Six of the new series are strong shoujo titles, which should attract female readers. Crazy Love Story is a realistic high school tale of love, while Flower of the Deep Sleep, originally published in the shoujo anthology Asuka Comics, is about a girl who can dream the future. Cross is a gothic romance about a young tortured priest and a mysterious girl, who just might be his salvation, or his damnation. Tamayo Akiyama, a former member of Clamp, provides Hyper Rune, a futuristic shoujo adventure about a girl living with her mad scientist grandfather. The Queen's Knight, created by I.N.V.U.'s Kim Kang Won, is the story of a girl who must choose between living in a fantasy world with a magical knight or returning to the mundane reality of friends and family. The sixth shoujo series announced for the fall is not new in content, but in format--a new authentic manga edition of the shoujo classic Peach Girl by Miwa Ueda, which should find lots of new fans on its second go-round.
Not all of the new Tokyopop offerings target manga's growing female readership. The Guys Guide to Girls is the perfect accessory for the hapless otaku, who can't get a date. This popular series has reached 50 volumes in Japan and spawned an anime series and a PS2 game. Diabolo is a horror manga about two friends who sell their souls to the devil to save the life of another -- a series that should appeal to fans of the just-ended Demon Diary manga series.
The two other new Tokyopop titles announced for fall are comedies, which should have broad appeal: Dragon Voice, the story of a boy with a voice that can shatter an eardrum or perhaps push him to the top of the charts, and Hands Off, the strange tale of a boy who has an unusual type of ESP that can only be transmitted via physical contact.