Rin-ne, the new manga series from Rumiko Takahashi (Ranma 1/2, Inuyasha, Maison Ikkoku), will be launched simultaneously in Japan and North America on April 22nd.  In Japan the first chapter of Takahashi’s new manga will appear exclusively in Shogakukan’s Weekly Shonen Sunday magazine, while in North America it will appear in English on the new TheRumicWorld.com Website, which will become the official North American Website for all Rumiko Takahashi-related news and information.

When she was a child, the heroine of Rin-ne, Sakura Mamiya, disappeared in the woods behind her grandmother’s house, only to resurface apparently unharmed, but with the ability to see ghosts.  As a teenager she only wishes that the ghosts would leave her alone, and then a strange boy who has been absent most of the school year, shows up at schooland proves to be far more than he seems.

The fact that the new Takahashi manga will debut on the Web highlights the trend towards Internet-first exposure that is especially evident in the world of anime.  Certainly this is a bold gambit since Rin-ne is no run-of-the-mill manga—Shogakukan has sold more than 170 million volumes of Takahashi’s other series.  She is the “gold standard” of contemporary manga; the mere fact that she is working on a new manga series is news (see “New Rumiko Takahashi Manga”).