Seven Seas Entertainment, which launched a line of OEL (original English language) manga titles in late 2004 (see 'Seven Seas to Publish Original Manga'), has announced its first licensed Japanese titles, Kouhei Kadono's Boogiepop novels and manga.  Fans familiar with the supernatural/horror/thriller Boogiepop anime (released on DVD in the U.S. by Right Stuf and aired on the G4 network) realize that in spite of the somewhat incongruous title, this is a property that is 'mature' entertainment in the best possible sense of the word -- and now they can explore the novels that spawned the phenomenon.

Released in February of 1998, Kouhei Kadono's first Boogiepop novel won the Dengeki Game Novel Contest and spawned a series of titles that now has over 2 million copies in print in Japan.  Seven Seas plans to publish the first Boogiepop novel in English in February followed by the second and third novels in the series later in 2006.  Manga and anime-related novels have fared surprisingly well in the U.S. market (see 'Anime/Manga Related Novels Boffo').  In 2006 Seven Seas also plans to issue both volumes of the Boogiepop Doesn't Laugh manga series drawn by character designer Kouji Ogata as well as the two-volume Boogiepop Dual manga illustrated by Masayuki Takano (Blood Alone).

Yayoi Ihne, who worked at both Viz and Del Rey, is in charge of licensing at Seven Seas, and the publisher promises that more titles will be announced in 2006.