Tokyopop, which just announced a major expansion of its manga line (see 'Tokyopop Plans Major Manga Expansion'), is also planning to expand its popular Tokyopop Soundtrax as well as its HighVoltage Video lineup.  Tokyopop hopes to become known as the premiere source for videogame soundtracks and to that end, it has secured the rights to produce the American edition of the official Final Fantasy X soundtrack.  Final Fantasy X is the latest version of the popular video game, which will be the first version of the game available for the Playstation II format and will be released in early 2002.  Final Fantasy X should get quite a bounce off the new Final Fantasy movie (see 'Final Fantasy...'), which opens this week.

 

Famed Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu is once again composing the music for Final Fantasy X, which he considers the most cohesive score that he has yet written for the hugely popular series of videogames.  Fans will be able to sample his earlier work on this series this summer when Tokyopop will release Uematsu's scores for the video games Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV.  Both Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV are being re-released this summer by Sony as Final Fantasies Chronicles for the Sony Playstation platform.

 

J-Idols DVDs

In addition to bringing anime and videogame soundtracks to the U.S. this summer, Tokyopop is also set to expand its High Voltage Video lineup to include live action videos of Japanese stars.  These J-Idols videos, as they are known in Japan, take viewers behind-the-scenes for a close-up look at some of Japan's top stars.  Kyoko Fukada, so beautiful that she is known as 'The Face of Japan' stars in one of the videos.  The 19-year old Fukada has already won the Japanese equivalent of an Academy Award and has released six CDs.  Yuka is the most active and well known of all the J-Idols. Currently she stars in no fewer than 5 different TV shows in Japan, where her work has earned her four 'Golden-Arrow' Awards in the past three years.  Yuka is also a member of the all-female band, Nitro.  The third video in this new live action series features the 'Race Queens,' 16 of the sexiest women from Japan's burgeoning car scene.  With their platform heels, mini-skirts, and bikini tops these girls give the concept of the 'auto show' a whole new dimension.

 

The first three titles in this series, which features the most exquisite beauties of Japan will all be out in September, and will be released exclusively on DVD.  The DVDs will include interactive menus, photo albums and other special features.