Tokyopop has announced the publication of the first volumes of four new shoujo series in December.  Shoujo titles, such as Tokyopop's Fruits Basket, which are intended primarily for a female audience, have continued to perform exceptionally well in U.S. bookstores during 2004.  Three of Tokyopop's quartet of new releases, President Dad, Love or Money, and Neck and Neck are from Korea.  Tokyopop pioneered in the releasing of Korean shoujo manhwa with Kim Kang Won's I.N.V.U., a relationship-driven comedy/drama about a high school girl, and the three manhwa titles releasing in December all feature teenage protagonists.

President Dad is the story of a gawky adolescent whose father becomes President of Korea.  The feisty 15-year-old heroine of Love or Money is not shy at all, she is a budding entrepreneur so obsessed with money that she sets up a loan-sharking operation, while Dabin Choi, the central character in Neck and Neck is an underworld princess, a domineering take-no-prisoners teen who falls for the son whose gangster father is her dad's biggest rival.

The lone new shoujo manga series announced today is Mouryou Kiden: Legend of the Nymphs, a fantasy from former CLAMP member Tamayo Akiyama.  Mouryou Kiden takes place in a land that has been shrouded in fog for over 1,000 years.  Unlike the 'normal' teenage protagonists of the three manhwa series, Ayaka, the heroine of this heroic fantasy saga is the daughter of a deity.