At the San Diego Comic Con International, Bandai Entertainment announced a new line of manga, which will debut in 2005.  Bandai will join ADV, Media Blasters, Central Park Media, Viz and Tokyopop in combining anime distribution, which typically involves the production of an American adaptation of the original Japanese series, with the publication of English language manga editions. 

Bandai's Jerry Chu told ICv2, 'We want to publish a limited line of books based on high profile properties.  We're commissioning original stories based on established properties.'  Chu was not ready to name any of the properties Bandai is considering for its manga line, but he did indicate that Bandai was interested in cross-promoting anime and manga, adding more weight to the logical inference that Bandai will choose its manga titles (where possible) from its extensive list of anime properties. 

In many cases Bandai Entertainment will be able to cross-promote its anime/manga properties with toys and video games produced by Bandai's sister companies Bandai America and Bandai Games.

Bandai plans to commission artists and writers in both Japan and the U.S. to produce original stories for the new manga line. 

Chu told ICv2 that in an effort to distinguish its titles Bandai was considering providing dust jackets for its line of trade paperbacks (trades with dust jackets are more common in Japan than in the U.S.). Although he wasn't ready to provide the standard cover price for the new manga line, Chu told ICv2 that Bandai's manga would be 'priced competitively.'