Today was the first day of panels at NYAF, and the publishers certainly came through with the new manga announcements. Del Rey had an interesting mix of a few unknowns and a few works by creators we’ve heard of before.
Let’s start with manga:
Mao-Chan, concept and character design by Ken Akamatsu, art by RAN. “He is very much in this case working in Ken Akamatsu’s style,” said Del Rey associate publisher Dallas Middaugh. The concept: Japan has been invaded by cute aliens whose powers of cuteness overwhelm the military; only an eight-year-old girl can save the country from this cuteness attack.
Kamichama Karin-Chu by Koge-Donbo. This is the sequel to Kamichama Karin, and in case you haven’t read it, Middaugh had a quick summary: “It’s not easy to be a goddess and a girl in love.
Gankutsuoh by Mahiro Maeda. This one drew applause, because many in the audience were already familiar with the Studio Gonzo anime, which is based on The Count of Monte Cristo. Only two volumes are out so far in Japan.
Papillon, by Miwa Ueda, creator of Peach Girl. Sweet, shy girl has to compete with her teen-queen twin sister. Manganews has a nice summary.
… and a global manga, Kasumi, written by Surt Lim and illustrated by Hirofumi Sugimoto. Lim is American, but Sugimoto is Japanese, so the book will read right to left. The main character is a girl who has the power to become invisible—but only when she holds her breath. This one sounds like fun.
In addition to the manga, Middaugh had two new novels to announce, both by the singly-named Nisioisin: xxxHolic: Another xxxHolic, and Kubikiri Cycle, the first book in the nine-volume Zaregoto series.
xxxHolic: Another xxxHolic comprises three original stories set in the world of xxxHolic. (Nisioisin is also the author of Death Note: Another Note, which Viz has licensed.) Del Rey will publish this as a hardcover with a cover similar to the cover of the Japanese edition.
As for Zaregoto, Andrew Cunningham describes it as “Catcher in the Rye crossed with Agatha Christie but run through a healthy filter of the distinct kind of madness you need to be a fan of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure.”
Middaugh also talked a bit about Faust, the fiction and manga anthology that will debut in the summer and will feature work by CLAMP, Takeshi Obata, Yun Kouga, and Fred Gallagher, among others. This is an English edition of an anthology Kodansha has been publishing, more or less irregularly, since 2003.
Other coverage: Ed Chavez at MangaCast
Deb Aoki at About.com
Gia at a geek by any other name
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I *think*, but I’m not sure, that Ran is the same artist as Ran Ayanaga, a female mangaka who illustrated the Read or Dream manga [in addition to creating the character designs for that end of the ROD franchise], who is a former assistant of Ken Akamatsu, married to another one of his assistants.
Papillon, by Miwa Ueda, creator of Peach Girl. Sweet, shy girl has to compete with her teen-queen twin sister.
But will she make friends with someone bearing a striking resemblance to Dustin Hoffman as they plot to escape the jungle-prison hell that is middle school?