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801-chan & Middle School Spinoff to Run in Magazine

The sixth volume of Ohzora Publishing's Romance Tiara magazine will begin its serialization of Tonari no 801-chan, Ajico Kojima's popular manga about about a fujoshi (female boys-love otaku) and her otaku boyfriend, on April 11. ("801" can be pronounced in Japanese in the same way as "yaoi.") According to her March 31 blog entry, this will be Kojima's first magazine series; until now, Kojima has been posting the manga on her website.

To mark the occasion, Romance Tiara is also publishing the first installment of Jun Minamikata's manga spinoff called 801-shiki Chūgaku Sei Nikki ~Tonari no Hina-chan~ (pictured at right), which translates to "801-Style Middle School Girl's Diary: My Neighbor Hina-chan." Ohzora launched Romance Tiara in June of 2007 as a magazine on the theme of the "new romance revolution — loving princess fantasy!" The magazine initially published on an irregular schedule of about three issues a year, but it will become a bimonthly publication starting with this month's sixth volume. In addition to the two 801 manga, the volume will also include a special 801-chan Tokimeki Otome Note supplemental booklet (pictured below).

Another artist, Jin, launched a high school spinoff called Tonari no 801-chan: Fujoshi-teki Kōkō Seikatsu (A Fujoshi-Style High School Life) in Kodansha's Bessatsu Friend magazine in November of 2007. Kyoto Animation was planning to animate Kojima's original manga this year, but the project was abruptly cancelled shortly after its August 2008 announcement.

On a related note, Kojima drew a picture of "Tonari no 893-chan," a girl whose hidden persona is a sword-wielding gangster, to mark April Fool's Day. ("893" can be pronounced in Japanese in the same way as "yakuza.")

Source: Comic Natalie