A round-up of various 2008 end-of-the-year reports and 2009 look-aheads from various sites:

• MangaLife RoundTable: End-of-2008-Wrap-Up [ MangaLife ]
• Top Ten Yuri Manga of 2008 [ Okazu ]
• 2008 Best New Manga [ About:Manga ]
• Coming Attractions: 20 Most Anticipated New Manga of 2009 [ About:Manga ]
• Looking Ahead: 10 Manga Trends and 5 Burning Questions for 2009 [ About:Manga ]
• 2008 Best Manga List - Continuing Series [ About:Manga ]
• The 2009 Wishlist [ Manga Widget ]
• New year wish list [ Icarus Blog ]
• 2008 continuing series [ Precocious Curmudgeon ]
• 2008 series conclusions [ Precocious Curmudgeon ]
• 2008 in Review and Predictions for 2009 [ The Anime Almanac ]
• A Farewell and Reflection of 2008 [ Kuriousity ]
• New Year's Greetings - Anime Style [ ANN ]
• Top 5 Things Anime Companies Did Right in 2008 [ AoD ]
• Changing of the Guard [ Manga Recon ]
• State of the Yaoi A-Press [ Yaoi Press ]
• Pay no attention to this update [ Momotato Daioh ]
• You Don't Want Your Manga on this List ~ End of 2008 Edition [ MangaCast ]
• Manga New Year 2009 [ MangaCast ]

Heisei Democracy, a blog "devoted to the latest in news, reviews, and opinion on the two-dimensional culture of Japan, with particular emphasis on the media (anime, manga, console games), ero (eroge, eroanime, eromanga, doujinshi), and hobby (PVC figures, garage kits, analog games) sides of the industry, and the culture and events surrounding them", has been inactive since September 2008. A few days ago, an announcement was posted announcing that the blog will resume operation.

Also, Ikimashou.net, another great otaku blog covering Japanese anime, manga, games and otaku culture in general that got its domain stolen at the beginning of 2008, is now back in action as well, and has made a post detailing what happened to the blog.

In late 2006, Leiji Matsumoto accused J-Pop singer Noriyuki Makihara of plagiarizing lyrics from the Galaxy Express 999 manga, and announced that he would like to hear an apology from Makihara. In 2007, Makihara Noriyuk filed a 22 million yen lawsuit against Leiji Matsumoto for "repeated demands for an apology and false accusation." Now Daily Yomiuri Online reports that the Tokyo District Court has ordered Leiji Matsumoto to pay 2.2 million yen in compensation for defaming Noriyuki Makihara:

The Tokyo District Court has ordered renowned manga artist Reiji Matsumoto to pay 2.2 million yen in compensation for defaming popular singer-songwriter Noriyuki Makihara in a case concerning Matsumoto's claim that Makihara wrote a song using words taken from one of his comics without permission.

Presiding Judge Misao Shimizu ruled Friday the phrases in question could not be considered overly similar and he ordered Matsumoto to pay compensation for saying on a TV program that Makihara had admitted plagiarism.

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In early December, former animeOnline news editor Gia announced the launch of Anime Vice, a new community-based anime site with sibling sites Giant Bomb (gaming) and Comic Vine (comics).

Also, a bit late, but Yaoi Press has moved its blog to a new address.

Finally, Manga Recon's Senior Manga Editor Katherine Dacey is stepping down, replaced by Michelle Smith.

Comic Market, or Comiket, is the world's largest comic convention where fans gather to buy and sell doujinshi comics, games, etc.

The event takes place twice a year. The latest one, Comiket 75, is taking place from 12/28 - 12/31. Below is a round up of some of the English coverages from around the internet:

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From Papo de Budega comes an interview with Queenie Chan, creator of Tokyopop's The Dreaming, which is also being released in Brazil by Lumus.

The 14th Salón de Manga de Barcelona took place in Spain between October 30th – November 2th. The event featured a variety of activities such as expositions, anime, and magazines, the Spanish section of the World Cosplay Summit, and other competitions.

Artists from the Japan's entertainment industry also appeared at the event: Kaiji Kawaguchi, (Eagle's mangaka), Yoshikazu Yasuhiko (Gundam: The Origin), Junko Mizuno (Cinderalla), art director Ian Lovett (the games Fable II). The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japan Foundation invited Takamasa Sakurai and Michihiko Suwa as well.

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From About.com:Manga comes an interview with Wendy Pini, the creator of Elfquest and a new yaoi manga-inspired adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe's Masque of the Red Death.

In this interview, Pini talks the backlash and criticism she has received from the comics industry from when Elfquest first debuted in 1978, mostly because of its anime-inspired character designs (which was unusual in 1978), her meeting with Candy Candy creator Yumiko Igarashi, and reactions from yaoi manga fans, straight and gay, when she debuted Masque of the Red Death at Yaoi-Con 2008.

Author of the Honey and Clover manga Chika Umino will draw the cover of Japanese pop group Dreams Come True's "Tsuretette Tsuretette" CD album, which goes on sale on November 12. She will also draw a 16-page "winter story" manga for the upcoming album.

Retailer news website ICv2 posted a four-part interview it conducted with CEO of Dark Horse Comics Mike Richardson. Richardson speaks on the impact of the ever-slowing economy on comic book sales, comic book online distribution, illegal file sharing, and also a hint at a "big" announcement for later this year.

"We have a huge announcement that I’ll tell you about later, very shortly. It will be a gigantic project working with another company. Obviously, that tidbit for you, to watch the skies..." Richardson told ICv2 regarding the announcement.