My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex Light Novel Series Ends With Its 14th Volume on December 1

The light novel series My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex (Mamahaha no Tsurego ga Motokano datta) will end with its 14th volume, which ships on December 1, according to an announcement from the series' official X/Twitter account reported by Anime News Network. The news closes a run that began as a web novel in 2017 and grew into print volumes, a manga adaptation and a television anime.

*Cover of My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex volume 1, by Kyosuke Kamishiro, illustrated by Takayaki. Image via J-Novel Club*

What was announced

The confirmed facts are short and clear: the light novel series is ending with volume 14, and that final volume ships on December 1. The 13th volume shipped in October 2025, so the final book arrives roughly a year and two months after the previous one. The announcement itself came from the series' official X/Twitter account, which is also the source cited by Anime News Network. Reports so far do not describe how the story ends or whether the author has plans for a sequel, side stories or a new project, so readers should look to the official account for any follow-up.

The publishing history

Kamishiro began serializing the story on the Kakuyomu website in August 2017. Kadokawa began publishing the story in print volumes with illustrations by Takayaki (Arifureta – From Commonplace to World's Strongest) in December 2018. That means the print series will have run from December 2018 to December 2026, an eight-year span across 14 volumes.

Rei Kusakabe launched a manga adaptation of the novels on Kadokawa's ComicWalker website in December 2019. Udon Entertainment licensed the manga for English publication. Anime News Network updated its report to add the manga license after a reader's tip.

The English release

J-Novel Club licensed the light novel series in English, and it describes the story like this: high school is a great place to start fresh after a horrible middle school relationship, unless your ex ends up at the same school as you and is now your stepsibling. What was supposed to be a sanctuary of peace where the narrator could avoid ever seeing her again has become a living nightmare, since he sees her in his house, in his school and in his class. She even claims to be the older sibling.

The narrator refuses to lose. After all, he is the older brother in this new family situation. They are family now, and no matter how much they may have thought they loved each other before, they saw one another's true colors and realized they were not meant for each other. That is why, even though they may keep up a buddy-buddy sibling act for the sake of their parents, things will never go back to the way they used to be.

The anime

The novels inspired an anime that premiered on AT-X and Tokyo MX in July 2022. Crunchyroll streamed the series as it aired. The anime was first announced in July 2021, which means the anime adaptation followed the novels' start by about four years and the print debut by about two and a half.

Where the series stands in the romance genre

The premise, a pair of former partners who become stepsiblings, belongs to a familiar strand of light novel romance: the "ex-lovers under one roof" setup. What sets this series apart is its starting point. Instead of a first meeting, it opens with a relationship that has already failed, and the drama comes from two characters who know each other's flaws and must now behave as family. The series' English title, "Why Can't We Move On?!" on the cover of the first volume, sums up the tension.

That premise has proven durable enough to sustain 14 novels, a manga, an anime and English releases of both the novels and the manga. The ending of the light novels does not necessarily end the franchise, since the manga adaptation is a separate release with its own schedule and the anime remains available to stream, but it does mark the point where the original story reaches its conclusion in print.

The creators

The story's author, Kyosuke Kamishiro, published it first as a web novel on the Kakuyomu website before it moved into print. That route, from an online serialization to a Kadokawa print label, is a common path for light novel franchises, and the series' longevity on the Kakuyomu site and in print shows how a web novel can build an audience before a publisher, here Kadokawa, invests in illustrations and a physical release. Illustrator Takayaki is also credited by Anime News Network for Arifureta – From Commonplace to World's Strongest, another light novel franchise, which places the artist among the better-known names in the field. Rei Kusakabe, who launched the manga adaptation, worked on a separate release schedule from the novels, so the manga has its own volume count and its own publication history.

Reading the release pace

The numbers give a picture of how the series was published. Fourteen volumes between December 2018 and December 2026 works out to a little under two volumes a year on average. The gap between the 13th volume in October 2025 and the 14th on December 1, 2026 is about 14 months, slower than the early average, which is not unusual for a long-running light novel series as it approaches its conclusion. Ending a series with a defined final volume and a set release date also gives readers time to prepare, and it allows the publisher and licensors to plan the English release of the final volume.

Key dates

August 2017: Kamishiro begins serializing the story on Kakuyomu
December 2018: Kadokawa publishes the first print volume, illustrated by Takayaki
December 2019: Rei Kusakabe launches the manga adaptation on ComicWalker
November 2021: J-Novel Club licenses the light novels in English
July 2022: the anime premieres on AT-X and Tokyo MX, with Crunchyroll streaming
July 2023: Udon Entertainment licenses the manga
October 2025: the 13th volume ships
December 1, 2026: the 14th and final volume ships

What fans can do now

For readers who have been following the series, the ending is an occasion to complete the collection: the final volume is due on December 1, and the English release from J-Novel Club will follow on its own schedule. Readers who have only seen the anime can pick up the novels or the manga to see the story beyond the television adaptation. Readers new to the series can start with the anime, which is a way to sample the setup, and then decide whether to follow the story in print. The links below lead to the original announcement, the licensors' pages and the encyclopedia entries for further reading.

Sources and further reading

Compiled from reports by Anime News Network, AniTrendz and Anime Corner, with details from the official announcements they cite. Images and videos are credited to their original rights holders.