Manga News and Information
December, 2007Oricon has posted the 2007 Japan Book of the Year rankings, based on sales data collected between 1/1/2007 - 12/10/2007 from 674 stores of 6 retail chains around Japan. Below is the manga top 10:
The Daily Yomiuri reports that Tokyo University Hospital in Bunkyo Ward has been asked to act as a consultant for Yakitate!! Japan creator Takashi Hashiguchi's new medical manga, Saijo no Meii (The Best Skilled Surgeon), which is currently serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday. This is the first time a hospital has acted as a consultant for a manga: The Columbus Dispatch has published an article titled "Comics no longer a joke in academia," which looks at how schools and colleges are beginning to take comics seriously as an form of art...thanks in part to the popularity of manga:
Tokunan Seiichirō: the legendary manga of a legendary artist!
Waving in the morning sun
The flag of our Brigade
We pledge our lives, all for one
We are the Shogun's blade!
Our hand against the Emperor
Yet forth we boldly go
The flower of the Shogunate-
Advance, New Chosen Men!
Broccoli Books has announced on its fan club mailing list that it will be releasing sola, written by Naoki Hisaya (Kanon), drawn by Chako Abeno with original character design by Naru Nanao (D.C. ~Da Capo~, ef - a tale of memories), in 2008 summer. Source: ANN Save Money, Save Time, Register Online Pre-Registration Special Available Only Till End of the Year Anaheim, California (December 28, 2007) ‹ Anime Expo® 2008 announces that online pre-registration for attendees, industry members and press representatives will be made available Saturday; December 29, 2007 at noon PST. More information can be found on the website www.spja.org. From MangaCast comes the Diamond Previews for January 2008, which provides information on new U.S. releases for March/April 2008. The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending December 23rd:
Also, Comicsnob posts the online manga sales rankings in "Online Manga Bestsellers, 23 December."
A one-shot titled Urooboe Uroboros (うろおぼえウロボロス！) by Ishin Nishio (story) and Death Note artist Takeshi Obata will appear in Shueisha's Weekly Shounen Jump No.6-7 (1/4). Also, a one-shot titled OBAKE LIFE by Ichirou Takahashi (mangaka of Volleyball Tsukai Gouda Gou) will appear in Weekly Jump No.8 (1/21). Three new series are starting in the February issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Comp Ace, one of them will be Kara no Kyoukai Comic A La Carte (空の境界コミックアラカルト), written by Type-Moon's Kinoko Nasu. Pachinko Vista is reporting that in 2007, Japan saw an increase in manga "tie-in" pachinko machines appeared in Japan. With around 140 machines, more than 1/4 of which are new machines, 55 of them are manga/anime related. The machines are targeted at people from different generations, utilizing old titles such as Samurai Giants, Star Blazers, Tatter-man and more recent series like Basilisk and GTO. Some even became hit machines, such as Evangelion. From the Yaoi Press blog comes pictures of the Yaoi Parasol, which will make its debut at Ohayocon, taking place January 4, 5 and 6, 2008.
Of the series currently being serialized in the magazine, Watanabe Michio's Hakuryuu (White Dragon; 白竜) (story: Tennoji Dai) will be remade as a new series titled Hakuryuu Legend (白竜LEGEND) in the 1/11-18 issue of Weekly Manga Goraku (12/27). Boston, December 27, 2007: New England Anime Society (NEAS), the Massachusetts-based non-profit organization behind Anime Boston and Providence Anime Conference, is proud to be participating in First Night Boston, an all-ages New Year's Eve celebration on December 31st, 2007. First Night Boston activities include arts and cultural performances at venues throughout Boston, and as part of the festivities, the NEAS will be screening anime from 1 PM to 11 PM in the Hynes Convention Center, Room 100.
The data book comes with data on 436 magazines from 57 publishing companies in Japan. The guide lists each magazine's format, forms of publication, dates, price and more, with each magazine categorized by genre. Moreover, each entry includes a brief description of the magazine from its Editor-in-Chief. ANN is reporting that a German company called Schwarzkopf & Henkel is using manga characters from Hiroshi Takahashi's Crows and Worst to promote its latest hair coloring product in Japan:
Top 10 manga (12/27) according to Tohan:
Additional Rankings: From BusinessWeek comes an article titled "Europe's Manga Mania," which looks at how European fans are favoring manga over traditional Western comics:
Advertising agency JWT recently released its list of 80 things to watch in 2008. In the list, "Manga-inspired clothes" is No.43. Source: FOX Business A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of December 28th 2007: According to Moon Phase, Kozue Amano's manga Aria will come to an end in the April issue of Mag Garden's Comic Blade (2/30), with chapter 60 being its last chapter. Also announced is that as part of Tunasima Sirou's Jinki: Extend revival project, Jinki -Shinsetsu- will begin serialization in the May issue of MediaWorks' Dengeki Moeoh.
From what the latest anime creators have been up to, to the latest trends in western distribution, to exclusive interviews with industry professionals, ANS has been serving industry news both from home and abroad. So what went on behind the scenes at ANS? What is it like being one of the oldest anime news sites on the internet? Read on as we dive into the interesting history of Anime News Service. Active Anime reports that the University of Minnesota Press has announced the second volume of Mechademia entitled Networks of Desire:
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – December 21, 2007 – Intermixi Tours is proud to announce another round of details and price information about our upcoming Neo-Tokyo and Kame Hame Kansai tours! The 2007 Japanese Media Arts Festival has announced its "Jury Recommended Works" for the Manga Division: Story Manga
Both Ultimatum and Moon Phase are reporting that, according to the latest issue of Shogakukan's Big Comic, Takao Saito's long-running manga series Golgo 13 will be adapted into an anime. |
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. |
Makoto Raiku's 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
