Tokyopop and the Japanese publisher Gentosha Comics have announced that for the first time ever a never-before-published manga of Japanese origina manga will receive a simultaneous worldwide publication.  Gravitation EX, the sequel to Maki Murakami's bestselling shonen ai (boys' love) manga series, will be available on the same day at retail stores in North America, Europe and Japan.

 

In August of 2003 Tokyopop published the first volume of Gravitation, a series that has had a major impact on the North American market by introducing audiences here to the romantic dynamic of shonen ai manga and selling nearly a half a million copies of the 12-volume series in the process.  During the past three plus years the shonen ai/yaoi genre of manga dealing with male-on-male relationships, created primarily by females and targeting a female audience, has consistently increased its popularity in North America.

 

Gravitation EX takes up right where Volume 12 concluded more than a year and a half ago--with unanswered questions. The all-new sequel begins right when the boys step off the airplane in New York City, where Eiri Yuki and his vocalist lover, Shuichi, visit the grave of Yuki's first love and tormentor.