Friday at NY Anime Festival: Del Rey Manga

The first day of the New York Anime Festival kicked off with a few new manga announcements from the folks at Del Rey Manga, including:

• Fairy Tail Will Debut with Two Volumes - While Fairy Tail was announced this past summer at San Diego Comic-Con, a new development is that Del Rey Manga will be releasing Volumes 1 and 2 concurrently in April 2008, to give this new series an extra push at launch.
• Papillon: New Shojo Series from Miwa Ueda - Fans of Peach Girl rejoice! Ueda-sensei's latest creation about a tomboy and her rivalry with her pretty older sister will make its U.S. debut in October 2008.
• New Series for Fall 2008: Mao-Chan - Mao-Chan features character design by Ken Akamatsu, the creator of Negima and Love Hina and is drawn in Akamatsu's style by Ran. As Associate Publisher Dallas Middaugh explained it, Mao-Chan is a "really, really cute story," where Japan is invaded by super-cute aliens, and the only hope for the world lies with the general's 8-year old daughter and her friends."
• Fall Release for Kamichama Karin Chu - This sequel to Kamichama Karin is a shojo romantic comedy about a girl next door who just happens to be a goddess, and the hijinks that occurs when she falls in love.
• Gankutsukoh - Count of Monte Cristo Manga - Another fall release is an adaptation of the novel by Andre Dumas by Mahiro Maeda. Look for this gothic drama series to appear in stores in November 2008.
• New OEL Manga: Kasumi - A new addition to Del Rey Manga's homegrown manga is Kasumi, a magical shojo comedy written by Surt Lim, and illustrated by Hirofumi Sugimoto.
• Me and the Devil Blues Update: Recognizing that this title is geared toward more 'sophisticated manga readers,' Middaugh announced that Me and the Devil Blues will be given the VIP treatment with a two-volumes-in-one release, and a larger trim size than their other graphic novels. Look for this manga tale of blues musician Robert Johnson to see the light of day in summer 2008.

In manga-related news, Middaugh also announced that Del Rey will now be staggering their release dates for new graphic novels throughout the month, so you'll be seeing 2 to 4 new Del Rey releases per week instead of 12 at the end of the month.

This weekend will bring more exciting announcements from Del Rey, including a Saturday panel with Kodansha editor Katsushi Ota at 1 pm, and a Sunday announcement about a top-secret deal with Marvel Comics. More from the floor soon!