Manga News and Information
December, 2007Go! Comi today announced the official release of "Japan Ai: A tall girl's adventures in Japan," a manga journal of an otaku trip to Japan by animator Aimee Major Steinberger ("The Simpsons," "Futurama"). Packed with hundreds of color and black-and-white drawings, the book records Steinberger's trip through the various worlds of Japanese pop culture: anime, manga, maid cafes, cosplay, all-female Takarazuka reviews, ball-jointed dolls, as well as traditional culture such as hot springs resorts and ancient shrines and temples. From the blog Manly Manga and More... comes a list of manga that will be released in Germany in the first half of 2008. Also included in the list is are new titles that Tokyopop Germany has licensed. Via: MangaBlog Spanish publisher Norma Editorial has announced its 3rd Manga Competition for original manga. The deadline is August 31st 2008. It was not specified whether the entry has to be in Spanish. More information available in Spanish at Norma Editorial's Competition page (PDF). The winner of the competition will receive 2000 Euros. Source: Papo de Budega Amazon.co.jp as released its Best Book of 2007 list. Below is a list of the top 10 selling manga and light novels as well as their ranks: Below are the top 10 Manga and top 10 Light Novel rankings: Japanese video game company Koei has launched a new light novel label this month called Game City Bunko. Currently 6 volumes of light novels are scheduled to be released under this new label, three of which will be released in December, while the other 3 in January 2008. The first light novel, Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 3: Kurenai no Tsuki, will be released on December 8th. Source: LightNovel.org Precocious Curmudgeon points out that the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) has announced the final nominations for its 2008 Great Graphic Novels list:
Via: The Beat Torrance, CA (December 13, 2007) Aurora Publishing, Inc., the fully-owned U.S. subsidiary of Japan's manga powerhouse, Ohzora Publishing Co., launches three new websites for their three manga imprints Aurora, Luv Luv & Deux. Aurora ~ Experience the Allure of Manga Aurora, the Shojo/Josei Manga imprint of Aurora Publishing, Inc. premieres their colorful and exciting full-featured website at www.aurora-publishing.com. The newly launched site contains details about current and future manga title releases, as well as titillating manga page previews taken from the interiors of each of their current, new and upcoming manga. Visitors to the site also have the opportunity to sign up for Aurora's informative and entertaining monthly newsletter. According to this report, publisher Digima ceased operation after suspending its free manga magazine Comic Gumbo: "the first free weekly manga magazine in Japan. It reportedly sustained losses of 200 million yen (about US$2 million)." ANN is reporting that Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga has created an informational manga to help search for the killer of their student, Daisaku Chiba. A few days later, the manga pamphlet appeared on the internet.
From Newsarama comes two interviews, one with Ruwan Jayatilleke, Marvel's Vice President of Development, regarding the recent deal between Marvel and Del Rey to adapt the Wolverine and X-Men series into manga. The second interview is with manga historian Frederik L. Schodt, author of the book The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution. Via: MangaBlog San Diego, California, Thursday, December 13, 2007 JAST USA affiliate brand G-Collections, the leading publisher of Japanese PC dating-sim games in English, today announced the immediate availability of Snow Sakura, the latest adult PC game for Windows computers. Acclaimed Series About Football Is The Latest Addition To Popular Joint Cartoon Network/VIZ Media Broadband Streaming Site San Francisco, CA, December 13, 2007 – VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the launch of the EYESHIELD 21 animated series on Toonami Jetstream, the popular online destination developed jointly by Cartoon Network and VIZ Media. The first episode debuts on December 17th and will be available at http://ToonamiJetstream.com. Suzuki Ryōsei: or, reality bites in 1978
During the seventies, I used to devour Zōkan Young Comic because Miyaya Kazuhiko and Sakaki Masaru wrote for it. While devouring, I often came across single-episode gekiga by Suzuki Ryōsei. And they were weird. I pushed them to the corner of my mind marked 'unpleasant memories' - and there they stayed. Years later - actually, when I was researching this book - I bumped into his stuff again. I was fishing through the gekiga magazines in the National Diet Library, and suddenly there he was. An ex-editor at Zōkan Young Comic told me that right from the start, Suzuki was gunning to become An Artist. This was when he was coming out with gekiga like 'Puberty? No Thanks!' (Seishun Danki) and 'Youth Blood Cherry Street' (Seishun Chizakura Dōri). The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending December 9th: Forums And Registration Information Available Now And More Coming Soon! Anaheim, California (December 12, 2007) ‹ Anime Expo® 2008 kicks off the holiday season with the reveal of the new website. More information can be found on the website www.spja.org. Currently both forum, so attendees can begin their planning for the nation's largest anime/manga convention, and registration information are available for public view and usage. Coming soon will be additional features, videos, sign-ups, voting polls and much more! In the latest issue of his Flipped column, David Welsh interviews Eijiro Shimada, Editor-in-Chief of Kodansha's Morning and Morning 2, as well as chief judge of Kodansha's Morning International Manga Competition. A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of December 12th 2007: Top 10 manga (12/12) according to Tohan: Anime UK News is reporting that publisher Urania has teamed up with artist Viviane to create a set of manga-style tarot cards called "Magic Manga Tarot." Samples of the cards can be found here. ANN reports that Detective Conan creator Gosho Aoyama and voice actress Minami Takayama have divorced:
San Francisco, CA - eigoMANGA is pleased to announce a marketing relationship with WT.Cox Subscriptions, a leading magazine subscription agency, to provide magazine subscriptions to libraries and educational institutions. Under the arrangement, eigoMANGA will offer and circulate magazine subscriptions formatted exclusively for this market. The deadline for the second round of Kodansha's International Manga Competition is December 31st. The official site and the rules can be found at http://e-morning.jp/mimc/ Visitors can read the two second prize winning works in English at the following link: Also, reviews of winning works can be found here: The New York Magazine has announced the results of its 2007 Culture Awards. This year, two manga appeared in the "Best Comics of 2007" category, they are:
Via: ANN According to Digima, Comic Gumbo, Japan's first free weekly manga publication, will cease publication on 12/11 with the release of issue 48. Source: Anime! Anime! UDON announces new titles from their 2008 publishing line up Toronto, ON – Dec 10, 2007 – This past weekend at the 2007 New York Anime Festival UDON Entertainment unveiled a swath of exciting announcements to a room full of thrilled anime and comic book fans. Just in time for Street Fighter's 20th anniversary (highlighted by the all-new Street Fighter IV video game and the upcoming live action movie), UDON plans to release three pulse-pounding Street Fighter comic book series in 2008. |
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. |
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
