ADV President and CEO John Ledford told ICv2 that ADV has now licensed more than 1,000 volumes of manga and Korean manwha.  'Don't worry, we're not publishing them all in 2004,' Ledford joked, but he did note that ADV is interested in coordinating the release of manga and anime titles based on the same property.  While this is not always possible, it can be effective as in the case of ADV's successful launch of both the anime and manga of Full Metal Panic.  Ledford told ICv2 that ADV has been working on the launch of its manga line for some time, and the company has also spent considerable time preparing a line of anime/manga-based toys and merchandise, which it will debut at Toy Fair in February (see 'ADV Launches Toy Division').

ADV, which launched its manga line late in 2003, has scored some notable successes.  Its first release, Full Metal Panic, reached number 7 on the BookScan chart of graphic novels sold in bookstores (see 'ADV's First Manga Debuts at #7'), and another ADV release, Azumanga Daioh, has also performed extremely well.