Manga-ka Arina Tanemura, creator of the popular Full Moon and Gentleman's Alliance shojo manga series, was Viz Media's guest at the recently concluded San Diego Comic-Con at which the publisher announced four new publishing initiatives featuring Ms. Tanemura's distinctive works including two 'magical girl' series (Ion and Time Stranger Kyoko), a collection of short stories (Short-Tempered Melancholic & Other Stories), and an art book (The Art of Full Moon o Sagashite).
In April of 2008 Viz Media plans to publish is Ion, an early 1-volume work from Ms. Tanemura that was first published in Shueisha's Ribon in 1997. The high school heroine of Ion acquires psychic powers but then wonders whether her new boyfriend is just attracted to her because of her new found abilities.
The first book in the 3-volume Time Stranger Kyoko series is due out in June with subsequent volumes due out at quarterly intervals. This 'magical girl' saga is set in the 30th century and features a heroine who is the princess of a united Earth.
In August Viz Media plans to release Short-Tempered Melancholic & Other Stories, a collection of Ms. Tanemura's early short stories, a series of stories with one common theme -- romance and the sacrifices that women are prepared to make to accommodate this powerful emotion.
The final volume announced at
