According to this Amazon.com listing, Tokyopop will release volume one of Gakuto Koda's light novel Missing on November 13. Currently Tokyopop has not made any official announcement regarding the license.

Source: AoD

From Times Online comes an article titled "Fantasy funeral brings out thousands of real mourners," which looks at a funeral held earlier this week in Tokyo for Raoh, the antagonist from Tetsuo Hara's Fist of the North Star series. Over 2,500 mourners appeared at the funeral held for Raoh, who will die in the upcoming Fist of the North Star movie.

Additional Info:
- Thousands attend funeral for fictional Raoh [ Newsarama Blog ]
- Thousands Turn Out To Pay Their Respects To Raoh [ animeOnline ]
- Fist of North Star's Raoh's Real Life Funeral [ Manga Jouhou ]

Celebrating their 30th anniversary, comics retailer Austin Books has announced their second annual Manga Melee event, which will take place this Saturday.

Discounted (25%-50% off) manga will be sold during the event. Also announced are special prizes provided by Tokyopop and Dark Horse, as well as Question & Answer and autograph sessions with special guests such as Rivkah and Tony Salvaggio.

Source: Newsarama

The nominees for the 2007 Eisner Comic Industry Awards have been announced, ManagBlog has a list of the manga-related nominations:

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan:

After School Nightmare, by Setona Mizushiro (Go! Comi)
Antique Bakery, by Fumi Yoshinaga (Digital Manga)

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On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending April 15th, Tokyopop's Fruits Basket volume 16 ranks at #15. VIZ Media's Naruto volume 13 ranks at #118.

Manga and Internet cafes are common throughout Japan. Due to their cheap costs, the privacy of their cubicles, the ability to order food, access to the internet, video games and more, manga and internet cafes have become more than just a hangout place for young people with nothing else to do.

According to a recent news report in Japan, manga cafes are becoming a place of refuge for the poor who can't afford to live in their own home or a hotel. According to an article from Japan Times:

Experts say the customers, dubbed "Net cafe refugees," are becoming more visible in the 24-hour facilities in tandem with the rise in the number of "working poor," those who have jobs but cannot escape poverty.

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From Asahi.com comes an article titled "S. Koreans get taste for wine from manga," which looks at how a manga titled Kami no Shizuku (Drops of God) has caused wine to see a surge in popularity in South Korea.

The new comic release list for April 18th 2007 from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast.

From MangaCast comes the Diamond Previews for May 2007, which provides information on new U.S. releases for July/August 2007.

San Jose, CA, April 2007. DrMaster Publications Inc. has just announced the publication of volume 4 of the popular series Lunar Legend Tsukihime. Fans of the hit Japanese anime, not to mention those of you lucky enough to play the import PC game, will revel in the thrilling continuation of Tsukihime.

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San Jose, CA, April 2007. DrMaster Publications Inc. has just announced the publication of Puri Puri, volume 1, an uproarious comedy about the trials and tribulations of a wannabe priest at an all-girls' school by debut author Chiaki Taro.

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Tokyopop has announced a Twelve Kingdom contest, the award is a free copy of The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow volume 1 and volume 1 of the Twelve Kingdom anime DVD:

All you have to do to enter is email your name, age and email address where we can reach you to popfiction@tokyopop.com by midnight (Pacific Standard Time) on April 30th.

Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

1. Bleach, Volume 27
2. Naruto, Volume 37
3. Ouran High School Host Club, Volume 10
4. Detective Conan, Volume 57
5. WORST, Volume 17
6. Eyeshield 21, Volume 24
7. Vampire Knight, Volume 5
8. One Piece Yellow Grand Element
9. Nana, Volume 17
10. Blue Dragon Ral Grado, Volume 1

Nihon Ki-in (Japanese Go Association) and the Go Shogi Life Corporation has announced a new event called the "Go Original Manga Grand Prize." The award accepts any manga that focus on the amusement and depth of the game Go. The winner of the grand prize will receive 1 million yen, and the winning work will be released as a tankoubon. The deadline is November 2007, the winners will be announced in March 2008.

Mangaka Shibayama Kaoru (43) passed away on April 14th due to heart failure. Shibayama Kaoru is known for his works such as Rival and Chara!, his current series, Mugen Shoujo Dreamer Angels, is serialized in the bi-monthly magazine Comic Valkyrie. Below is a statement from Shibayama Kaoru's editor regarding her death:

We had a meeting about Dreamer Angels on the 20th of last month, I still remember how he had so much passion for the next chapter. I think it's a shame that he was not able to finish Dreamer Angels. As for me, his editor, his death is a very sorrowful experience.

According to animeOnline, a Korean Manhwa exhibition will take place from April 21st at the Kawasaki City Museum:

The exhibit will continue through June 3rd and will feature manhwa artists such as Kim Dongwha (creator of A Story of Kisaeng and Bug Boy) and So-Hee Park (creator of Goong).

The first issue of Take Shobo's new seinen magazine, Comic Marble, was released on April 16th.

Japanese publisher Futabasha has re-launched the official website of its weekly seinen magazine Manga Action at www.webaction.jp.

In the latest issue of PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha takes an in-depth look at Aurora Publishing in "New Manga House Debuts This Summer."

Also featured on PWCW is an article by Brigid Alverson on the second anniversary of Viz Media's Shojo Beat magazine.

According to the latest entry on DramaQueen's news page, the release schedule of DramaQueen's BL anthology Rush will be once every three months instead of every two months:

Houston, Texas, 16th April 2007 Here at the DQ Shop we have been simply thrilled with the response to our pre-order sales, with the month of March being our most successful to date. For all those eagerly awaiting your goodies, the books will start to ship out next week and be shortly winging their way into your hands.

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Fumiyo Kouno's seinen manga Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms will be adapted into a live-action movie, opening July 28th. Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms won the Grand Prize at the 8th Japan Media Arts Festival in 2004 as well as the New Life Award at the 9th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Prizes in 2005. The manga has been licensed in the U.S. by Last Gasp.

Source: Manga Jouhou

Industry Leader in Japanese Animation To Wow the Show from Booth #A012

San Francisco, April 17, 2007 - VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, arrives at MIPTV this year, Booth # A012, with a variety of exciting properties for both North American and International markets. Held in Cannes, France, April 16 though April 20, MIPTV is the global content event for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content across all platforms.

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According to recent sales figures, the circulation of Weekly Shonen Magazine has dropped below 2 million, while the circulation of Weekly Shonen Jump experienced a slight increase. According to Minegishi, Director of Kodansha's sales division, "Only Weekly Shonen Magazine and Young Magazine are making a profit among Kodansha's manga magazine line-up. Monthly Shonen Magazine breaks even, while the others are showing deficit."

In comparison with sales from 10 years ago, Weekly Shonen Jump's circulation has dropped 2.8 million, and Weekly Shonen Magazine's circulation is around 1.9 million. If the manga magazines experience declining sales, the publishers won't be able to make a profit unless tankobon achieves good sales.

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Manga Jouhou reports that two new manga rental service will launch this month. The first rental service, Comical, is created by the online second-hand book store eBookOFF, and opened on April 16th:

Comical uses internet to order, with 24 hours, 365 days service. With this service, the manga that is registered on the wish list gets delivered by a home delivery service. When returning, the user can send it back with home cargo delivery, or return it to the closest convenient store. When the return process has been completed, the next batch of comic is sent off; 15-20 books is sent at a time, based on priority of the wish list.

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According to Anime!Anime!, Osamu Tezuka Productions plans to release two new digital magazines featuring works from Tezuka Osamu in November 2008.

The first magazine, Tezuka Osamu O-Magazine, is an on-demand magazine that allows its owner to order chapters of Tezuka's manga online. The second magazine, Tezuka Osamu Motion Magazine, is a cell-phone magazine that will feature partially animated manga chapters. Tezuka Osamu Motion Magazine is currently planned not only for Japan, but also for countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Source: animeOnline