San Francisco, CA & Centennial, CO - May 4, 2007 - VIZ Media, one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, and NCM FATHOM, the entertainment division of National CineMedia, have announced that tickets are now on sale for the special one-night-only event of the first NARUTO™ feature film - NARUTO THE MOVIE: NINJA CLASH IN THE LAND OF SNOW.

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According to ICv2, VIZ Media has announced four new shounen manga for the fourth quarter of 2007:

• Tekkonkinkreet by Taiyo Matsumoto - September
• Kurohime by Masanori Katakura - September
• Muhyo & Roji's Bureau of Supernatural Investigation by Yoshiyuki Nichi - October
• Yu-Gi-Oh GX! by Kazuki Takahashi - November

San Francisco, CA, May 3, 2007 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the availability of DEATH NOTE™ anime series via digital download on Direct2Drive, IGN Entertainment's premiere digital retail store. The subtitled version of the series will debut May 10, 2007 and fans may go to www.direct2drive.com to download the first episode.

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According to a recent post on its blog, Newtype USA is currently looking for a freelance yaoi fangirl to write columns about yaoi/shonen-ai/boy-love:

You've gotta be over 18, know your stuff, and be able to write about it in an entertaining, coherent (and G-rated, if possible) way. Just testing the waters here, but if you think you might be the gal for the gig, drop a line to letters@newtype-usa.com. Don't forget to send us a writing sample or point us toward your work on the web. We gotta see if you're worthy, after all.

On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending April 29th, Tokyopop's Warriors: The Lost Warrior ranks at #74, and Fruits Basket volume 16 ranks at #98. Volume 14 of Viz's Naruto ranks at #115.

The new comic release list for May 2nd 2007 from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast.

Manga Jouhou translates an interview from Mainichi Communications with manhwa artists at the Modern Korean Manhwa Exhibition (April 21st - June 3rd), held at the Kawazaki City Museum in Kawazaki City.

According to ICv2, VIZ Media has announced five new shojo licenses, all of which will be released between September 2007 and January 2008:

• Yume Kira Dream Shoppe by Aqua Mizuto
• Special A by Maki Minami
• Be With You by Takuji Ichikawa
• Wild Ones (Arakure) by Kiyo Fujiwara
• High School Debut (Koukou Debut) by Kazune Kawahara

Manga Forever, an Italian website about comics and animation, conducted an interview with manga artist Go Nagai during a comic convention in Naples (at Castel Sant'Elmo) called Comicon 2007. A translated version of the interview by Manga forever can be found here.

Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

1. Cat Street, Volume 6
2. Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu, Volume 7
3. Kamen Rider Spirits, Volume 12
4. Detroit Metal City, Volume 3
5. Tony Takezaki presents GUNDAM Manga, Volume 2
6. Kekkaishi, Volume 16
7. Parfait Tic!, Volume 20
8. Pride, Volume 7
9. Air Gear, Volume 17
10. Crimson Hero, Volume 17

Alchemist has opened the official website of Shounen Alchemist, a free online magazine that serialized light novels. The first light novel made available on the site is Chiko Chiko BANG! ~Kimagure Dai-ni Shikkoubu~ (ちこちこBANG！～気まぐれ第二執行部～) by Shin Takase. Currently the prologue and the first 2 chapters are available to the public:

- Prologue
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two

ANN reports that according to a recent poll from Oricon, manga rental stores are having trouble making their presence known. Only 24% pf the poll said they were aware of manga rental stores, 41.4% said that they weren't aware of the manga rental services, while 34.6% have heard about manga rental, but did not know where and how to access the service.

Erica Friedman, founder of Yuricon, interviewed on Afterellen.com

Erica Friedman, president of Yuricon and ALC Publishing, was interviewed by Suzanne Corson, a contributing writer at the popular lesbian culture website.

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MangaBlog points out that the Japanese government will be bringing Keiji Nakazawa's manga Barefoot Gen to the Preparatory Committee For 2010 Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in Vienna, Austria.

Barefoot Gen is about the story of a boy surviving and witnessing the aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima after World War II.

As parts of its advanced anime/manga course program "Manga and Anime Explosion: Story Development, Marketing and Adaptation," UC Irvine Extension has announced a field trip to Digital Manga's headquarters in Gardena:

Students will be able to ask questions of the staff and CEO, sign up for internships, and take a personal tour of the facility with Digital Manga's CEO, Hikaru Sasahara, a pioneer in manga publishing in the US.

English Anime News and Review site ActiveAnime has completely revamped its website. The new site, powered by Joomla, can be found at www.activeanime.com.