ICv2 has picked up a few more Anime Expo tidbits from Anime News Network’s news coverage of the show: Tokyopop is bringing back the Rising Stars of Manga competition, Studio Trigger is working on a new Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt anime, and the small publisher Denpa has licensed another lit-manga title by panpanya.
Studio Trigger revealed that it is working on a new Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt project, something that it had hinted at earlier. FUNimation first acquired the rights to the original series in 2011 (see “‘Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt’”); Dark Horse published the one-volume manga in 2015 and confirmed at their panel that they will be reprinting it.
Tokyopop announced the return of Rising Stars of Manga (RSoM) during its Anime Expo panel. The publisher launched the competition in 2002, offering aspiring artists and writers a chance at cash prizes and publication. Creators submitted short comics, and the winners were included in an anthology of the same name (see “Ordering Rising Stars of Manga”); Tokyopop later signed some of them to create longer stories for its original English-language manga program. While the competition helped young creators get their first published comic, it was also criticized for the contracts, which some felt were unfair.
The theme of the new RSoM is “25,” a nod to Tokyopop’s 25th anniversary, and Levy said that Tokyopop will not take any IP rights; the creators will retain copyright to their works.
The publisher also announced four new manga licenses: Scramblues, by mame march, a boys-love story about a musician and the graphic designer who does his CD covers; The Snake Who Loved a Sparrow, by Nna Natsuo, a yaoi fantasy tale about humans who can shape-shift into animal forms; Be My Love, My Lord, by Adumi Nagano, a vampire romance; and My Coworker Has a Secret, by Mushiro, a workplace rom-com about an otaku who tries to keep her nerdy obsessions a secret.
The small publisher Denpa has licensed Fish Society, a collection of short stories by the manga-ka panpanya. This is Denpa’s third title by this creator: The first two are An Invitation from a Crab, which came out in 2018, and Guyabana Holiday, due out in October (see “ICv2 Interview: Ed Chavez on Denpa”).Source: ICv2
