Manga News and Information
September, 2007Mainichi Daily News reports that a brand of manga-illustrated canned coffee called "Seichi no Kohi" (Sacred-Site Coffee), which went on sale during this summer's Comiket 72, is extremely popular among visitors to the Tokyo Big Sight exhibition venue:
Impress GAME Watch is reporting that the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA), which organizes the Tokyo Game Show and is responsible for video game age ratings, has released a free online manga on online gaming etiquette. The manga is available here (PDF). Source: Canned Dogs Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump is known for canceling its series (even the 2ch Early Sales info is called the "Cancellation Survival Race"). Each issue of Shonen Jump comes with a survey postcard that asks its readers to vote for their favorite series. Every week, manga serialized in Jump are ranked from most popular to least popular. Usually the less popular series tend to enjoy a very short lifespan. Weekly Jump Readers' Journal is reporting that Eiichiro Oda revealed in the latest volume of One Piece how Weekly Jump ranks its series:
A few days ago, Kadokawa Taiwan issued a statement explaining that the Haruhi novel is in fact not an adult novel, and asks the TV show to better organize its programs in order to avoid further confusion: Top 10 manga (9/05) according to Tohan: In the latest issue of PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha interviews Vertical's editorial director, Ioannis Mentzas, about Tezuka, his manga MW (pronounced "Moo"), and more. Also from Kai-Ming Cha is an interview with Maki Murakami, creator of the BL manga Gravitation. Finally, Laurel Maury looks at the rise of female graphic novel creators in "Women SVA Grads Quickly Rise." September comics top 10 in the U.S. according to PWCW.
Hottest Anime Release Of The Year To Feature Notable Cast Of Veteran Voice Talent San Francisco, CA, September 4, 2007 - Following on the heels of the announcement of the release of the DEATH NOTE anime series on DVD, VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has provided more details on the cast for the English dub. From ICv2 comes a 4 part interview (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) with DC President and Publisher Paul Levitz, who talks about the industry, the market, DC's future, CMX, Minx and MMORPGs. Also, MangaBlog's Brigid Alverson interviews Mark Crilley, creator of Akiko and Miki Falls.
animeOnline, a social networking website dedicated to anime and otaku culture, officially debuted on February 22nd, 2007. Backed by a team of dedicated editors, animeOnline experienced rapid growth and was poised to become the premier online anime community by successfully living up to its claims and seamlessly combining news, social networking and other informational resources into a single package. Fans could find the information they wanted, from the latest Lucky Star OP parodies to live convention reports streaming from Anime Expo. The future seemed bright but on July 20th, barely 6 months after its launch, animeOnline was shut down by its parent company Navarre. A single statement is all that remains on the main page, suggesting a possible site revival in the future. Many people were left in the dark regarding the fate of the site. Many questions linger on unanswered. Like lightning! 28% (30 votes) Faster than normal sites 28% (30 votes) Average, nothing special 39% (42 votes) Very slow, the wait is so annoying 4% (4 votes) Huh? There's a site at this URL? 3% (3 votes) Total votes: 109 Shueisha has updated the official Weekly Shonen Jump website with a banner announcing the return of Hunter x Hunter. Also, according to Weekly Jump Readers' Journal, there are rumors going around the internet that Prince of Tennis, Belmonde and Hero Studies may all be ending in Shonen Jump starting with issue 48 (11/26), to be replaced by new series from Shinya Suzuki (mangaka of Mr. Fullswing), Mizuki Kawashita (mangaka of Ichigo 100%), Takeshi Obata (artist of Death Note, Hikaru no Go) and Shiibashi Hiroshi. The winners of the 38th Seiun Award (Nebula Award), one of the most famous Japanese science fiction awards, have been announced during the 65th World Science Fiction Convention & the 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention. Hitoshi Ashinano's Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou won in the Comics Category. Other entries in the category were Death Note, Busou Renkin, Karakuri Circus, and Yousei-koku no Kishi. A complete English list of winners has been provided by Science Fiction Awards Watch: ANS points out an Amazon.com has listed Osamu Tezuka's Dororo manga under Vertical. According to the listing, Dororo will be released next April. Edit: Publishers Weekly has confirmed the license. Via: Giapet.net Mainichi Daily News reports that Novala Takemoto, author of the novel Shimotsuma Monogatari that was later adapted a live-action movie and manga under the title Kamikaze Girls, has been arrested for possession of cannabis. Source: Tokyograph The Wall Street Journal has published an article titled "Manga Mania," which criticizes Japan for overly relying on manga and anime in its public relations campaign. MangaBlog rounds up the responses from around the web. The Japan Times has an article on Saki Matsuzawa, a 12-year-old girl whose work, Meron Pan no Ichi Nichi (A Day of the Melon Bread), is going to be released as a manga after serializing online as a interactive online storybook (available in Japanese, English or Korean):
From Asahi Shimbun comes an article titled "Cashing in on Over-the-Counter Culture," which looks at the history of VIZ Media and its co-chairman Seiji Horibuchi. From AoD's Matthew Alexander comes an interview with Eijiro Shimada, Editor-in-Chief of Morning and its sister magazine Morning 2, and Yukari Shiina of world-manga.com (specialized in non-Japanese manga), who talk about Kodansha's 2nd Morning International Manga Competition (M.I.M.C.).
Accepting the award at the Red Herring Asia 2007 conference in Hong Kong, Steve Melhuish, CEO of ComiAsia said, "We are delighted and proud to be selected for this prestigious award. This recognizes the success and hard work of the team to date. It is further endorsement of the only multi-platform comic-focused social network that ComiAsia is creating for passionate comic fans and aspiring artists everywhere." Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan Economic Times), one of the most respected economics newspaper in Japan, recently published a column from an otaku who claims (without source) that in Japan over 1 million men are obsessed with Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rei Ayanami. Below is a brief translation of the column: theOtaku announced that their myOtaku blogs have become 100% ad free:
Recently, a college student bragged in his diary on Mixi (a JP social networking site) about his cheating the subway fare and then arguing with the authorities, or impregnating a junior-high school girl. As a result, the student was criticized and attacked by many internet users, and was later kicked out of school due to the diary entries. The story, which caught a lot of attention, was adapted into a short manga by a website called "Paint Manga Hokanko" (Manga Preservation House), which creates manga based on stories from around the internet. The first 26 pages of the manga adaptation of Mushi-Uta has been made available on line by Kadokawa Shoten. The preview can be found here. Source: Active Anime The winners of this year's Seoul Drama Awards have been announced, and the live-action adaptation of Nodame Cantabile won three awards: Best mini-series, director (Takeuchi Hideki) and best music. Source: ANN |
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. |
On 9/1, the hosts of a Taiwanese variety show called "
ComiAsia, the leading Social Network Site for Comic Fans and Artists, has won the coveted "Red Herring 100 Asia" award. This recognizes the top 100 innovative technology firms in Asia.
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
