Manga News and Information
January, 2007Publishers Weekly reports new development on the bankruptcy of AMS:
The winners of Manga Jouhou's Win Before You Can Buy Contest has been announced. Don't know what to do with that extra money for Christmas? Now's the perfect to stock up on DMP books at Akadot Retail! Gardena, CA, January 4, 2007 – Akadot Retail (akadotretail.com), a division of Digital Manga, Inc., will be having a mega DMP sale for two weeks, with savings up to 83% off the retail price! Isao Yoshino of Yoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd. announced plans to add another branch to his company covering manga. According to the announcement, this spring Isao Yoshino plans to start a seinen magazine Comic Yoshimoto, for which professional comedians from his company will team up with professional artists to create 20-25 different stories. Yoshino expects the magazine to sell up to 250,000 issues each month. Yoshino also stated that he is considering releasing Comic Yoshimoto on the internet, or creating movies for its stories depending on the magazine's popularity.
The article invited three guests from the industry to talk about some of the major trends that appeared in the last year. The three guests were: Tomohiko Murakami (Critic/Editor), Go Sasakibara (Editor), and Kaori Tanaka (in charge of the Junkudo bookstore in Ikebukuro). Manga Trends in 2006 Manga became increasingly dependent on television. Tomoko Ninomiya's Nodame Cantabile sold over 19,000,000 copies after being adapted into a live-action TV drama, which also helped push the sale of Nodame Orchestra CD and other merchandise. A new manga titled Nennin Tsurebito by Akihito Yoshitomi (Ray, Eat-Man) began serialization in Magazine Z issue 2 (12/26). Also, a new manga by Katsu Aki, mangaka of Futari Ecchi, will start in Magazine Z issue 5 (3/26). Austin Osueke, the CEO of eigoMANGA, will be delivering a presentation on eigoMANGA's latest publishing and media projects at MACWORLD on the 10th of January at Noon (PST). Source: ActiveAnime On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending December 31, volume 12 of VIZ Media's Naruto ranked #77, while volume 15 of Tokyopop's Fruits Basket ranked #82.
Enjoying manga has always been about using one's eyes. To listen to a manga, people either have to watch the anime or listen to drama CDs. This situation is about to change with an ambitious new program from Kodansha's Monthly Magazine Z. On January 26th, a new website called www.yomishi.jp will be opened. Yomishi.jp will provide downloadable sound files from Yomishi (讀＜ヨミシ＞師) (literally reading masters). After downloading the sound file of their favorite manga, visitors can play the sound file, enjoying dialogues read by a professional manga reader while reading the manga. CMX has posted a Happy New Year message on the AoD forum, and made some comments regarding what's to expect in 2007:
The American Anime Awards is now open for public voting. MangaCast has a list of the entries in the Best Manga category: The American Library Association and Go! Comi announced today that the poster and bookmark based on You Higuri's manga series "Cantarella" are now available on the ALA Graphics website. This is the first time a Japanese manga artist has created a poster for the ALA Graphics program. All sales will benefit the programs and initiatives of the American Library Association. For more information, see the ALA Graphics website: In the latest issue of PWCW, Calvin Reid looks at the upcoming NY Comic-Con in "NYCC's Topalian Plans for Big Crowds." Also included is a brief interview with show organizer Greg Topalian. Sunyoung Lee talks about the popularity of Korean Manhwa in "The Koreans Are Coming: Manhwa in America." Ichijinsha announces that its 4-koma anthology Manga 4Koma KINGS Palette will become a monthly anthology (from bi-monthly) as of Vol.3, on sale January 25th. MangaBlog's Brigid interviews Kurt Hassler, the former Graphic Novel Buyer at Borders and the most powerful person in American manga publishing who went on to establish Yen Press. About ComiPress ComiPress reports manga news and trends from around the world, although stories relating to the U.S. and Japan tend to appear more often than those from other countries. Sometimes news involving anime, gaming, and other otaku-related areas of interest are also reported.
Part 1 of the article introduces the readers to the term "fujoshi," and provides an overview of the situation. In Part 2, the article takes a closer look at the impact of the fujoshi audience on Shonen Jump. [The Turning Point of Shonen Jump] Shonen Jump experienced a turning point during the serialization of The Prince of Tennis by Takeshi Konomi. Keeping the tradition from past new years, on the first day of 2007, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan all placed full-page ads in numerous major Japanese newspapers. Source: Nuruwota ga Kiru
However, there has been no official statements from the creator of the game regarding the edits, and any questions were met with the vague response: "Due to reasons that can't be made public." According to leaked info, the edits were related to recent government effort of keeping inappropriate content away from children. The Star looks at some of the upcoming manga in 2007 from major U.S. publishers in "Manga Bounty." Souce: ¡Journalista! |
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. |
In 
Yomiuri Online recently published 
Akiba Blog 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
