Tokyopop has announced the addition of ten new manga  (and manhwa) series to its already formidable lineup.  The series will debut in October and November of 2004 and should appeal to diverse portions of the growing manga audience here in the U.S. Six of the new series are strong shoujo titles, which should attract female readers. Crazy Love Story is a realistic high school tale of love, while Flower of the Deep Sleep, originally published in the shoujo anthology Asuka Comics, is about a girl who can dream the future.  Cross is a gothic romance about a young tortured priest and a mysterious girl, who just might be his salvation, or his damnation.  Tamayo Akiyama, a former member of Clamp, provides Hyper Rune, a futuristic shoujo adventure about a girl living with her mad scientist grandfather.  The Queen's Knight, created by I.N.V.U.'s Kim Kang Won, is the story of a girl who must choose between living in a fantasy world with a magical knight or returning to the mundane reality of friends and family.  The sixth shoujo series announced for the fall is not new in content, but in format--a new authentic manga edition of the shoujo classic Peach Girl by Miwa Ueda, which should find lots of new fans on its second go-round.

 

Not all of the new Tokyopop offerings target manga's growing female readership.  The Guys Guide to Girls is the perfect accessory for the hapless otaku, who can't get a date. This popular series has reached 50 volumes in Japan and spawned an anime series and a PS2 game.  Diabolo is a horror manga about two friends who sell their souls to the devil to save the life of another -- a series that should appeal to fans of the just-ended Demon Diary manga series.

 

The two other new Tokyopop titles announced for fall are comedies, which should have broad appeal: Dragon Voice, the story of a boy with a voice that can shatter an eardrum or perhaps push him to the top of the charts, and Hands Off, the strange tale of a boy who has an unusual type of ESP that can only be transmitted via physical contact.