From Japan Focus comes a translation of an interview with Nakazawa Keiji, mangaka of Barefoot Gen:

His masterpiece is Barefoot Gen, in which Gen is a stand-in for Nakazawa himself. His works from Barefoot Gen on convey much bitter anger and sharp criticism toward a postwar Japanese politics that has never sought to affix responsibility on those who carried out the dropping of the atomic bomb and the aggressive war (the U.S. that dropped the atomic bomb, and the emperor and Japan’s wartime leaders who prosecuted the reckless war that incurred the dropping of the atomic bomb).

Nominees for this year's Angoulême International Comics Festival have been announced, and Precocious Curmudgeon has a list of the nominees for the manga category:

Sélection Officielle:

• Amer Beton – Integrale (Tekkonkinkreet), by Taiyo Matsumoto, published by Tonkam
• Death Note, by Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba, published by Kana

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According to MangaCast, Broccoli Books has licensed the manga Honoka Lv. Up!, written by Akiyoshi Ohta and drawn by Matsuda98. The manga will be sold for $10.99 each.

MediaWorks will release a special issue of Dengeki G's Festival! titled Dengeki G's Festival! ANIME. The first issue of Dengeki G's Festival! ANIME will be released on February 9th. Each issue of the magazine will run a feature on a specific anime, the series covered in the first issue will be Shakugan no Shana II. The magazine will also come with various Shakugan no Shana merchandises, including a Shana figurine, a Fumina Konoe figurine, and playing cards.

Source: Chuosha

Issue 27 of ImagineFX, an U.K. digital art magazine, was released as a special manga-themed edition subtitled "Manga mayhem!". Some of the special features included in the issue are:

Manga mayhem! The beautiful cover art is by Kyoung Hwan Kim – who we discovered after he sent in his art for FXPose.

Manga Artist Q&A
Everything you need to know about creating amazing manga art

Manga workshop
Michael Chang Ting Yu shows how you can tell your fantasy story though your cover or poster art, using Painter and Photoshop

Anime studios special
GONZO, Bee Train and Studio Ghibli open their doors in this anime special

Source: Anime UK News

YaoiSuki reports that 801 Media has delayed its new acquisition announcement to Valentine's Day. Also mentioned is that 801 Media is having some problems with its printer:

Our printer printed the pages of both The King of Debt and The Prime Minister's Secret Diplomacy out of order...twice. So we had to print the books 3 times!!! We have some advanced copies on sale at the 801 Media Inc. store, also Akadot Retail has some copies and so does Right Stuf International.

Finally, Deux Press now has a MySpace account.

XinGanXian (literally New Front), one of the most popular Chinese anime & manga magazine, was suspended a few years ago due to a variety of reasons. Recently, an announcement was sent out by the old staff of XinGanXian, stating that the magazine will be revived under the name XinGanXian - Light Novel.

According to the announcement, the content of the new magazine will be centered around light novel and information related to anime and manga. Also included will be serializations of short original Chinese manga, stories, and other special features.

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From Comics212 comes an analysis of the media kit of ADV's new magazine PiQ. Available are some more information on the magazine, as well as the concept cover for issue one:

According again to the Media Kit, the new editorial breakdown for PiQ will be:

• 20% Anime
• 20% Gaming
• 20% U.S. Comics / Japanese Manga
• 20% Genre Movies / TV / Home Video
• 10% Toys / Collectibles
• 5% Gadgets / Hi-Tech Gear
• 5% Lifestyle (fashion, accessories, events)

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending January 13th:

• #127 - Naruto, Volume 27 - Viz - (Last week: #87)
• #142 - Naruto, Volume 26 - Viz - (Last week: #93)

According to Papo de Budega, the Association for Commemoration of the Centenarian of Japanese Immigration in Brazil has officially announced activities for its commemorations.

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