Shogakukan's gross sale last February reached 147 billion yen, beating Kodansha by 1.4 billion yen. As a result, Shogakukan has, for the first time ever, overtaken Kodansha as the number 1 publisher in Japan. According to Asahi Shimbun, Shogakukan's success can be attributed to advertising revenue from women's fasion magazines (such as CanCam) and copyright fee.

As for sales of magazines and books, Kodansha still beats Shogakukan by 10 billion yen. However, when counting earnings from other sales such as advertising fee, dividend from movies, and copyright fee, Shogakukan surpasses Kodansha by 11.3 billion yen.

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From Icarus Publishing's blog comes a preview (NSFW) of the adult manga coming out in September 2007, based on Diamond Previews for July (Shipping in September 07).

According to the July issue of Monthly Champion Red, Eat-Man and Ray creator Akihito Yoshitomi's latest manga Blue Drop will be adapted into an anime. More info will be released in the August issue of Champion Red, on sale July 19th.

Source: ikimashou.net

From AoD comes a list of CPM titles that have received new release dates according to Amazon.com, MangaCast also has a report of the story.

Industry Leader In Anime To Have Notable Presence With More Than A Dozen Properties In Booth 4505

New York, NY, June 19, 2007 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, brings some of the hottest anime properties to the 2007 Licensing International Expo, taking place June 19-21 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City. VIZ Media will be located in booth 4505.

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Leading Toy Manufacturer Will Develop Innovative Product Line To Support Highly Anticipated Anime Series Based On Popular Xbox 360 Video Game

New York, NY - JUNE 19, 2007 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, announced at the 2007 Licensing International Expo that Bandai America, Incorporated has been named as the toy licensee for products based on BLUE DRAGON™, a highly anticipated new anime series based on the popular Microsoft Xbox 360 Role Playing Game.

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Aachi & Ssipak is an animated film from Korea directed by Jo Beom-jin. Set in the future, the film tells the adventure of street hoodlums Aachi and Ssipak and their struggle to survive in the presence of a repressive government.

There are two screenings of Aachi & Ssipak at this year's New York Asian Film Festival:

AACHI & SSIPAK
(at the IFC Center, (323 Sixth Avenue, between 3rd and 4th Streets)
Saturday, June 30 @ 10:30pm
Wednesday, July 4 @ 5:15pm

NYAFF 2007 is giving away 2 pairs of tickets to 2 lucky winners, who will be able to choose either screening to attend. To enter the giveaway, simply send your name and email address to this email.

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From PWCW's Kai-Ming Cha comes Part 1 of an interview with Go! Comi founders Audrey Taylor and David Wise. Icarus Blog points out that Elfquest creator Wendi Pini's original project for Go! Comi will be a yaoi title.

Japan's first annual Manga Proficiency Test took place on June 17th in 40 locations nationwide. Over 600 people participated in the exam that tests one's ability to draw manga.

The test is divided into many categories and levels aimed at both beginners and professionals. There are 4 levels for the "General" category, 3 levels for "Manga Character," 3 levels for "Manga Story," 3 levels for "Manga-Drawing Technique" and 2 levels for "Manga Assistant."

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ICv2 has released the May 2007 top 100 graphic novel sales estimates and the top 300 comics sales estimates based on Diamond Indexes and Publisher Title Data. Also from ICv2 is an analysis of the trends in May based on the graphic novel sales chart.

Via: MangaBlog

Partnership With Leading Broadcaster Brings Popular Action Series To The Largest Market In South America

San Francisco, CA JUNE 14, 2007 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, continues to expand the global audience base for its successful NARUTO™ animated series with the latest announcement that SBT (Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão) has been named the terrestrial broadcast partner in Brazil. SBT is one of the country's largest television networks and is expected to debut the series in the second half of 2007.

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New York, New York -- DC Comics, the world's largest English language comic book publisher announced today an investment in Flex Comix, a newly established manga production and publishing company in Japan. Flex Comix is comprised of a diverse consortium of investors including DC Comics, SOFTBANK TECHNOLOGY, Archetype Technologies, MOVIDA ENTERTAINMENT and T&M. Flex Comix will create original manga titles that will be distributed digitally across the web and on mobile phones with subsequent print editions available through traditional book trade outlets throughout Japan.

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ANN has a list of new titles from Tokyopop for the first half of 2008:

January 8th, 2008
- Aria by Kozue Amano
- Deja vu - Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter by Byung-Jun Byun / In-Wan Youn
- Gakuen Alice by Tachibana Higuchi
- Harukaze Bitter Bop by Court Betten
- King City by Brandon Scott Graham
- The Knockout Makers by Kyouko Hashimoto
- Manga Sutra - Futari H by Katsu Aki
- Monochrome Factor by Kaili Sorano
- Short Sunzen! by Susugi Sakurai
- V.B. Rose by Banri Hidaka

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On June 7th, the Kyoto Prefecture local government identified 13 loli manga titles as "harmful books" for featuring excessive sexual content involving girls under the age of 13.

On June 15th, the prefecture's Commission on the Health and Growth of Youths announced the 13 titles that were investigated. The website Doujinshi Life and Culture General Research Center (via Icarus Blog) has a list the titles from Kyoto Shimbun and their respective publishers:

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From Papo de Budega comes an interview with Min-Woo Hyung, a well-known Korean manhwa artist, who talked about some of his well-known title and other projects.

Min Woo-Hyung is the author of Priest, a manhwa currently being released in America by Tokyopop and in Brazil by Lumus Publishing company.

The Star Online reports that in order to promote its the Ballon bleu de Cartier, the newest watch in Cartier's 2007 watch collection, Cartier has commissioned comic artists from around the world to create a comic that will "illustrate the birth of the Ballon bleu de Cartier."

The artists invited include: "Moebius (the pseudonym used by French artist Jean Giraud), Japanese manga artist Jirô Taniguchi, British artist Glen Baxter, Italian artist Lorenzo Mattotti, American Charles Burns, French artist Jean-Claude Floc’h and Belgian François Schuiten."

The Malta Society of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce is offering a new course called "Manga Art for Teens". The new course aims to teach teenagers who "would like to develop their skills in this Japanese cartoon art form." The course starts in mid-July and will last for nine weeks.

Source: di-ve.com

From IGN comes an interviews Manga Fighter's development crew: Phil Kim, the Director of the development team, and colleague Kevin Sugimoto, the Project Manager.

Manga Fighter is a Manga-Styled Massively Multiplayer Third-Person Online Shooting game from the US arm of OnNet, a Korean-based developer and publisher. OnNet is aiming to release the game before the end of 2007.

Comic Book Resources has a report of DC Comics at Wizard World Philadelphia, which has some updates on CMX's newest titles:

Titles under the CMX line within WildStorm were also announced, including the manga favorite "Gon" and webcomics sensation "Megatokyo." CMX is also debuting two new horror titles: "Presents" - the story of a girl who travels the country bestowing gifts on those she deems worthy, and "Variante" - a series about a girl who awakes one day to find a deformed arm grafted to her body which forces her to do things beyond her control.

The Star Online has published an article looking at the success of Kami no Shizuku (Drops of God), a wine manga that is taking China and Korea by storm.

According to Lucky Star's official anime website, a light novel adaptation of Kagami Yoshimizu's 4-panel manga Lucky Star will be released on September 1st under Kadokawa's Sneaker Bunko label. The light novel will be titled Lucky☆Star Lucky☆Star Satsujin Jiken and will be authored by Touka Takei.

Source: LightNovel.org

MangaCast and Yaoi Suki are reporting that Kitty Media has acquired four new licenses:

• I Want to Be Naughty! by Sakuraga Mei
• Roses of the Rhine by Minami Megumu
• Dog Style by Motoni Modoru
• Scandalous Seiryou Univ by Tatsugawa Kazuto

Anime Uk News reports that VIZ Media has sent several cease and desist letters to Death Note fan sites and fansub groups working on Death Note. A copy of the letter can be found here.

Anaheim, California (June 15, 2007) - Individuals from both Japan and the U.S. will take the stage as part of key note speeches and conference panels at Anime Expo®’s Industry/Press only conferences during the highly anticipated 2007 convention June 29-July 2 at the Long Beach Convention Center. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

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ANN reports that a 4-panel manga of Momoko Sakura's Chibi Maruko-chan will appear on Chunichi Shimbun:

Chibi Maruko-chan was originally a regular-style manga work, serialized in the Ribon shojo manga magazine from 1986 to 1996 and compiled into 15 volumes which have collectively sold 30 million copies.