We’re missing Kasia, who has the powerpoint presentation, but Lillian is here to start the panel at least for questions, so here we go~
Apparently the interviews that were done as a Van Von Hunter promo at New York Anime Fest are being developed into a full-length film, and Yuri Lowenthal is voicing the titular character.
I asked the Aya Kanno question, and someone who is NOT Tpop already has the Otomen license. TOKYOPOP.com will be getting an update soon that will allow people to actually find book release dates again. Huzzah!
Someone asked how they decide whether to go with Japanese titles or translate them; it varies depending on the title, bookstores and bosses have input, and sometimes it doesn’t really work out (like Kimi wa Petto/Tramps Like Us, the quote being roughly: “So people were asking us ‘when is kimi wa pet coming out?’ and we were like ‘dude we’re on volume 7.’”
Final question before the powerpoint: is the Japanese market adjusting at all for western fans? The companies are aware, but at the end of the day, the licensing revenue of most non-Naruto series is minimal compared to the money made in Japan proper, so sometimes it’s a bit of an afterthought (though they are curious about things like the rating system, how bookstores buy books, etc).
Alrighty, starting up with previous announcements: Fruits Basket planner and sticker collection (mentioned at Sakura 08), Phantom Dream Geneimuso from Furuba creator Natsuki Takaya, it looks a bit darker than FB; it’s actually her first professional series.
A recent big announcement is the three-year deal with Blizzard, including more trilogies in both Warcraft and Starcraft worlds starting this summer. Five books in five months starting in August…busy busy busy. They have some cool talent lined up they say, including a Korean artist (who has been left unnamed); more info at the summer cons…hopefully.
Castlevania Curse of Darkness by Kou Sasakura is due out in September. Star Trek: The Next Generation manga anthology is also on its way (the temporary cover art looks like cardboard cutouts, which sparked a fun story from Lillian: she used to have an inside joke with a college roommate that if they got a Keanu Reeves cardboard cut-out it’d be like having the real thing. That has nothing to do with anything, but Tpop’s panels are fun. Just FYI).
Fate/Stay Night manga is also on its way out, probably in October. Otsuichi’s novel GOTH, a well-known pop novel author in Japan (it’s NOT an illustrated novel, but there IS a manga adaptation, and TOKYOPOP will be releasing the manga as well). The manga is illustrated by Welcome to the NHK artist Kendi Oiwa, and it’s all impressively gruesome, we’re told. The novel has also been optioned by Fox Atomic so there may even be a movie in the works.
The Bizenghast novel will feature a lot of the backstory of the popular OEL title (one of Tpop’s most popular, we’re told). The Princess Ai Encounters novel is also still on the schedule, surprise surprise! A new manga trilogy called Prism of the Midnight Dawn is also in the works for later this year. Gorgeous cover art, I have to agree with Lillian on that. Uploading a pic of it now.
Grr, more tech problems. Previously-announced titles: Vassalord, Silver Diamond, and Daemonium are all due out in July; Jyu Oh Sei is probably going to replicate the recent 3-volume bind-up re-release it just got in Japan. Return to Labyrinth and Gakuen Alice continue on strong as well. There is also some Jim Henson news pending that can’t be talked about.
Oh, and before I forget, Loveless volume 8– which just came out in February in Japan –is on its way out this September already, very fast-tracked. Sergeant Frog is going strong and they had a spinner at the booth for people who bought volumes of it or Gakuen Alice.
Gothic & Lolita Bible volume 2 comes out in June. Volume 1 was about 75% translated Japanese content and 25% original American; they plan for it to get more 50/50 as the magazine continues. They also adapted the G&L Bible patterns to slightly larger sizes for the fact that Americans tend to be a liiiiittle bigger than Japanese women.
Co-publishing deal with Harper Collins is also going well; currently on the screen is Spy Goddess, whose first volume came out in March and v2 is due out next March. Warriors‘ first trilogy was finished early last year and continues on. A one-shot based on a character named Scourge is due out I believe she said in May, and a new trilogy is also coming up. They definitely recommend for the 10+ kids market.
More OEL: Vampire Kisses: Blood Relatives, which I have to say has really nice cover art. (Artist Rem picked up a Kodansha award if I remember correctly).
And their new pilot program: they’re commissioning a couple of chapters, paying the artist, and running them on the new site when it launches (six series are set to date). Based on reader response and how Tpop feels about the titles, they will proceed with full graphic novels for the ones they think are working out. They think it’s a much more timely process than their current one, since a full graphic novel can take some time.
Another Yaoi Press pair, Dany & Dany (I recognized them; their art is pretty good), is noted as having one of these projects, along with another Svetlana (but not Chmakova). Oh, and these chapters are made available for free, apparently. Good stuff.
Blah blah Rave Master anime on Verizon’s Vcast as well as Bizenghast. They’re not sure what’ll happen with Rave Master afterwards– might become available on Tpop.com or elsewhere on the Internets. Gakyushu! and Sokora Refugees are the newest iManga they’re working on, the former coming out in May.
Finally, their concert tour with MUCC, the Underneath, and D’espairs’Ray– the Taste of Chaos 2008 tour. And their con schedule. Now for a very short Q&A…oh! They have the Kyo Kara Maoh! novels. Good stuff. (They announced the manga at NYAF07.)
The end!
