New York, NY (February 25, 2006) – America’s leading name in Yaoi graphic novels, Be Beautiful, is proud to announce the acquisition of the first film based on the works of best-selling yaoi artist Ms. Youka Nitta: Embracing Love, a two part OVA directed by Yoshikata Nitta. 

Ms. Nitta traveled from Tokyo to attend the New York Comic Con as a Guest of Honor, and was present at the announcement made during the Be Beautiful panel held February 25.  "I have been waiting with anticipation to see how the anime would turn out," confessed Ms. Nitta.  "It was everything I hoped for, and more.  I thought the artwork was translated beautifully onto the video monitor."

Be Beautiful publisher Masumi Homma O'Donnell noted that the success of Brokeback Mountain was a testimony to the growing interest in yaoi among American women.  "There are more and more yaoi images appearing in American popular culture," she noted.   "Youka Nitta is one of the most popular of the yaoi artists in Japan, so it's only natural that she has such a growing audience here in the U.S."

Ms. Nitta is the author of one of the top-selling yaoi manga series in Japan, Embracing Love.  Currently available in America from the Be Beautiful label, Embracing Love portrays the dramatic relationships of two impossibly beautiful men, always the hallmark of a popular yaoi graphic novel, with three volumes already released. The film version of Embracing Love will receive its U.S. premiere later this year.

About Ms. Youka Nitta:
Ms. Youka Nitta is one of the most acclaimed Yaoi manga artists of our time.  Ms. Nitta started drawing manga in the 1980’s.  Her most important work is Embracing Love (“Haru wo Daiteita”) which put her in the top position in the world of Yaoi manga both in Japan as well as overseas.  Ms. Nitta's Embracing Love first appeared in a periodical magazine in 1997; it is still continuing after almost a decade.

Her uniquely dramatic drawing style and her excellently calculated elaborate storytelling create romantic tension through her work and are greatly loved by fans all over the world.

About Be Beautiful:
Be Beautiful is America's leader in the publication of yaoi manga graphic novels, aimed at college age and older female readers. Yaoi manga are illustrated romantic graphic novels, featuring stories about love and relationships between impossibly beautiful men, written by female artists for female readers.  Be Beautiful is an imprint of fifteen-year old Central Park Media, one of America's oldest publishers of Japanese anime and manga.
For more information on Be Beautiful, visit www.bebeautifulmanga.com.