Manga News and Information
October, 2006Manga Series Hits Retail Shelves November 2006 First Pop Fiction Novel Series Arrives April 2007 Second Pop Fiction Novel Series Follows August 2007 A new Iron Wok Jan manga from Shinji Saijyo will begin serialization in Weekly Shonen Champion No.50, on sale 11/9. The new series will be titled "Iron Wok Jan: Summit Battle" According to the latest Weekly Jump Early Release Info, a new Bleach artbook will be released on December 4th. Norihiro Yagi's Claymore (currently being serialized in Monthly Shonen Jump) will be adapted into an anime TV series. More information will be available in the December issue of Monthly Jump, on sale 11/6. According to Weekly Jump, rumor has it that three current Weekly Jump series will be dropped soon, to be replaced by three new series:
During this year's XII Salón del Manga event, which took place in Spain from October 27th to October 29th, many large Spanish manga publishers announced their plans for the upcoming year, as well as new manga titles that will be released in late 2006 and early 2007. From Newsarama's Benjamin Ong Pang Kean comes an interview with Tokyopop’s Rising Stars of Manga winner Tania del Rio, who talks about her new book about her new book Mangaka America. RICHMOND, CA October 31, 2006 Share your thoughts on anime, manga and more on the new and improved blog and forum areas on the Infinity Studios, LLC website. Manga and Anime enthusiasts will be able to not only meet other enthusiasts, but utilize the many new features found on the new blog and forums to post images, add banners, create private forums and more! More information can be found on the company's website-www.infinitystudios.com. The latest blog post from adult manga publisher Icarus Publishing suggests that the company has licensed a yet-to-be-named manga. However, a thumbnail of a portion of the manga cover has been provide as a hint. Japanese blog Kodomo no Mousou recently posted a review of the book "The Secret of Osamu Tezuka's Original Pictures." According to the review, "the all-color illustration book is simply wonderful."
A special Detroit Metal City event took place last weekend at Tower Record in Shinbuya, where author Kiminori Wakasugi held an autograph session. Special products, T-shirts, and limited edition items were also sold. Detroit Metal City is a seinen/comedy manga by Kiminori Wakasugi currently serialized in Hakusensha's Young Animal, and the story revolves around a hard rock band. In its newest article "'Bleach' vs. 'Naruto'", ICv2 looks at VIZ Media's manga Bleach and Naruto, and the effect Cartoon Network has on them. From ANN comes an interview with Amy Reeder Handley, winner of Tokyopop's 4th Rising Stars of Manga contest, and author of the Fool's Gold manga. As many manga readers know, manga magazines often contain colored pages. Seinen magazines have a mild transition of color pages; they change from cream to light orange, and so on. On the other hand, Shounen magazines, like Shounen Jump and Shounen Sunday, and Shoujo magazines, like Ribbon and Ciao, use intense colors for their paper, like yellow, orange, green, etc. *Note the “color pages” discussed here is not the “full-color” pages that appear in the beginning of a chapter, but the actual color of the paper the ink is printed on. Deutsche Mangaka has translated an article from Sajonara titled "Mangaka made in Germany," which explores the German manga scene, and looks at a two-member mangaka team called DuO. Mangacast has more coverage on Yaoi Con and an interview with Lara Yokoshima, whose work is featured in DramaQueen's new RUSH anthology.
Naturally, Sunrise appealed to the Korean courts. However, Sunrise lost the appeal for the incredible reason that "In Korea, 'Gundam' is a general term for robots which appear in anime" (韓国では『ガンダム』とはアニメに登場するロボットの一般名詞である)! The "Gundam Trial" was so shocking to Japanese people that it had come to be seen as an urban legend. However, it was proven that it was no joke, but an actual trial. For more info, see here or here (創通＝Bandai). When "super robot" anime and manga were gaining momentum during the 80's, the popular shows weren't as easily accessible in South Korea as they are today. Surpassing even the modern fansubbers, people in South Korea began releasing Japanese animations as "Original South Korean Products" under different names, many of which were televised by Korean TV stations. Below are some examples of the "Original Korean Products" and their Japanese counterparts: Osamu Tezuka's Buddha, currently being released in the U.S. by Vertical, was mentioned in this week's Time Magazine. Source: ANN
Mangazine will explore other areas in Asian comic such as manhwa (Korean comics), manhua (Chinese comics), as well as European and American comics. The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) has released an updated report (PDF) on the status of the Japanese Publication Industry. According to the report, sales figure of manga tankoubon (a compilation volume) has increased 4.2%, while manga anthology sales has decreased by 2.6% compared to last year. As a result the entire manga market experienced a net decrease of 0.5% (around 502.3 billion yen). This weekend (October 27, 28 and 29), Dr. Masami Toku will appear in Caracas, Venezuela. Masami Toku is the special guest of the Anime and Manga Festival hosted by the Japan Embassy at Venezuela. She will be showing her research on "Shojo Manga Power!" BL publisher Iris Print is accepting short story submissions for its new "fairy tale and fantasy" anthology (currently unnamed), which wil be released in Summer 2007. The story has to contain between 3,000 and 12,000 words, with a theme of folklore, fairy tales, fantasy, and an element of male/male romance. Japanese 'Favo Comic Pack' available with European software ICv2 reports that manga publisher Broccoli Books has switched its bookstore distribution from Diamond Book Distributors to Publishers Group West.
Ao Yu-hsiang has created over 200 works in the last 30 years. His most popular series, Oolong Yuan (乌龙院), has a worldwide circulation of over 20,000,000 volumes. Today, Ao Yu-hsiang is called by many Chinese fans as the "God of Chinese Comic." To celebrate Ao Yu-hsiang's birthday, a special "Oolong Yuan Art Collection" artbook will be released. The artbook will contain various colored artworks and short stories from the Oolong Yuan series. Also, last Thursday it was announced that Oolong Yuan will be adapted into an 52-episode anime TV series in China next month. The Futuro Comunicação and Circuito Produções bring to Brazil: Video Games Live Brazil 2006 on November 19th. Video Games Live is a musical show based on the universe of electronic games. Video Games Live is organized by musician Tommy Tallarico and music teacher Jack Wall, a North American game composer. A shojo manga lecture by researcher Masami Toku will take place in São Paulo (Brazil) on November 1st at 08:00 p.m. Masami Toku is currently an associated teacher of Artistic Education at California State University, Chico (U.S.A.), she will travel to Brazil to talk about the "Power of Girl's Comics" project. The lecture, "The Force of the Shojo Manga," will discuss the values and contributions of the Japanese manga-style drawing to the visual culture, the Japanese society, and young people from around the world. The event will be endorsement by JBC Publishing and Fundação Japão. |
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. |
One of the most well-known Spanish manga and anime website, 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
