Los Angeles, CA (June 1, 2005) - TOKYOPOP Inc. shows that not every lost soul is a lost cause. The country's #1 publisher of manga shares the secrets of the dead in Bizenghast, the Gothic tale of a haunted girl and the ghostly New England hamlet in which she lives. Bizenghast provides a window into the strange and spooky world that exists just beyond our perception. Fans of the burgeoning Gothic Lolita scene -- and cosplayers -- in particular will delight in this chilly waltz through the pale moonlight.
Dinah, a young teenage girl who lost her parents tragically, must now live with her aunt in a huge and scary house in Bizenghast. Though she has moments of clarity, Dinah is out of touch with reality. She exists on the brink of madness, allowing her to see the ghosts that inhabit the town, but also the gloomy house in which she lives. But nothing can hold a candle to what happens when Dinah and Vincent -- her champion and admirer -- stumble upon the ruins of the town's darkest secret and are forced to enter into a contract the likes of which are eerily ungodly, to say the least.
"I'm so excited about this book!" enthuses TOKYOPOP's Aaron Suhr, series editor. "For the last few months I have been dressing up like Dinah and hanging around mortuaries and graveyards hoping to have a haunted experience like in the story. So far I've only been accosted by vagrants and some skater kids who tore my fishnets."
Creator M. Alice LeGrow spent much of her early childhood in Europe, and later moved with her family to Connecticut. Much of her work is influenced by a combination of a youth spent in Germany, her study of European art and architecture, and the ghost stories and legends of New England. She attended the Savannah College of Art and Design and received a BFA in sequential art. LeGrow was discovered during TOKYOPOP's annual Rising Stars of Manga� competition. She is also an avid cosplayer and many of her creations may be viewed at www.bizenghast.com.
About TOKYOPOP®
As the largest English-language publisher of manga in the world, TOKYOPOP is hailed as a leading youth-oriented entertainment brand. TOKYOPOP's innovative product extensions include its pioneering Cine-Manga® book format, which features colorful flavors of pop culture's hottest films, television shows and music videos. The company has expanded its property reach beyond publishing - TOKYOPOP's television series have been broadcast in the United States on Cartoon Network, Showtime and G4Media, and are released on DVD, with consumer products available at all major retail outlets. The company's global reach has recently expanded to Europe, with new offices in the UK and Germany, in addition to its Los Angeles and Tokyo operations. With nearly 28 million books in print, TOKYOPOP's award-winning catalogue of licensed and original properties features more than 200,000 pages of manga compiled over nearly 1,000 manga volumes. Visit www.TOKYOPOP.com for additional information.
