Requiem of the Rose King Manga: All 17 Volumes

All 17 Requiem of the Rose King Manga Volumes — Here’s What a Complete Set Looks Like

If you’ve been eyeing Requiem of the Rose King and wondering how big of a commitment it is — good news. The series is complete at 17 volumes, and every single one is available in English from VIZ Media. No waiting for future releases, no cliffhangers left dangling. The whole story of this dark, Shakespeare-inspired manga is here, and all 17 Requiem of the Rose King manga volumes are ready to collect right now.

Created by Aya Kanno, the manga was originally published chapter by chapter — a process called serialization — in Monthly Princess magazine in Japan. The first Japanese volume came out on March 14, 2014, and the final volume — Vol. 17 — followed on June 16, 2022. The English edition matches the Japanese release exactly at 17 volumes.

So what kind of manga is this? Requiem of the Rose King is a dark reimagining of the Wars of the Roses — a real 15th-century English civil war fought between two rival royal families, the houses of Lancaster and York, over control of the throne. Kanno filters this history heavily through Shakespeare’s plays Henry VI, Part 3 and Richard III, which dramatize the rise and fall of one of England’s most controversial kings. The genres officially listed are drama, LGBTQ+, and romance, but those labels barely scratch the surface. This is a series that weaves together political betrayal, identity, gender, desire, and tragedy into something that feels genuinely unlike most manga on the shelf. The English volumes carry a Teen Plus rating — VIZ Media’s content label indicating the material is recommended for older teens and up — which reflects the mature themes running through the story: war, violence, complicated relationships, and questions of selfhood that don’t have easy answers.

At 17 volumes, Requiem of the Rose King sits in a sweet spot for collectors. It’s substantial enough to tell a rich, layered story but compact enough that you’re not looking at years of buying or dozens of shelf slots. Compared to series that run 30, 50, or 70+ volumes, this is a very manageable set.

The Easiest Way to Collect All 17 Volumes

Collecting this series is refreshingly straightforward. VIZ Media is the sole English-language publisher, so there are no competing editions, alternate translations, or confusing version splits to worry about. You pick up VIZ’s volumes 1 through 17, and you’re done.

Physical Volumes

The standard English release is individual single volumes — the same format VIZ uses for most of their catalog. As of this writing, there’s no confirmed English box set or omnibus edition (an omnibus being multiple volumes collected into one larger book), so buying the singles is the way to go for a physical collection. Seventeen volumes lined up on a shelf look great together, and the cover art across the series is striking.

Individual manga volumes from VIZ typically carry a list price in the range you’d expect for standard-format manga. With 17 volumes to collect, you’re looking at a mid-size investment overall — not as daunting as a 40-volume series, but worth budgeting for if you plan to buy the full set at once. Pricing varies by retailer, so it’s worth checking a few places before committing. Major book retailers, online shops, and comic book stores all carry VIZ titles. Some readers prefer to grab a few volumes at a time to spread out the cost, which works perfectly with a completed series since you can read at your own pace without worrying about spoilers from an ongoing release schedule.

Digital Editions

If shelf space is tight or you just prefer reading on a screen, digital editions are available through VIZ and other major digital manga platforms. Digital is also a solid fallback option if any particular physical volume is temporarily hard to find — more on that in the availability section below.

Building Your Collection

A practical approach: start with Vol. 1 to make sure the series clicks for you. The art style, the tone, and the Shakespeare-inspired storytelling are distinctive, and most readers know within the first volume whether this is their kind of manga. If it grabs you, you can pick up the rest with confidence knowing the story is finished and the ending is already waiting.

For readers who want to close out their collection with the final chapter of the story, Vol. 17 brings everything to its conclusion. It’s the final piece of the whole series and, for many fans, the volume they’re most eager to get their hands on.

Volume Guide — Key Volumes to Know

The reading order for Requiem of the Rose King is strictly sequential: Vol. 1 through Vol. 17. There are no branching storylines, no side series you need to read in the middle, and no alternate versions of events. Start at the beginning, read straight through, and the story unfolds exactly as Aya Kanno intended.

Vol. 1 — Where It All Begins

The first volume introduces Richard, the Duke of York’s youngest son, and immediately establishes what makes this manga so distinctive. Richard is born intersex — meaning Richard’s body has both male and female physical characteristics — a secret that shapes every aspect of the character’s life and drives much of the story’s emotional core. The Wars of the Roses are already heating up, with the Lancaster and York families — the two rival houses fighting for the English crown — pulling the country apart, and Richard is caught in the middle of it all. Kanno’s art is moody and expressive from the very first pages, blending historical costume with a dark, brooding atmosphere.

If you’ve read Shakespeare’s Richard III or his Henry VI plays — which tell fictionalized versions of this same period of English history — you’ll recognize the bones of the story, but Kanno reimagines these characters and events with a freedom that makes the manga feel completely its own. And if you haven’t read Shakespeare? That’s fine too — the manga stands on its own without any prior knowledge.

Early Volumes (Vol. 2–5)

The early stretch of the series builds out the historical setting and the political web around Richard. Key figures from the Wars of the Roses take shape as complex characters with their own agendas: Henry VI, the weak and troubled Lancaster king; Margaret of Anjou, his fierce queen; Warwick, a powerful nobleman known as “the Kingmaker” for his ability to put kings on the throne and pull them off it; and Edward, Richard’s older brother. The relationship dynamics that will carry through the entire series get established here, particularly the tangled connections between Richard, Henry, and the people pulling strings on both sides of the conflict.

These volumes also deepen the exploration of Richard’s gender and identity. Kanno weaves this into the fabric of the story from the start, affecting how Richard moves through the world, who Richard can trust, and what kind of future is even possible.

Mid-Series Volumes (Vol. 6–12)

The middle stretch is where scheming and power struggles among the royals intensify and alliances shift in ways that feel both historically grounded and emotionally devastating. Betrayals land hard because Kanno takes the time to make you care about the people involved — even the ones doing terrible things. The romance elements become more prominent, and the LGBTQ+ themes grow richer and more layered as the story progresses.

This is also where many readers find themselves unable to stop. The pacing tightens, the political stakes climb, and Richard’s position grows increasingly precarious.

Final Stretch (Vol. 13–17)

The last several volumes bring the Wars of the Roses — and Richard’s personal story — toward their conclusion. Without spoiling anything, the ending follows through on the themes the series has been building from the very beginning. Tragedy is built into the history this story draws from (and into the Shakespeare plays that inspired it), and Kanno honors that weight while making it feel earned rather than inevitable.

Vol. 17 is the final volume, and it delivers the story’s conclusion. For a series this emotionally intense, the ending matters enormously, and it’s one of the reasons fans recommend reading Requiem of the Rose King as a complete set rather than picking it up mid-run.

Related Works

For readers who finish all 17 volumes and want more from this world, there are two related works: King of Idol: Bara-Ō no Gakuen, a spinoff by Kineko Abekawa based on Kanno’s original work, and Bara-Ō no Sōretsu: Gaiden by Kanno herself (a side story — “gaiden” is the Japanese term for a supplementary story set in the same world). These expand on the universe Kanno created, though they’re supplementary — the main 17-volume series is the complete story.

Availability Notes for Collectors

All 17 English volumes have been released by VIZ Media, so in theory, the full set is out there. In practice, availability for completed manga series can fluctuate.

What to Watch For

A TV anime adaptation — an animated television series based on the manga — aired starting in January 2022. If you discovered the manga through the anime, you’re not alone: anime adaptations tend to drive waves of new readers to the source material. When new viewers want to read the original, certain volumes — especially early ones and the finale — can temporarily become harder to find or see price increases from third-party sellers.

Later volumes in a completed series are sometimes the first to go out of stock between publisher reprints, since they had smaller initial quantities compared to the early volumes that benefited from launch-period demand. If you spot a volume at a reasonable price, it’s generally worth grabbing rather than waiting.

Digital as a Backup

If a specific physical volume proves temporarily scarce or is priced higher than you’d like, digital editions remain consistently available. You can always read digitally now and pick up the physical copy later when it comes back in stock. This is a practical strategy that lets you keep reading without paying inflated prices.

Building a Complete Physical Set

Since there are only 17 volumes to track down, building a complete physical set is very doable. It’s a much simpler hunt than trying to complete a long-running series with dozens of volumes. Check major book retailers and online shops regularly, and you should be able to assemble the full collection without too much difficulty.

A Finished Series That Won’t Leave You Hanging

There’s something deeply satisfying about picking up a manga series that’s already finished. You know exactly what you’re getting into — 17 volumes, beginning to end, no cancellation anxiety, no indefinite hiatus. Requiem of the Rose King delivers a complete, self-contained story from its first page to its last.

This series is best suited for readers who want:

• Historical drama — the Wars of the Roses rendered in gorgeous, atmospheric art
• Complex gender and identity themes — central to the story and handled with care throughout
• Shakespearean tragedy — reimagined through a manga lens with genuine emotional power
• LGBTQ+ romance — woven into the story naturally rather than sidelined

The manageable length makes it a strong pick for readers who are new to historical manga or looking for LGBTQ+ manga with substance. You don’t need to know anything about English history or Shakespeare to enjoy it — the manga does the work of building its world and making you care about its characters.

And because the series is finished, what you buy today is the definitive collection. There will never be a Vol. 18. The story Aya Kanno wanted to tell is complete, and all 17 Requiem of the Rose King manga volumes are waiting for you on the shelf.