Manga News and Information
February, 2007
Also, Shueisha's Public Relations Department stated that a new magazine is currently being planned to replace Monthly Shonen Jump: "We plan on creating a new magazine that is more in tune with the times, tentatively slated for a launch this fall." Monthly Shonen Jump was launched in December of 1969 as a sister magazine of Weekly Shonen Jump. In 1989, the magazine's circulation reached 1,400,000, while last year only 420,000 copies were printed. Series serialized in Monthly Shonen Jump include Claymore by Norihiro Yagi, Beet the Vandel Buster by Riki Sanjo & Koji Inada, Captain by Akio Chiba, Mahou Tsukai Kurohime, and more. There has been no announcement regarding the future of manga currently serialized in Monthly Shonen Jump. Source: Yahoo! Japan Fuji Television Network recently announced a new Saturday drama show called "Saturday Drama." The first episode, a drama adaption of drama adaption of Shinobu Kaitani's Liar Game, will be aired on April 14th. Actress Erika Toda will be playing the female lead. Liar Game is currently serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Young Jump, and the tankoubon release (currently 3 volumes) has sold over 300,000 copies. Source: Sanspo.com The beta version of animeOnline.com, a professional news and social networking centered around anime, manga and Japanese culture has been officially launched. Below is the full press release: Otaku News reports that a new manga store called Orbital Manga has opened "around the corner from Leicester Square and short walk from Covent Garden, on Upper Saint Martin's Lane." Washington Post as published an article titled "Manga's Powerful Feminine Mystique," which looks at shojo manga and the "Girl Power! Girls' Comics From Japan" exhibition at the Japan Information and Culture Center in Northwest Washington. Los Angeles, CA (February 21, 2007) - Broccoli Books has announced their boys love imprint name, Boysenberry Books, and will launch it with three titles. Delivery Cupid, Pet on Duty, and Sex Friend will be released starting in summer 2007. The website for Boysenberry Books, boysenberrybooks.com will launch in March 2007. "We are excited to add a new boys love imprint to Broccoli Books," says Broccoli Books publisher Kaname Tezuka. "We selected the name Boysenberry from fan entries, and the Japanese boys love publishers were equally delighted with the sweet and tangy implications of Boysenberry and how it matches the concept of boys love." San Francisco, CA, February 21, 2007 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, announced a bevy of activities, events and new anime and manga offerings for all the hot properties fans are excited about at the 2007 New York Comic-Con show. The new comic release list for February 22 2007 from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast. Manga top 10 according to Tohan. Spanish publisher Norma Editorial has announced its "II Manga Competition" original manga competition. The publishing company will accept original titles until September 28th. Norma Editorial hopes to use this competition to stimulate the growth of new authors in Spain. All information are available in Spanish at Norma Editorial's Competition page (PDF). The winner of the competition will receive 2000 euros.
According to PWCW, Running Press, in its effort to expand into comics-related publishing, is partnering with Tokyopop to produce coloring books based on Princess Ai and Bizenghast. Source: MangaBlog Registration for Yuricon's 2007 "Yurisai" Event is is now open to public. Key milestone coincides with launch of the most thorough ratings system ever developed by a manga publisher Los Angeles, CA (February 20, 2007) - Hailed by the New York Times as"the American pioneer of manga," TOKYOPOP, the company responsible for igniting the worldwide manga boom, is proud to celebrate its ten-year anniversary in 2007. To kick off the festivities, TOKYOPOP continues to set industry standards in manga publishing as it proudly announces the launch of the most comprehensive graphic novel ratings system ever developed. The first issue of a new magazine from Aoba Shuppan called Comic Junk will be released on February 26th. The monthly magazine will be sold for 390 yen, and will feature series such as Shin Naniwa Kinyudo by Yuji Aoki. Also released on January 26th are two adult manga magazines: - Young Dokan by Akebono Shuppan Illusion TV and PopCultureShock.com have officially announced their plans for the New York Comic Con 2007, which include holding the premiere after party event of the year! Illusion (www.illusiontv.com) will be covering the entire New York Comic Con event with combined commentary from three of their television lineup favorites, Midtown Comics Live, Comic Book Club and PopCultureShock TV. Crews will be on the floor at all times bringing viewers the coolest action from the East Coast’s largest pop culture convention. Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) by Kazuo Maekawa, based on the popular game from Capcom, will be moving from Bessatsu Young Magazine (Young Magazine Extra Issue) to Young Magazine.
Also mentioned were some Gegege no Kitaro manga releases. Volume 1 and 2 of the manga, as well as volume 1-3 of the original version by Shigeru Mizuki will go on sale March 16th. Source: Ultimatum Talk Brian Hibbs at Newsarama analyzes the BookScan sales chart for 2006, and compares to the direct market in his annual feature "TILTING @ WINDMILLS 37: BOOKSCAN 2006." In "Japan Resorts to Manga Propaganda," CNN looks at how Japan is using cute, manga styled characters to represent its current military power. "As Japan sheds its postwar pacifism and gears up to take a higher military profile in the world, it is enlisting cadres of cute characters and adorable mascots to put a gentle, harmless sheen to its deployments." MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (02/18) according to Toranoana, compiled by Akiba Blog, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking in Japan (02/18) according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side. From Manga Jouhou comes an interview with Adam Ghahramani of theOtaku.com, who talks about the recent incident where thousands of dollars from convention funds were stolen at an Anime Film Foundation (AnimeFF) sponsored Vegas anime convention. To celebrate its one year anniversary, BL news site Yaoi Suki has announced its first-ever birthday bash.
Battles on Copyright - Mimicry is not Creativity Matsumoto, who is currently in charge of copyright issues at the Japan Cartoonists Association, is proposing to extend the copyright limit from 50 years to 70 years. Controller M&Y by Akira Akatsuki, which began in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 2 in early 2007, will end in Shonen Jump issue 13. Also, two new series are set to begin serialization in Shonen Jump issue 14 and 15: Issue 14 (3/5): Samurai Usagi by Fukushima Teppei Source: Ultimatum - Talk |
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. |
Shueisha has 
On February 21st, Nagano district court 
Gegege no Kitaro Part 2 will 
Sankei Web recently published a 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
