Japanese anime news site AnimeAnime has released a 2-part follow-up to their previous report on fansubs and the anime industry." In Part 1 and Part 2, Romi (the writer) talked about the history and problems of fansubs. In Part 3, Romi (the writer) talks about the future of the anime industry, and why the companies are having a hard time dealing with fansubs.

Fansubs and the Gloom of the Anime Industry - Part 3
- by Romi

In 2006, rumors spread about anime distributor Central Park Media's bankruptcy (which did not happen). Also, a friend of mine was fired by a major anime distributor he worked for; he was involved with many well-known titles, so I was shocked. The fact that even major distributors need to dismiss its capable staffs proves that the anime industry is getting worse.

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ICv2 has released the December top 100 graphic novel sales estimates based on Diamond Indexes and Publisher Title Data. Also from ICv2 is an analysis of the trends in December based on the graphic novel sales chart.

The 3rd China International Animation and Cartoon Festival will once again take place in the city of Hangzhou (Zhejiang province, 2 hours' train ride from Shanghai) from April 28th to May 4th.

This year's events will be divided into four main sections. The "exhibition section" will feature industry expo and activities; the "forum section" will feature discussion groups and industry conferences; the "competition section" will feature manga contests and cosplay contests; the "activities section" will feature a movie week as well as various other activities.

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San Francisco, CA, January 15, 2006 - VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media LLC, the leading U.S. publisher of Japanese animation and comics that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has announced a series of special North American theatrical screenings of the critically acclaimed and award winning film, THE TASTE OF TEA, from writer/director Katsuhito Ishii, who also directed "Shark Skin Man & Peach Hip Girl," "Party Seven," and the lavish animated portion of "Kill Bill: Vol. 1." THE TASTE OF TEA will be screening in New York, Chicago, Seattle and Portland.

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From The Star Online comes a short interview with Tsugumi Ohba, author of Death Note, where he talks about his inspiration for Death Note as well as his views on justice. When asked about his inspiration, Ohba said, "There was nothing in particular. I started thinking of some ideas and while these ideas were still floating in the back of my mind, I got more ideas to fill up detailed plots like the rules and the god of death and so on." According to his response, Ohba did not get his inspiration from Shigeru Mizuki's short story.

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Japan Information and Culture Center, Washington D.C presents Girls' Comics from Japan - An Exhibit. The exhibit will run from January 29 - March 16, 2007

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MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (12/02) according to Messe Sanoh, compiled by Akiba Blog (NSFW).

ComiPress Projects

ComiPedia - Encyclopedia on Manga Magazine, Publisher, Imprint, Novel Guide, and more.

Backstage - In-depth analysis of popular, quality, or useful anime/manga-related websites.

LightNovel.org - Informations on newly released Japanese light novels updated daily. Also mentions new Anime starting in Japan, and what they are based on.

Annnd some non-manga related random sites:

miscGamer - A small game site on small games.

...There are more, but we don't want to tell you, go find out yourself! ;)

Links

U.S. News
U.S. news as in, they report anime/manga news in Americanese...or English to the less sophisticated. These are the big boys, what makes the world go 'round, the wheels turning, and the bed bugs from biting you at night. It was decided all sites are listed alphabetically instead of from favorites to less favorites in order to not hurt anyone's feelings ;)

ActiveAnime - Anime news, but mainly focused on reviews and press releases.

Anime News Network - The biggest English anime news site, also reports some manga news.

Anime News Service - Japan anime, manga news. One of the older anime news sites together with ANN, not updated as often.

Anime On DVD - Anime and manga reviews, release dates, and some press releases and news. Make sure to stop by the forum.

Anime Vice - A community-based anime/manga/otaku site brought to you by the former editor of animeOnline.

Manga Jouhou - Manga scanlation, news and information, also known as manganews.net.

Natsume Goushin Ryu Dojo - Anime and manga news, is a bit inactive lately.

theOtaku - Various anime, manga and other news.

Tokyograph - Reports some Japanese news, mainly on adaptations and the likes.

Around the World (excluding Japan)
Now here are news sites from across the ocean, great sites if you know the language (Google or Babel Fish Translation don't count).

Anime Roundtable - Actually a Canadian site. Became Anime North's official podcast site.

Anime UK News - Anime news, reviews, and everything else you can think of.

AniMangaWeb - Spanish anime and manga news site.

AnimeClick - Probably one of the the bigger and more updated Italian website about anime and manga.

AnimeY - A German news/magazine site, would be so nice if there was an English version.

j-ent News - German blog from David Heinemann, lots of news on conventions.

La Ventana de Saouri - Spanish manga news blog, mainly focused o Saint Seiya stuff, takes a while to load.

Manga News Webzine - French manga news site.

MangaItalia EX - And an Italian manga news site.

Otaku News - A website dedicated to news for fans of Japan, covering anime, manga, cool technology and other things of interest to the modern Otaku.

Papo de Budega - Brazilian manga blog, also available in English.

Shoujo Cafe - Brazilian manga news blog.

U.S. Manga Blogs
The blogosphere, a strange place that steals time away from you in a fashion Lupin III can only dream of. There are countless categories for blogs, these are the more manga-oriented ones.

Comicsnob - A place full of charts and stats, full of useful data.

Deutsche Mangaka - English blog on German manga news.

Icarus Blog - Icarus Publishing's official site, but it's really a blog where you go for great adult-related manga news...err I mean random pr0n posts.

MangaBlog - Manga news, articles, and impressions, one of the most updated blogs, should place somewhere near the top of your bookmark.

MangaCast - Manga podcasts, release information, reviews, news, and articles. While there make sure to bug Ed to move out of LiveJournal.

Manly Manga and More... - Another English blog on the German manga scene, relatively new, but good.

Okazu - Yuri manga blog. Yuri, you know, girl on girl action. Ran by Erica Friedman, the President of Yuricon (!Important-People Alert!), which also publishes manga through ALC Publishing.

Shuchaku East - A good place to read manga reviews and other neat stuff.

U.S. Anime Blogs
There are tons of them out there, just check AnimeBlogger.net, but here are some of the better ones.

Random Curiosity - Okay, I lied, there is actually only one anime blog at the moment. But really, there are other great ones, just check Random Curiosity's links.

More to come...

U.S. Comics Journal and Magazine
U.S. journals and blogs and webzines focused on comics in general, and happens to report manga-related stuff as well.

Comic World News

Comics Worth Reading

Global Pop Culture

Kokoro Media - One of the newer sites, but really good...but why do everyone use WordPress!? The software is so messy underneath!

ICv2 - Internal Correspondence version 2, pop culture news and information.

Mechademia - Interdisciplinary journal for Anime, Manga, and the Fan Arts.

Newsarama - Don't forget to visit their blog as well.

The Beat - News and views on comics in general, which happens to include manga as well as some good comments. Use to be at http://www.comicon.com/thebeat/.

The Comics Reporter - Another comics blog, with tons more links in its entries.

¡Journalista! - Also reports comics news, though usually with more details. Forms the holy trinity of comics journal blog together with The Beat and The Comics Reporter.

Otaku Stuff
Akihabara, moe, figurines, ero-games, anime, manga, moe, Akiba, Haruhi, moe....

Akiba Angels

AkibaBlog: The English version of the popular Japanese blog, 'nuff said.

Akihabara Channel - Latest otaku blog from the same guy who runs Moonlit World.

Canned Dogs - Great place to go for anime, manga, games, and otaku news.

Danny Choo - An amazing site...the layout rocks.

Giapet - Former animeOnline news editor Gia's blog.

Heisei Democracy - A lot of news on ero-games and NSFW material, but that's not a bad thing!

Ikimashou - Mainly focuses on figurine and adaptation news.

Moetron - Moe, moe.

N-Field - From the former owner of Little Harlock's Newslog, if you don't know what that is, just know that this is a must-visit.

Riuva

Japan News
Same as U.S. news category, except sites are in Japanese.

Anime! Anime! - Think of it as the Japanese equivalent of ANN.

B-Kan - Links to tons of anime, manga and gaming news everyday.

Nifty AnimeFan - Anime news.

Tinami

Ultimatum - Anime, manga, and gaming news, releases, informations, and more. No longer updated, but its blog, Ultimatum Tidbits, is still very active.

Japan Blogs
Blog, blog, and more blogs, all in Japanese.

Akiba Blog - One of the premier otaku blog, moe-related and lots of pictures for you none-Japanese speakers.

Aoiya - Manga news and information.

Eigo de! Anime, Manga - A Japanese blog that reports/translates U.S. manga news. Neat, eh?

Golgo 31 - Anime, manga, gaming news, like B-Kan, but more manga-related stuff.

HoChiSo - Manga serialization updates.

Mantan Web - Official Anime/manga/gaming news site from Mainichi Shimbun.

Moon Phase - Another "link" blog like B-Kan and Golgo31, more ero though. Seems to be a favorites among U.S. news sites.

White Data Mansion - Manga and anime news and impression.

Stores
Places where you waste your money...err...places where you buy stuff. Note these are anime/manga/whatever-related, which is why you don't see Amazon.com or Ebay on here. Oh and by the way, we're not endorsed by any of these sites...although more funds for the site would be nice... *cough cough*

Animaxis - An anime store that also happens to have a good news section.

Animebooks - Anime/Manga/Gaming Artbooks.

AnimeNation - Anime store, news, articles.

Cartoon Character Drawings

HimeyaShop - Japanese Games.

JP Queen - Mostly used and new manga, artbooks, doujinshi, and more, very cheap, and doesn't really look like used at all.

Manga Arts - A manga drawing materials art supplier based in Australia. Take order from any countries and ship to them.

Manga no Mori

Mangaoh - Manga anthology, anime, and more.

Nippon Export

Palet Maikl Service - Another Japanese game store, cheaper than Himeya.

RightStuf - Online store.

Toranoana

YesAsia

The cast for Hayate the Combat Butler has been announced:

- Hayate: Ryoko Shiraishi
- Nagi: Rie Kugimiya
- Maria: Rie Tanaka
- Hinagiku: Shizuka Ito

Hayate the Combat Butler is a comedy manga famous for its numerous crossovers and "easter eggs." Currently the manga is being published in the U.S. by VIZ Media.

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Fujimi Shobo has announced the winners of the 6th Fujimi Young Mystery Award and the 18th Fantasia Novel Award (both are novel awards):

6th Fujimi Young Mystery Award

Grand Prize:
- Our Paradox by Jun Atsugi
Honorable Mention:
- For "Beauty" Charlotte by Shuuichi Oseki

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Comic Gumbo, Japan's first free weekly manga publication, will be handed out by Dejima starting next Tuesday. The free weekly magazine, which will also be available online for free, will contain two complete stories and 11 series features.

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Manga newsletters from several publishers:

DMP
- Flower of Life Volume 1 in January

Broccoli Books
- Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories Volume 1 in February
- The World of Disgaea Pushed Back to February
- Galaxy Angel II volume 1 in February

Tokyopop
- New Manga from Tokyopop

Source: MangaCast

A new desert named after Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso was recently sold in Akihabara. The desert, "Taro's Milk Castella," first appeared in Akihabara near the end of 2006. The cake sold at 525 yen a piece, and was said to be inspired by Aso's love of milk cake.

Taro Aso is famous for being an anime and manga fan. Due to his love for PEACH-PIT's Rozen Maiden, he received the nickname "Rozen Aso" (ローゼン麻生). Last September Aso's campaign speech at Akihabara received great response from the otaku audience.

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A new Kimi Kiss manga (based on the popular game of the same name) drawn by Taro Shinonome will start in Young Animal No. 3, on sale 1/26.

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In the February issue of Akita Shoten's shojo magazine Mystery Bonita, an announcement was made regarding the return of the shojo manga Bride of Deimos.

Written by Etsuko Ikeda and illustrated by Yuuho Ashibe, Bride of Deimos, which began in 1975, is one of Akita Shoten's most popular shojo manga and one of Akita Shoten's four longest-running series, with 17 tankoubons and 12 bunko-sized books (pocket/novel-sized re-packagings of the tankoubon) released to date.

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According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Shogakukan and Sony Pictures Entertainment and others have announced plans to explore the light novel market aimed at people between 10 to 20 years old. While Shogakukan will be officially entering the light novel market this spring, Sony Pictures plans to tap into the large pool of new writers who write using their cell phone.

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Otaku News has posted some information on a rumored "full blown Anime & Manga convention" some call Kanacon, which will take place in London in 2008 summer. There are no concrete information regarding the convention. Below is an excerpt from the press release posted on Otaku News:

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The new comic release list from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast.

Norwalk, CT, January 12: New York Comic Con (NYCC) 2007, taking place in Manhattan's Jacob K. Javits Center on February 23-25, is pleased to reveal the highlights of its anime program.

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Information on the previously reported Kodansha International Manga Competition is now available on Kodansha's official website:

www.e-morning.jp/imc

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its manga anthology Morning, Kodansha has announced a new International Manga Competition to look for new manga talents from around the world.

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From the blog Daily Life as a Shojo Manga Fan comes an article titled "Manga Consumption between Hardcore Fans and Casual Fans." The article looks at how the hardcore fans tend to look down on the casual fans for not being "hardcore" enough, and how the casual manga fans are actually contributing to the manga industry.

Manga Consumption of Hardcore Fans and Casual Fans

A reader responded to my previous article "Ordinary Girls Don't Read Yumiko Oshima*" saying that "Ordinary girls would even read Nana to kill time; for us, Nodame Cantabile is just something used to pass time."

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Cold Cut Distribution has released a list of its top 300 products for 2006. Icarus Blog (NSFW) has posted a filtered list containing only manga and adult titles:

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Kinoko Nasu, the mastermind behind the story of Tsukihime and Fate/stay night, is also the author of the novel Kara no Kyoukai (of which a featured film was recently announced). However, Kara no Kyoukai was not Nasu's only novel. On January 9th, Kodansha released volume 1 of Nasu's other novel, DDD, under its Kodansha BOX imprint.

The story of DDD was originally published in the magazine Faust. DDD volume 1 includes "J the E" (Faust September issue 2004), "HandS. (R)" (Faust November issue 2005) and "HandS. (L)" (Faust December issue 2005), and a new story titled "formaal hunt."

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BUZZMANGA, a new service launched by Machiokoshi, Inc., creates manga-based advertisements for clients from overseas. For each client, a manga will be created by a Japanese artist at the price of 150,000 yen (50,000 yen more if the manga is over 15 pages).

Source: ANS

Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

1. Naruto vol.36
2. The Prince of Tennis vol.36
3. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! vol.13
4. Pluto vol.4
5. Lovely Complex vol.15
6. Gintama vol.16
7. Rurouni Kenshin Perfect Edition vol.13-14
8. Harukanaru Toki no Naka de vol.13
9. Bartender vol.7
10. Tegamibachi vol.1