VIZ Media adds more Arina Tanemura books to '08 line-up

The August 2007 issue of Shojo Beat magazine features Shojo Eve: Eve's Applework 24 Hours, an exclusive short story by shojo manga superstar Arina Tanemura.

Straight from the pages of Ribon Magazine in Japan, Shojo Eve is a new offering from Tanemura that is appearing on U.S. shores only a few months after its appearance in Japan. This stand-alone story about Eve, a girl who finds that her beauty gets in the way of her happiness is only available in this issue of the magazine. Shojo Beat's editors worked closely with their Japanese counterparts at Ribon to get this story to U.S. fans to coincide with Tanemura-sensei's July visit to Comic-Con 2007.

But that's just the start of many more offerings to come between now and 2008 from the creator of Full Moon o Sagashite and Gentlemens Alliance Cross.

At the Shojo Beat panel at last week's San Diego Comic-Con, VIZ Media Magazines Editor-in-Chief Marc Weidenbaum announced several new graphic novels and an art book of Tanemura's artwork to start appearing in bookstores in Spring 2008:

• ION (April 2008, quarterly). Ion Tsuburagi chants the letters of her name for good luck -- but when she meets the Mikado, the president of her school's psychic research society, she accidentally gains the power of telekinesis.
• Time Stranger Kyoko (June 2008, quarterly). Kyoko is a 30th century princess who prefers to live a normal life with everyday people than the sheltered life of royalty. Her father agrees to this with one catch: She must revive her twin sister who has been trapped in time since birth.
• Short-Tempered Melancholic and Other Short Stories (August 2008) Four short stories by Tanemura, including the title story about a female ninja who decides to give up her ninja ways because a boy she likes tells her she should be more "ladylike."
• The Art of Full Moon o Sagashite (Fall 2008) - A full-color artbook featuring Tanemura's beautifully detailed and magical artwork from Full Moon.

Up next: Q and A with shojo creator Arina Tanemura!