Manga News and Information
May, 2007According to its latest blog post, Icarus Publishing has licensed Yamatogawa's Aqua Bless. Also mentioned is another manga titled Bikini no Reina Sensei by Chataro, the English title of which has yet to be determined. Manga Jouhou translates a brief report from Mainichi Communications on Comitia 80, an original manga convention held in Tokyo Big Sight on May 5th:
On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 for the week ending May 6th, Volume 14 of Viz's Naruto is the only manga on the list, ranking at #53. San Francisco, CA, May 10, 2007 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced its partnership with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco to produce the Manga Lounge which will complement the highly anticipated Tezuka: The Marvel of Manga exhibition. The Lounge will be open May 13 thru September 9, 2007 and coincides with the run of the exhibition, June 2 – September 9, 2007. The winners of the 11th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award (sponsored by Asahi Shimbun) have been announced: Grand Prize:
Shinsei (New Hope) Award:
Short Manga Prize:
Special Award:
Source: Yomiuri Online Winners of the 31st Kodansha Manga Award have been announced. Kodansha Manga Award is awarded annually to works published in the previous year by Kodansha. This year the winners are: Children's manga category:
Shounen manga category:
Monthly comics top 10 in the U.S. according to PWCW.
San Jose, CA, May 2007. Graphic novel publisher, DrMaster Publications Inc., has announced the release and availability of their newest manga license: Key Princess Story: Eternal Alice Rondo, volume 3!
The ostrich competition is on! But Jan is in big trouble this time ... every time he gets near one of the ostriches, they run for their lives! Jan's bloodthirsty nature drives their adrenaline up, making for very poor ostrich meat... But never fear, for Jan has a trusted ally! He's small, cute, golden and he's going to make Jan win this competition! Manga top 10 according to Tohan. Winners of the 1st FureComi Manga Competition are now avialable on Shonen Blood's website Web★Blood: Grand Prize: None
Outstanding Performance:
According to Champion Red Ichigo's news page, volume 2 of Akita Shoten's Champion Red Ichigo (6/5) will come with an announcement regarding a big project. Currently the only information available is that the project will be a follow-up to the manga My-HiME and My-Otome, more information will be available in Champion Red Ichigo issue 2. The new comic release list for May 9th 2007 from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast. After announcing its plan to release Naruto in Brazil, Panini Comics Brazil has since revealed more details regarding their plan to release the manga. According to Papo de Budega, the manga will be released in May. The format of the manga will be 13.7 x 20 cm, with approximately 192 pages a volume. Source: Papo de Budega From The Toronto Stars comes an interview with Svetlana Chmakova, creator of Dramacon. Also, David Welsh talks with Gonzalo Ferreyra, Viz's vice president of sales for home video, in his latest column of Flipped. Via: MangaBlog Celebrating its 3rd anniversary, anime news and review website Active Anime has announced a huge giveaway, the grand prize of which is worth over $500:
From Papo de Budega comes an interview with Satoshi Kon (今敏), one of the most popular anime directors today. Satoshi Kon is known for works such as Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, and more. In the interview Satoshi talked about many things, including his newest work, an adventure/fantasy movie for children. Complete interview available at Papo de Budega. MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking (05/05) in Japan according to Toranoana, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking (05/05) in Japan according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side. According to the latest TOC info, a new series titled Kiss☆Cry by Akira Segami (creator of Kagetora) will begin serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine issue 24, on sale May 16th. Source: Ultimatum Chat New York, NY -- April 15, 2007 -- Universal Animation, Inc is pleased to announce that MangaNEXT will be returning to the New York City metropolitan area for its second incarnation. MangaNEXT 2007 will begin on Friday October 5 and end on Sunday October 7, 2007, taking place at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands in Secaucus, New Jersey. The convention venue is just minutes away from the heart of New York City, and is conveniently located close to mass transportation and major highway routes.
Despite the difficulties many magazines are facing nowadays, Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump experienced a slight boost in sales in recent months. Last December, for the first time in 11 years, Shonen Jump's circulation increased from 2.75 million to 2.78 million. However, when compared with sales from 10 years ago, this number is hardly encouraging. To understand Shonen Jump's current situation, one needs to look at the magazine's historic circulation. Below is a look at Shonen Jump's historic circulation, as well as an updated list of the Shonen Jump manga circulation numbers (updated from the 2006 version). According to its official website, Ichijinsha will be releasing the first issue of a new game and anime bishojo manga magazine titled Chara☆Mel on June 25th.
Mimei Sakamoto, a manga artist for over 20 years and writes essays and manga for several Japanese magazine, recently expressed her opinion on manga textbooks: Free Comic Book Day, an annual promotional effort to promote lesser known comics to new readers, will take place on May 5th. 40 publishers will be participating in this year's event. Tokyopop, one of the participants, will be giving the Choose Your Weapon, a collection of Korean manhwa samples, for free. An interview with manga artist Moto Hagio is current available on Matt Thorn's website. The interview originally appeared in the shojo manga issue of The Comics Journal (issue number #269, July/August 2005). Via: MangaBlog |
Manga Zombie
Finale: Panelosophy
An ongoing conversation about the philosophy behind manga both in the U.S. and abroad. Manga Ranking
Monthly charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. |
San Jose, CA, May 2007. DrMaster Publication, Inc. has just announced the publication of Iron Wok Jan, volume 24, the continuation of the popular series by author Shinji Saiyjo.
Japanese manga anthologies are one of the foundations of Japan's manga culture. Most popular series are first serialized in manga anthologies before being released in the tankoubon format. Despite the success manga is enjoying around the world, recent reports indicate that Japan's domestic manga market have gone into a decline. As a result, manga publishers are finding it difficult to make a profit from manga anthologies. Last month, Weekly Shonen Magazine's circulation 
In March 2007, several publishers were allowed to 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
