Anime Expo 2004

Anime Expo - Tokyopop

TOKYOPOP announced a slew of new acquisitions at their Anime Expo panel. There were:

Alichino
Blade of Heaven
DearS
Gundam Seed Astray R
Hyper Police
Lagoon Engine
Last Fantasy
Peach Fuzz
The End
Western Shotgun
Yureka

Tokyopop then went on to talk about Clamp no Kiseki: The Ultimate Collection - a 12-volume, limited edition magazine entirely devoted to CLAMP. All issues will be full-color and will come with exclusive CLAMP figurines. After all issues are released, the figurines will create a nice CLAMP chess set.

Another exciting announcement was the January 2005 release of the two CLAMP art books, North Side and South Side. A retrospective of CLAMP work, the art books cover the group's artwork from 1989-2002. Both art books were printed with the intent of staying as true to the Japanese release as possible; South Side was even sent to Japan for printing because the colors needed for the book weren't available in America. Both books contain exclusives – North side will have interviews with the CLAMP team while South Side will have a special “How to draw manga” section.

Sorcerer Hunters will be re-released in right to left format, and there will be a Passion Fruit hardcover called Sweat & Honey.

Tokyopop also gave an enthusiastic run-through of the Courtney Love/Tokyopop collaboration manga, Princess Ai. Telling the story of a runaway princess who finds solace in music, Princess Ai mimics many aspects of Love's real life. Created in America, the manga was first published in Wings Magazine in Japan and is now being released domestically. Though the “street date” for Princess Ai is July 6, it is currently available in bookstores.

Following this, Tokyopop gave a brief list of manga and manwha titles slated to begin showing up in bookstores January 2005.

DearS
Story & Art by Peach-Pit

It's all fun and games until aliens bust in on the party... then it's mass hysteria.
Rated: Teen; scheduled to be released every three months.

Hyper Police
Story & Art by MEE (Minoru Tachikawa)

The police company is on your tail... and with hunters like these, running only makes it worse.
Rated: Older Teen; scheduled to be released bi-monthly.

Lagoon Engine
Story & Art by Yukiru Sugisaki

From the creator of Candidate for Goddess and D.N.Angel, Lagoon Engine follows the adventures of two boys who have inherited the ability of spirit fighting.

Rated: Teen; scheduled to be released bi-monthly.

Master School Olympus
Story & Art by Son Hee-Joon

What do you do when you're a human who wants to get into a school exclusively for monsters? You get one of your vampire friends to bite you so that you become a monster, of course.
Rated: Teen.

Peach Fuzz
Story & Art by Lindsay Cibos and Jared Hodges

Created by the winners of the second Rising Stars of Manga contest, this story is told from an interesting point of view – a pet ferret. It will feature an exclusive scratch ‘n’ sniff, peach-scented cover.

Soul to Seoul
Story & Art by Kim Jea-Eun

When cultures clash and worlds collide... the soul will provide. A self-discovery title, the manwha follows the life of a Korean/American teenager in the city of New York.

The last half of the panel consisted of a detailed presentation on Tokyopop's successful Rising Stars of Manga competition and talent search. Winners from the past RSoM competition were presented with their awards and given a chance to say a few words of encouragement to the audience. To conclude the panel, information on The Rising Stars of Manga Talent Search was given. Visit www.tokyopop.com for more details.