TOKYOPOP Announces Six New Manga Titles

TOKYOPOP has officially announced the August release of six new English translated manga titles:

Tramps Like Us (Comedy/Romance/Drama, Volume 1 Release: 8/10/04) Inspiration for a successful Tokyo Broadcasting System live-action series, this romantic comedy by Yayoi Ogawa follows the life of Sumire Iwaya, a woman with a cheating boyfriend and an unfulfilled work life. Things seem bleak until she meets Momo, a homeless man with a colorful past whose presence puts a bounce in her step and a shake in her hips. It takes two to tango, but when Sumire’s first love reappears in her life, will this be the last waltz?

Abenobashi: Magical Shopping Arcade (Sci-Fi/Comedy, Volume 1 Release: 8/10/04) From Gainax (FLCL, Neon Genesis Evangelion) and Akahori Satoru (Saber Marionette J) comes a unique parody manga with hilarious hijinks and parallel universes! Sasshi and Arumi are down in the dumps when their neighborhood undergoes change in the name of urban renewal…but they never would have guessed that the demolition would unlock a portal to parallel universes! The two friends embark on an entertaining, side-splitting adventure somewhere over the rainbow filled with satires of well-known anime, fantasy movies and Japanese pop culture.

Warriors of Tao (Sci-Fi/Action/Adventure, Volume 1 Release: 8/10/04) Warriors of Tao–Shinya Kuwahara’s gory tale of gladiators in an interplanetary competition–is Darwinism at its most merciless. A young man named Toma is chosen as the Earth’s representative fighter in a tournament in which the loser is dead meat–literally! The beings of the winning planet gain the right to feed on the flesh and blood of the defeated world. Can Toma keep Earth off of the menu?

Et Cetera (Action/Adventure, Volume 1 Release: 8/10/04) Up-and-coming manga-ka Tow Nakazaki (Let’s Kick, Who Is Fuou?!) delivers action-comedy by the wagon-load in this wacky take on how the West was won. The story unfolds when Mingchao, a wannabe starlet with sights on Hollywood, inherits the Eto gun, a weapon with mystical powers. Mingchao puts her Tinseltown dreams on hold when she learns about her gun’s twin–and the underground organization that will do anything to lock and load on both guns’ secrets. Featured in Kodansha’s #1 manga magazine, Gekkan Shonen, Et Cetera is one off-the-wall adventure fans of the American West won’t want to miss!

Dream Saga (Fantasy/Romance, Volume 1 Release: 8/10/04)
Winner of Nakayoshi magazine’s “New Face” Manga award, shojo creator Megumi Tachikawa (Mink, Saint Tail, Hot Typhoon) delivers fans Dream Saga, which follows the adventures of Yuuki Wakasa, a good student and dutiful daughter who uses manga to escape the monotony of everyday life. Little does she know that her life is about to become a manga-worthy adventure when a red magic stone mysteriously falls from the sky. Yuuki becomes the “chosen one” who must enter the dream world to save the Sun God and her own planet from total annihilation!

Instant Teen: Just Add Nuts (Comedy/Romance, Volume 1 Release: 8/10/04) Fans of Fruits Basket and Tokyo Mew Mew are sure to delight in this hilarious manga from award-winning creator Haruka Fukushima. Natsumi is a homely fifth grader with a craving for curves of her own. One day, after eating a packet of mysterious pink nuts, her wish comes true and she is transformed into a beautiful, sexy woman! Now endowed with a mind for recess and a body for supermodel glitz and glamour, will Natsumi’s newfound adulthood and sudden fawning admirers lead to happiness or heartbreak?