At the San Diego Comic-Con Yen Press announced nine new manga series for 2010 headlined by Clamp’s Kobato, which will debut next May when Yen will publish the first two volumes in the ongoing series (which has reached 3 volumes in Japan) simultaneously.  Clamp’s latest is a seinen manga, which appears in Shogakukan’s Monthly Sunday Gene-X manga magazine, and features a mysterious heroine, who is sweet and perky, but also naïve and clumsy, and who inspires protective responses from the males around here, most notably her neighbor and co-worker Fujimoto. 

 

Nine installments of the Kobato manga, which in many ways embodies the highly prevalent “kawaii” and “moe” trends in anime and manga, appeared in Newtype USA, before that publication folded, and this exposure has certainly whetted the appetites of Clamp’s American fans.  A 24-episode Kobato anime produced by Madhouse is due to debut in Japan this fall.  For more on Kobato, see ICv2’s interview with Yen’s Kurt Hassler.

 

Other new series announced at San Diego include two, 2-volume shojo adaptations of popular anime series, Romeo x Juliet, and Darker Than Black (both of the anime were released here in the States by Funimation).  By focusing mainly on the girl, Kana, Tensai Okamura’s adaptation of Darker Than Black differs substantially from the anime upon which it is based, while the gender-bending antics of Romeo x Juliet lend themselves perfectly to a shoujo adaptation.  Other shoujo series announced at the SDCC include the 5-volume (complete) Dragon Girl by Toru Fujieda, an anthology of science fiction stories by Sumomo Yumeka (Natsukashi Machi no Rozion), Otome-teki Koi Kakumei Love Revo!!, a shoujo harem comedy about an overweight girl who is sent to visit her cousin who lives in an apartment house filled with cute guys, and Bunny Drop, an ongoing slice of life josei (older teens and up) manga series by Yumi Unita about an unwanted little girl who is adopted by a teenager that has reached five volumes in Japan.

 

The two shonen series announced by Yen at San Diego are Sasameke, a 5-volume (complete) soccer-themed sports manga by Ryuuji Gotsubo, and Omamori Himari, an ongoing shonen ecchi (erotic) harem comedy by Milan Matra that has reached five volumes in Japan.