In the April issue of Shojo Beat Viz Media revealed the acquisition of two additional shojo series.  In October Viz Media will release Chitose Yagami's single-volume Fall in Love Like a Comic (Manga Mitaina Koi Shitai), while late in 2007 it will begin the serialization of Hinako Ashhara's ten-volume Sand Chronicles (Suna Dokei) in Shojo Beat.

Of the two announced titles Sand Chronicles, which won the prestigious Shogakukan Manga Sho prize in 2005, is clearly the more important.  Ann, the protagonist of Sand Chronicles, moves with her mother from Tokyo to the countryside where she finds love (not without its complications) and what Shojo Beat editor Megan Bates termed 'some pretty odd eating habits.'  Ashhara's Sand Chronicles manga is sufficiently popular in Japan that it has been adapted into a 'dorama' or live-action TV series that is currently airing on Japanese television.