Via Thought Balloons, Tokyopop is going to develop NBA sports cine-manga. Huh. Cine-manga, for those of you who might not be familiar with the genre, is a comic book created out of images that weren’t originally intended to be in comic book form so you end up with “manga” created from things like the Lizzie McGuire tv show, Spy Kids movie or even stranger, the Akira movie or the Cardcaptors tv series. At least this is what I’m assuming cine-manga is, I don’t think I’ve read one.

I’m really annoyed that the players getting their cine-manga are Shaq, Tim Duncan, Jason Kidd, and Kevin Garnett.

Where is Dirk Nowitzki? He has all the elements that you’d need for a manga:

He is German. German characters or references to Germany appear in manga and anime all the time (right now all that comes to mind are Asuka from Neon Genesis Evangelion, that odd series about men who work in a flower shop and fight crime, Weiss Kreuz, and one of the psychic kids in Mai the Psychic Girl, but I’m sure there are more).

He has an Enigmatic Mentor, Holger Geschwinder.

He has a Sidekick with Freaky Hair, Steve Nash.

He has an Eccentric and Crazy Boss, Mark Cuban.

All of the qualities listed above would contribute greatly to any storyline. I’m so upset at Tokyo Pop and their blatant anti-Dallas Mavericks discrimination!