Takehiko Inoue, creator of Slam Dunk and Vagabond and one of the most popular manga-ka in Japan, made a rare U.S. appearance at the opening of a new Kinokuniya bookstore in Bryant Park, New York City.  At the appearance Viz Media announced the 2008 release of several Inoue projects including the REAL and Slam Dunk manga series as well as a pair of illustrated art books, SUMI and WATER.

REAL, which is the story of a trio of wheelchair basketball players, is a 6-volume (so far) seinen series that first appeared in Shueisha's Young Jump in 2001 and which will debut in North America in July of 2008.  Three very different young men, who are confined to wheelchairs because of very different reasons (a motorcycle accident, bone cancer, a car accident while driving a stolen bike), have one thing in common -- a love of basketball--in this 16+ rated manga series.  The first five volumes in this series, which stresses character development as much as it does sport, have sold over 8 million copies in Japan.

In September Viz Media will release the first volume in Inoue's 31-volume Slam Dunk, a shonen series that has sold over 100 million volumes in Japan.  Slam Dunk is so popular in Japan that in a poll of close to 80,000 people attending the Japan Media Arts Festival this year Slam Dunk was voted the #1 manga of all time.  Slam Dunk is not entirely new to these shores--in 2003-2004 Gutsoon! Entertainment serialized Slam Dunk in its Raijin Comics manga anthology magazine and Toei released four DVD volumes of the 101-episode Slam Dunk anime series in the U.S. (via Geneon) in 2005.