Viz looks to art books, 'ani-manga' in 2005

At Publishers Weekly (subscription required), Viz's Liza Coppola discusses the manga publisher's plans for 2005, which include expanding "beyond traditional manga" into art books, character-profile books and "ani-manga" -- books created using anime cells:

The line of art books (among them the Art of Inuyasha), Coppola said, will be released under a separate Viz imprint. Hot titles for 2005 include several manga adaptations of the works of anime legend Hayao Miyazaki (My Neighbor Totoro) as well as Descendants of Darkness by Yoko Matsushita, Full Metal Alchemist by Arakawa Hiromu and ani-manga adaptations of Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (Feb.) and several Inuyasha titles (Nov. and Jan.)

Coppola also hinted that, like Tokyopop, Viz may start experimenting with original manga creators. "But we want to be smart about it. We've been approached, but we want the right fit. There's still so much content available to us from Japan.