Manga News and Information
November, 2006Alan Payne, Tokyopop's National Accounts Manager, will leave Tokyopop and join IDW as Vice President of Sales on January 2nd. Source: ICv2 Cybils, the 2006 Children's and YA Bloggers' Literary Awards, has announced its nominations, which includes a graphic novel category with a number of manga nominated. Source: MangaBlog (LOS ANGELES, November 27, 2006) - Seven Seas Entertainment, in cooperation with Square Enix of Japan, is pleased to announce the acquisition of two hit Japanese manga series--the off-the-wall harem comedy He is My Master and the delightful fandom romp Sota-Kun no Akihabara Funtouki.
After months of waiting, Big Comic Spirit has finally announced that the "final chapters" of 20th Century Boys will begin serialization in Big Comic Spirit No. 4+5 New Year's issue, on sale December 25th. Also announced is a new manga from Tohru Fujisawa (of GTO fame) titled Animal Joe, which will start in issue 3 of Big Comic Spirit, on sale December 18th. A new series called Yuru Yuru Future by Haruko Kashiwagi will begin in Big Comic Spirit No. 6+7. After going on hiatus for over a year, The Law of Ueki + (plus), the sequel to Tsubasa Fukuchi's The Law of Ueki, will finally return in Weekly Shonen Sunday No.1, on sale December 6th. Also, after only 10 chapters, Yuuichi Itakura's manga Hand's will end in Weekly Shonen Jump No.1, on sale 12/4. Hara Taira (63), a popular cartoonist known for his frequent appearance on the quiz show "Quiz Derby," passed away at a hospital in Fujimi city in the Saitama Prefecture on November 10th. The cause of death was liver failure. The date of the funeral service has not been decided. Hara Taira has been contributing works to manga magazines since his teens, and he became a mangaka in 1963. His works such as "Gebageba Jihyou" and "Monrou-chan" are known for their nonsense gags and high spirit. Too lazy to read manga on your own? Why not use the Automatic Manga Reader? Macworld looks at the growth of technology and how it's affecting the way we read comics in "Excelsior! Digital comics on your Mac," included is an in-depth guide on how to read digital comics on a Mac. According to the latest issue of Big Comic Superior, Moonlight Mile by Yasuo Otagaki will be adapted into an anime TV series. Also announced was that the Moonlight Mile manga is on hiatus due to its author's illness. Volume 10 of VIZ Media's Fullmetal Alchemist ranked #146 on this week's USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending November 19. The animation Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), directed by Mamoru Hosoda, was nominated as one of the five candidates for the upcoming 2006 Japan SF Grand Prize (Nihon SF Taisho), held by the Japan SF Writers Club. The other candidates are: Ai no Monogatari by Hiromu Yamamoto, Shangri-la by Eiichi Ikegami, Tenku No Toride by Issui Ogawa, and Barubara Ikai by Moto Hagio. The Naruto anime will arrive in Brazil next year, when the anime debuts on Cartoon Network Brazil in January 01 in both Brazil and Latin America. Source: PB A preview of Takeshi Obata's upcoming manga Blue Dragon: Ral Ω Grado has appeared in the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Jump. Fruits Basket, the popular shojo manga by Natsuki Takaya, has finally ended in issue 24 of Hakusensha's manga anthology Hana to Yume (final chapter 136). Fruits Basket is currently being published in the U.S. by Tokyopop. Lillian Diaz-Przybyl interviews June Kim, creator of Tokyopop's 12 Days.
According to the report, while the domestic Japanese publishing business has been on a decline with the decrease in operating profits and such, Gentosha's revenue is still on the same level as its revenue during the same period last year. Although Gentosha's results this year were affected by the decline of the overall publishing business, the comics business itself showed a positive trend. The number of books published by Gentosha this year is 12 points higher compared to last year's 98 points; however, the number of reprints have decreased. Sales in the first half of 2006 amounted to 3,864 million yen (-4.3% from last year), and operation profit was 770 million yen (-28.0% from last year). Manga top 10 according to Tohan. Tokyopop interviews Pop Mhan, past Rising Stars of Manga U.K. & Ireland winner and creator of Blank. Source: MangaBlog After a two months long hiatus, Hiroya Oku's popular seinen manga Gantz finally returns in this week's Young Jump under the name Gantz: 2nd Phase. With the return of Gantz, Hiroya Oku currently has two series running in Young Jump, Gantz and Me-Teru no Kimochi. Kadokawa Shoten has announced a new "game and goods amusement magazine" titled "Comp Selections" (コンプセレクションズ). The first issue of the magazine will be released on 11/24. Comp Selections will contain game summaries, information on game characters, goods information, staff column, interviews, and seiyuu interview. A manga will also be serialized in this magazine: Really? Really! Prelude by Kusaka Shiroi (Original Story: N Los Angeles, CA -- November 21, 2006 - Planetwide Media, a pioneer in interactive personalized media software, and TOKYOPOP, the leader of the Global Manga Revolution, announced today the upcoming release of TOKYOPOP Manga Creator(tm) self-publishing software and TOKYOPOP packs of digital content.
Also starting in Weekly Shonen Jump: Shonen Jump No.2 11/21/06 (Los Angeles, California) - Pop Japan Travel, established in 2003 by Digital Manga, Inc., is proud to announce its long-due site renewal, along with the showcase of the much-anticipated Spring 2007 tour schedule. The new site layout (www.popjapantravel.com), which boasts easier navigation and a much more attractive design, ushers in with it a new era for Pop Japan Travel. There are exciting things going on, and we are eager to bring them to you! |
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. |
2006 marks the 25th anniversary of Kodansha's seinen magazine 
When Naoki Urasawa's 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
