And the reason...

MangaCast points out that Go! Comi has licensed Amemiya and Ichihara's manga 07-Ghost. MangaBlog has more.

From Okazu comes an interview with yuri translator Anastasia Moreno:

8) What's your favorite and least favorite thing about your job?

My favorite part of the job is to find little in-jokes in a story (that are totally apparent to native Japanese people but often overlooked by Americans) and being able to explain it in the translation notes. Unfortunately for Strawberry Panic, the whole story was a big parody, so I had nothing to add...

Japanese fansite Takahiro no Kenkyuukan reports that recently Ichijinsha has released readership data of their magazine for potential advertisers. Canned Dogs has a summary of the data in English.

Broccoli Books Blog points out that a preview (PDF) of Natsumi Mukai's Nui! volume 1 is now available. The manga will be release on June 23rd.

IGN has published an extensive article on Tokyo's Akihabara district titled "Next Stop: Tokyo's Akihabara District."

We've all had the unfortunate encounter. It comes in the papers, on the internet, creeping discretely through the bit feature sections of local news, or splashed garishly across the "Arts" or "Business" sections of major outlets. Yes, the manga gimmick article is an old friend, albeit one you wish would simply stop visiting.

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In April, Shueisha announced that PEACH-PIT's popular seinen manga Rozen Maiden, which was discontinued last year in Gentosha's Comic BIRZ, will resume serialization in Young Jump.

In accordance with Rozen Maiden's move to Young Jump, Shueisha will re-release the Rozen Maiden series under its seinen comic imprint Young Jump Comics.

The first volume of the new version of Rozen Maiden was released on April 28th, 2008.

From MangaCast comes news of several new licenses from Deux Press and Aurora Publishing (via Shuchaku East):

Aurora:

• HitoHira by Kirihara Idumi

Deux Press:

• Shiba to Issho. by Kirishima Tamaki
• Lovers & Souls by Miyamoto Kano
• Two of Hearts by Miyamoto Kano
• Maid in Heaven by Shimada Hisami
• Oh, My God by Shino Natsuho
• Heavenly Body by Kanzaki Takashi

According to Canned Dogs, Yasuhiro Kano's Mx0 and Mizuki Kawashita's Hatsukoi Limited are both coming to an end in upcoming issues of Weekly Shonen Jump.

However, Weekly Jump reports that several new series are starting as well:

#25 (19/05)
Shimabukuro Mitsutoshi / Toriko (New Serie)
To Love (Pc)

#27 (02/06)
Hamada Kôsuke / Basket Mono (New Serie)

From otaku blog Akibanana comes an interview with Okura Atsuhisa:

Okura Atsuhisa, 39, a Kodansha Award laureate known for his work in the November 2007 edition of Wired. With the second volume of Moe USA in stores now, we decided to sit down with Okura to get to the bottom of the global move to educate otaku and experience Akihabara.

ANN points out that Kodansha's Morning 2 website has leaked news of the winner of the 2nd Morning International Manga Competition. According to the preview of the next issue of Morning 2, the winner is Fairy Tale by Taiwan's Meng-Lin Yu.

Deadline of the 3rd M.I.M.C. is September 30th, 2008.

Also, MangaCast has a "surprising" report on the latest issue of Morning 2.

ANN reports that Viz Media and Drawn and Quarterly will be attending this weekend's Free Comic Book Day to give away manga samples:

Antarctic Press, Del Rey, and Yen Press will also be offering free world manga. Viz Media's Shonen Jump magazine will distribute a free 32-page issue with samples of Naruto, Bleach, and Slam Dunk as well as short introductions to several other series. Drawn and Quarterly's Gekiga sampler will excerpt Yoshihiro Tatsumi's Good-Bye and Seiichi Hayashi's Red Colored Elegy from the early 1970s;

From ICv2 comes Bookscan's Top 20 Graphic Novels for April 2008, below are the top 10:

1. Naruto (28)
2. Vampire Knight (4)
3. Fruits Basket (19)
4. Batman: The Killing Joke
5. Hana-Kimi (23)
6. Vampire Knight (1)
7. Fullmetal Alchemist (16)
8. Death Note How to Read (13)
9. Naruto (27) w/Sticker

Top 10 manga (4/30) according to Tohan:

1. Hayate the Combat Butler (15)
2. Koukou Debut (11)
3. Kekkaishi (20)
4. Mahou Sensei Negima! (22)
5. Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu (11)
6. Otomen (5)
7. Inuyasha (53)
8. Kamen Rider Spirits (14)
9. Cat Street (8)
10. Emma (10)

Additional Rankings:

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HERNDON, VA – April 30, 2008 – Submit your entry and win a chance to get DLSite.com 2008 Calendar! 50 lucky winners are drawn from the pool.

DLSite.com is now running an annual Calendar Give-away Sweepstakes until May 10!

DLSite calendar features their mascot characters, with lovely stickers to mark special days. It is a very nice collectable item!

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SAN JOSE, CA - April, 2008 – DrMaster Publications has announced that The King of Fighters Art Book by Wing Yan & King Tung, Puri Puri vol. 5 by Chiaki Taro, and the long-awaited return of Dark Edge vol. 7 by Yu Aikawa, are all available now!

The King of Fighters Art Book
Gamers out there, your wait is finally over! All of your favorite characters are here in this explosive art book! Kyo, Iori, Mai, Terry, Geese and many more are all present and accounted for in this collection. Original illustrations produced by artists Wing Yan and King Tung for the long running comic series in Hong Kong, have been compiled in a collection that has never been seen before! If you loved the fighting game and didn't get enough of The King of Fighters comics, this art book is a MUST-HAVE for you!

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