Tokyopop NYC Con Panel

By: Cari Kilbride

Wednesday March 15, 2006

At the New York Comic Con, one of the biggest anime panels was Tokyopop. They announced what novels would be coming out, recent awards, and new licenses, as well as what's going on in their Blue line.
They started out talking about the novel form of mangas, which have been relatively successful for them. The .hack universe is getting an addition-the novel of .hack Another Birth. Gundam Seed has a novel coming which focuses more on the character development of the series. Devil May Cry's novel version will involve the back story of Dante before he became Dante, and the Love Hina novels are heavy on the comedy.

Publisher's Weekly has named MBQ and Dramacon two of the best comics of 2005. The Young Adult Library Services Association nominated four of Tokyopop's mangas for Best Graphic Novel, including the first volume of Dramacon and the twelfth volume of Fruits Basket.

There are 40 newspapers that feature the comic Peach Fuzz, which is done by one of the winners of the Tokyopop Rising Stars of Manga. Peach Fuzz will run in Sunday newspapers until June, when Van Von Hunter will replace it. The comics of Peach Fuzz are all material that has been seen before, but the Van Von Hunter strips will be completely original.

Recently, Tokyopop licensed Strawberry Marshmallow, about two little girls and their ferret, and Trinity Blood, which is about technologically superior vampires fighting against humans (coming out in November). Also coming is Welcome to the N.H.K., which is similar to Genshiken but slightly crazier, and My Hime. There's a new series from the creator of Pet Shop of Horrors called Genjun no Seiza. From the author of Sequence comes a new series called Satisfaction Guaranteed, which will be five volumes long.

Also coming is a continuation to the Peach Girl series, with Peach Girl: Sae's Story. Platinum Garden will be premiering in September, Bus Gamer is a one-shot by the creator of Sayuzuki, and Grenadier is the latest story about a gun-wielding female. Otogi Zoshi is the prequel to the historical fantasy anime series by the same name. Voices of a Distant Star is getting a two volume manga series, and Le Portriat de Petite Cossete is also coming to manga form, though the tone is different from the one in the anime series. As for manwha, Recast, Angel Cup, Peppermint, and Queens will all be coming to the Tokyopop shelves this year.

Perhaps the biggest announcements from Tokyopop concerned the three upcoming original story cinemangas that Tokyopop is joining the Jim Henson Company to create. Labyrinth will be a three volume series, the first one appearing in August, drawn by Chris Lee and written by Jake Forbes. The Dark Crystal mangas will be prequels, and will be out later in the year. Neil Gaiman is entering the manga world by writing the MirrorMask cinemangas, but as of right now, there is no artist attached to that project.

New announcements for the Blue line (the line of shonen-ai) include Black Knight, which is about a young prince and his knight in shinning armour. Also Gerad and Jacque by the author of Antique Bakery, and is set right before the French Revolution. The last of the new announcements will be titled either Junjo Romantica or Pure Romance (it hasn't been decided yet).

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