Item 1: According to Comi Press, Takaya-sensei (Fruits Basket manga-ka) has a new manga which will debut on June 5 in the shoujo manga magazine Hana to Yume (where Fruits Basket was published on a weekly basis). The title of the new manga will be “Hoshi wa Utau” which translates to “Stars Sing” (Doesn’t sound like much, does it?). Based on the article, I guess this will be an unrequited love story.

Seeing as how much I have loved Fruits Basket, there’s no doubt I’ll be giving Takaya-sensei’s new title a try. The whole unrequited love bit is somewhat bothersome, but hopefully she’ll be able to pull it off. I’m going to try to pay attention to the manga rankings if I can to see how it does in Japan. No doubt, TokyoPop will be eying this with great interest considering how much of a cash cow Fruits Basket it. However, if TP does score the title, I hope they can get the same translators that Furuba had (Alethea Nibley and Athena Nibley).

Item 2: Fujishima-sensei is really on a roll lately. Granted his never-ending manga Ah! My Goddess is still running, but the series got a couple of TV series with some OVA episodes to boot (though I was unimpressed with them, he still got paid). Then, he’s doing some character design work for some game if I’m not mistaken. However, the really big item is the formation of another You’re Under Arrest anime TV series. This could be good or it could be bad (details from ANN here with an updated URL).

You’re Under Arrest has had the following anime titles (in order of their creation):

1. You’re Under Arrest OVA (4-episodes)
2. You’re Under Arrest (TV, the above 4 episodes edited for time plus 46 new episodes)
3. You’re Under Arrest Specials (TV, 20 8-minute episodes and 1 full-length episode)
4. You’re Under Arrest: The Movie (Theatrical movie)
5. You’re Under Arrest 2 (TV, 26-episodes)
6. You’re Under Arrest in America (OVA, 1-episode)

There was also a live-action “dorama” made, but it was pretty unwatchable.

Items 1 and 2 were licensed by AnimEigo as well as the full-lenth episode from item 3. ADV scored the rest of item 3 and item for. Item 5 & 6 remain unlicensed (I’m lobbying FUNimation).

Anyway, I hope the new anime will pick up where YUA2 left off, only this time, Miyuki and Ken’s romance needs to advance BIG TIME. I’m not saying I want them sleeping together, but I do want them to be a proper couple and get married when the series ends (minimum). So I’m guardedly optimistic about this one. I’m looking forward to hearing more about this.

Update: Here’s the official Japanese site with the apparent current look of Miyuki and Natsumi.