Animation studio P.A. Works announced on Friday that it has launched a new eBook label named P.A. Books. The new label's debut work will be a novelization of P.A. Works' True Tears anime (seen right) by writer Tōru Fujimoto, with illustrations by Yumehito Ueda, the anime's character designer. The eBook is slated for release in May.

The 13-episode True Tears anime series premiered in 2008. P.A. Works animated the series as its first production as the main animation studio for an anime production. Bandai Visual USA previously released the series in 2008. Discotek Media licensed and released the series on DVD in August 2016.

The label is also slated to publish Kuromukuro: Byōsoku 29-man km no Bōrei (Kuromukuro: The Ghost Traveling 290,000 km/s), based on the studio's Kuromukuro anime. Writer Ryou Higaki ( The Eccentric Family 2 , Another ) is penning the book, with illustrations by Yuriko Ishii, the anime's character designer. The eBook is slated for June.

P.A. Books will also publish another novel temporarily titled Zoku Tari Tari (Continuation Tari Tari), based on its Tari Tari anime. Masakazu Hashimoto, the director of the anime, is penning the novel, and tanu, the anime's original character designer, is providing illustrations. The eBook is slated for July.

The label's website states that the label's aim is to produce short stories that will release every other week, in an attempt to emulate the feeling of watching a television anime series, and will continue to publish works based on P.A. Works anime. P.A. Works president Kenji Horikawa commented on the label, stating that it also allowed the studio to explore the stories of the studio's anime further without needing to gather all of the previous staff members or allot a significant budget. Horikawa added that in the future, the label will allow the studio to publish original novels, stories, and manga, and leave the possibility open to a producer choosing to adapt such stories as an anime.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web