From YaoiSuki comes a brief talk with CPM's John O'Donnell regarding their company's licensing dispute with Japanese BL publisher Libre Publishing:

Since putting up their notice, O'Donnell says Libre has not taken any action to settle the matter, and even refuses to sit down with O'Donnell or any other CPM representatives to try and work it out. Libre has not filed a lawsuit. He hopes that Libre will bring their lawyers to the U.S. so that the matter can be settled, but thinks that they are trying to deliberately harm the sales of the books until CPM's license expires so that they can license the series to another company.

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ANN reports that mangaka Susumu Katsumata, winner of the Grand Prize of the 35th Japanese Cartoonists' Association Awards, passed away on December 3rd due to melanoma:

He was 63 years old. Only close family members and relatives will be requested to attend his funeral, and his chief mourner will be his oldest son Daichi.

Core Magazine's adult manga magazine Comic Mega Plus will come to an end with the release of volume 50. A new adult manga magazine, titled Comic 0 EX (Comic Zero EX), will succeed Comic Mega Plus. The first issue of Comic 0 EX will be released on December 10th.

Top 10 manga (12/05) according to Tohan:

1. Vagabond (27)
2. REAL (7)
3. Pluto (5)
4. Berserk (32)
5. Kimi ni Todoke (5)
6. Detroit Metal City (4)
7. Nodame Cantabile (19)
8. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (16)
9. Kaze Hikaru (23)
10. Team Medical Dragon (15)

Additional Rankings:

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The winners of the 2007 Japanese Media Arts Festival have been announced. One grand prize, four excellence prize, and one encouragement prize were given in each of the four categories. Below are the winners of the manga category:

• Grand Prize:
• Mori No Asagao by Mamora Gouda

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On November 28th, a Kodansha employee, pretending to be a college student conducting marketing research, sent email surveys to Japanese manga bloggers to obtain "confidential" information on Japanese manga blogs. Kodansha has released an apology on their website stating that "this is an 'abominable act,' and the person responsible will be dealt with accordingly."

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Weekly Jump Reader's Journal reports that "throughout Jump's 40th anniversary year, the spine of each and every Jump issue will connect together to form one massive image to celebrate the anniversary."

Also, several new series are starting in Weekly Shounen Jump in December:

• Jump No.1 (12/3)
  - Psyren (PSYREN ??????????????????) by Iwashiro Toshiaki
• Jump No.2 (12/10)
  - K.O.SEN by Murase Katsutoshi
• Jump No.3 (12/17)
  - Muddy by Sho Aimoto
• Jump No.4/5 (12/25)
  - Shinritsu Mesopotamia Gakuen (??????????????????????????????) by Oe Shinichiro

A new medical manga titled Saijou no Meii (???????????????) by Takashi Hashiguchi, mangaka of Yakitate!! Japan, will begin serialization in Weekly Shounen Sunday No.1 (12/5).

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Anime! Anime! reports that Toranoana, one of the biggest doujinshi retail chain in Japan, has launched an online stores that provides downloads of doujin manga, CG arts, doujin games and more. ANN has more:

The store gives d??jin creators the option of using Keyring PDF, a copy-protected version of Adobe's Portable Document Format standard. Most of the currently available manga and art collections sell for well under 1,000 yen (US$9.00), and many games sell for under 2,000 yen (US$18.00).

The Japanese search engine goo has posted its top 50 most searched mangaka names in 2007:

1. Hirohiko Araki (???????????????)
2. Natsuki Takaya (????????????)
3. Arina Tanemura (????????????)
4. CLAMP (CLAMP)
5. Yutsuko Chusonji (??????????????????)
6. Saibara Rieko (???????????????)
7. Minekura Kazuya (???????????????)
8. Yukari Ichijou (???????????????)
9. Hayao Miyazaki (?????????)
10. Mayu Shinjo (????????????)

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Mangaka Keiichiro Oki has passed away on November 19th. Keiichiro Oki is mostly known for his pachinko and pachisuro manga.