Tokyopop Announces "Goldfisch" Manga Being Developed as Anime

Tokyopop®, a POP Media Holdings company and global manga leader, is thrilled to announce their adaptation of Nana Yaa’s Goldfisch manga into an animated series.

With the script being written by Simon Thummet, the project will be produced by Tokyopop together with European animation studio Studio Seufz in Stuttgart, Germany. Funding is provided by the Media and Film Funding of Baden-Wuerttemberg (MFG Medien- und Filmgesellschaft Baden-Württemberg), whose jurors in their last award session of the year approved around 3.7 million EUR for a total of 23 projects in the fields of script development, preproduction and production, with 15,200 EUR awarded to Goldfisch for the initial phase.

“Anime, just like manga, is becoming more and more global,” said Stu Levy, founder of Tokyopop.  “We’re very excited to be in business with Studio Seufz, who is a brilliant and talented animation studio – their sensibility is very modern and in-line with both anime and traditional Western animation.”

“Having the chance a develop a German-flavored shonen anime is just about as exciting as it can get. Being huge fans of Nana Yaa’s Goldfisch manga, we are grateful for Tokyopop bringing us on board and sharing their expertise in the anime and manga industry,” said Stefan Michel, producer at Studio Seufz.

One of the first titles in Tokyopop’s International Women of Manga initiative, two volumes of Goldfisch are already available in English and in Nana Yaa’s native German from Tokyopop, and the first volume has been released in French (as Goldfish) by nobi nobi!. A new take on the legend of King Midas, the shonen action adventure title is inspired by the tales Yaa heard from her grandmother when she was growing up.

Say hi to Morrey Gibbs! A fisher-boy in a flooded world overrun with dangerous mutated animals known as “anomals”, he’s got his own problems to worry about. Namely, how everything he touches turns to gold! Sure it sounds great, but gold underpants aren’t exactly stylish — or comfortable!

Together with his otter buddy and new inventor friend Shelly, Morrey’s on a quest to rid himself of his blessing-turned-curse and undo the tragedy it caused. That is of course, if they can dodge the treasure-hungry bounty hunters…

Nana Yaa is now among the most productive artists in the German manga scene and has already published numerous amateur manga and short stories, including the Boys Love webcomic, Crushed!!. In addition to her contributions to anthologies by the independent publisher Schwarzer Turm, her first full-length work, Patina was published by Droemer Knaur in 2016. Her slice-of-life drama MCS was awarded Doujinshi of the Year in 2016.