I think the "short manga" is referring ot the Meine Liebe manga currently running in Hana to Yume. (It might
be one of the other HtY spin-ofs actually, can't remember.) Only it's not actually Kaori Yuki doing that
manga, it's someone else. I haven't heard anything else about it, really.
As for the TV series. It's also produced by Rondo Robe (potential Geneon license, anyone?) and the first epsiode
aired last week. I got a chance to see it this morning (in the raw, so i can't tell you a helluva lot about the
plot). The animation is *very* pretty, though rather a bit darker in color than most Bee Train shows. Unfortunately
the op/ed themes are completely incongruous with the series, and even outside of that are prretty mediocre in general.
:( Some series stats follow:
Director: Koichi Mashimo
Character Designer: Shiba Minako
Cast
Orpherus (Orpheus?): Sakurai Takahiro
Eduard: Seki Tomokazu
Camus: Hoshi Souichiro
Ludwig: Seki Toshihiko
Naoji: Ishida Akira
Sir issac: Koyasu Takehito