U.S.-Japan anime studio N Lite has struck a co-development partnership with Japanese publishing giant Kodansha to produce a serialized manga based on its feature film “Mfinda,” with the debut set for Kodansha’s Biblio Sirius Magazine in 2026. The manga, written by N Lite founder Christiano Terry and drawn by studio art director Tom Lintern, functions as a prequel to the “ Mfinda ” feature, expanding the Congolese mythology and sacred forest of spirits and gods at the center of the film. Dual protagonists Nasambi and Odi guide readers through origin stories that feed into the wider screen narrative, with N Lite and Kodansha jointly supervising the creative team across what is expected to be a multi-volume run. The broader feature film project brings together producer Masao Maruyama (“Tokyo Godfathers”) and director Gisaburō Sugii (“Touch”), working from a story by Terry and Congolese-American artist Patience Lekien.…