net/work/111495.html) |
| Format | B6 tankōbon, 176 pages, ¥792 tax included, in the Morning KC imprint[5](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000422663) |
| Genres | Action, comedy, ecchi, seinen[2](https://www.anitrek.com/manga/details/202332/yotaka-futatabi) |
| Premise | A legendary hitwoman, now 33 and living unemployed in a run-down apartment, is invited back to work by her former kouhai[5](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000422663) |
## Premise
The title character, Yotaka, was once celebrated in the underworld as a killer whose methods were described as swift the way a bird of prey takes a rabbit; she became something of an urban legend before vanishing after her "last hunt."[7](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20151810) Eight years later she is 33, in her unlucky year by traditional reckoning, unemployed, behind on rent, and living on cigarettes, strong canned chuhai, and part-time work while avoiding any return to killing.[5](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000422663) • [7](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20151810) An invitation to come out of retirement from her kouhai from her assassin days opens the series' central question of whether she will return to the battlefield.[1](https://morning.kodansha.co.jp/c/yotakafutatabi.html)
**Early volumes.** In the first arc, Yotaka resists returning to murder-for-hire, begging her kouhai for work that involves no killing, is not tiring, and comes with a lunch box, while her own former agency, the assassin-dispatch outfit "Murakumo," stirs the industry with a false rumor that Yotaka is back in action. To crush Murakumo, the established firm "Watabagi" and the newcomer "Being Hope" ally to launch a Yotaka hunt, the police pick up the movement, and the first assassin sent after her, Shinoda, attacks at a singularly bad moment.[7](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20151810) Volume 2 follows Yotaka to the racetrack after money comes in, while a new power begins moving against her, with her peaceful life and her living expenses both on the line.[6](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000426965) Volume 3 has Yotaka take on a bodyguard job for a character called Fuku-chan and drink and carouse through her thirties, until a past she would rather forget resurfaces.[8](https://www.cmoa.jp/title/353364/)
## Author
Fuyuki Izumida made her manga debut with *BLACK BOARD*, a three-volume series published by [Square Enix](https://www.edgepedia.org/square-enix). She then serialized *Madara Ramble* (マダラランブル, four volumes) on Comic Days before starting *Yotaka Futatabi* in *Morning*.[1](https://morning.kodansha.co.jp/c/yotakafutatabi.html) In an interview marking volume 1's release, Izumida said each of her three series has used a mainstream genre frame, a revenge story, a vampire story, and now a hitman story, but that this time she deliberately ignored what was "proper" or "major" in favor of what she herself found funny and cool; she and her editor asked what kind of woman men in their mid-thirties find attractive, and she described wanting to draw Yotaka as a real, unlying person, cool where she is cool and hopeless where she is hopeless, with even her slovenliness rendered as attractive.[4](https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/462107?page=1)
## Reception
**Reader response** has centered on the gap between the character's daily squalor and her professional competence. Kodansha's own recommendation column framed the series as part of a wave of protagonists who are unapologetic slackers, and its reviewer, the writer and editor Yoshiyuki Shimazu, praised the crossover between dead-serious action sequences and the heroine's degraded everyday life.[7](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20151810) On the honto ebook store, volume 1 held an aggregate reader rating of 4.2 out of 5, with reviewers comparing the comedic treatment of a former elite killer gone soft to a blend of *Heisei Haiban-hei Sumire-chan* and *The Fable*.[9](https://honto.jp/ebook/pd-review_0634711024.html?rtcl=04&srt=2) Readers on the Bookmeter-linked reviews at Kinokuniya also placed the retired-killer setup alongside *The Fable*, *Sakamoto Days*, and *Kill Blue*, while noting the contrast between the heroine's extreme laziness and her striking looks.[10](https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-01-9784065422533)
The series has circulated in tobacco-themed circles as well: the *Young Magazine* author Nyannyann Factory (creator of *Yanineko*) and the comedian Kyonchi Kaneko of the manzai duo Party-chan were cited among the "smokers" praising the work.[4](https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/462107?page=1) On Goodreads the series' first two volumes average 4.00 and 3.83 respectively from a small number of raters.[11](https://www.goodreads.com/series/443882-yotaka-futatabi)
## Publication record
| Volume | Release date | ISBN | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | March 23, 2026 | 978-4-06-542253-3 | 176 pages[5](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000422663) |
| 2 | June 23, 2026 | 978-4-06-543657-8 | 176 pages; collects *Morning* 2025 issues 9, 10, 12–14, 16–18, 20[6](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000426965) |
| 3 | September 18, 2026 | 978-4-06-544986-8 | Listed with ebook release of the same period[3](https://mangaseek.net/work/111495.html) • [12](https://books.rakuten.co.jp/rb/18746788/?l-id=search-c-item-img-30) |
The [National Diet Library](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-diet-library) catalog records volume 1 under its Morning KC imprint, 173 pages at 19 cm, classified NDC 726.1 for manga.[13](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000137-I06A0000000000970019G) [Individual](https://www.edgepedia.org/individual) chapters have also been released digitally on Comic Days, reaching chapter 33 by late September 2026.[3](https://mangaseek.net/work/111495.html)
## References
1. [夜鷹ふたたび｜モーニング公式サイト, Kodansha](https://morning.kodansha.co.jp/c/yotakafutatabi.html)
2. [Yotaka Futatabi, AniTrek](https://www.anitrek.com/manga/details/202332/yotaka-futatabi)
3. [夜鷹ふたたびの作者、掲載誌、収録コミックスなど, まんがseek](https://mangaseek.net/work/111495.html)
4. [『夜鷹ふたたび』作者が語る"ヒロインに込めた思い", FRIDAYデジタル, Kodansha](https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/462107?page=1)
5. [『夜鷹ふたたび（１）』, Kodansha](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000422663)
6. [『夜鷹ふたたび（２）』, Kodansha](https://www.kodansha.co.jp/comic/products/0000426965)
7. [かつては伝説、いまはカスの元殺し屋──夜鷹ふたたび、現役復帰できるのか!?, 今日のおすすめ, Kodansha](https://news.kodansha.co.jp/comics/20151810)
8. [夜鷹ふたたび（１）, コミックシーモア](https://www.cmoa.jp/title/353364/)
9. [夜鷹ふたたび（１）みんなのレビュー, honto](https://honto.jp/ebook/pd-review_0634711024.html?rtcl=04&srt=2)
10. [夜鷹ふたたび 〈１〉, 紀伊國屋書店ウェブストア](https://www.kinokuniya.co.jp/f/dsg-01-9784065422533)
11. [Yotaka Futatabi Series by Fuyuki Izumida, Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/series/443882-yotaka-futatabi)
12. [夜鷹ふたたび（3）, 楽天ブックス](https://books.rakuten.co.jp/rb/18746788/?l-id=search-c-item-img-30)
13. [夜鷹ふたたび 1 (モーニングKC), NDLサーチ, National Diet Library](https://ndlsearch.ndl.go.jp/books/R100000137-I06A0000000000970019G)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Literature and written works › Creative written works and worlds › Comics and sequential art › Comic-book series and issues › Japanese shōnen and seinen manga › Comedy and romance manga*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license