Top 10 manga (8/29) according to Tohan:

1. Tsubasa RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE, Volume 20
2. Hataraki Man, Volume 4
3. Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 17
4. Bokura ga Ita, Volume 12
5. Air Gear, Volume 18
6. V.B. Rose, Volume 10
7. Zipang, Volume 31
8. Nagasarete Airantou, Volume 11
9. Hana Yorimo Hana no Gotoku, Volume 5
10. Ryuuroden: Kuriuran Nakahara Saga, Volume 1

Read More »

MediaWorks has announced (PDF) a new seinen magazine titled Dengeki Kuro Maoh. The new magazine, a special issue of Dengeki Maoh, will be released on September 19th and will be published on a quarterly basis. The circulation of the magazine will be 80,000 issues, and will focus on manga, anime and novels for young men. One of the new series starting in this magazine will be a new Shakugan no Shana manga.

The manga, titled Shakugan no Shana X Eternal song -Harukanaru Uta- (灼眼のシャナX Eternal song －遙かなる歌－), will be illustrated by Kiya Shii, and story will be based on the 10th volume of the Shakugan no Shana light novel.

Read More »

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending August 26th:

• #76 - Fruits Basket, Volume 17 - Tokykopop - (Last week: #34)
• #116 - Naruto, Volume 18 - Viz - (Last week: #0)
• #123 - Naruto, Volume 17 - Viz - (Last week: #0)
• #131 - Naruto, Volume 16 - Viz - (Last week: #0)

Several new titles have appeared on Amazon.com listed under NETCOMICS:

• Romance Papa by Yougran Lee
• Do Whatever You Want by Yeri Na
• Totally Captivated by Hajin Yoo

Another new title, Honey Senior, Darling Junior by Chifumi Ochi, appeared in the latest Diamond Previews.

Source: AoD

MangaLife is currently looking for new manga reviewers:

Our goals for 2008 and beyond are to be *the* major internet resource for manga reviews and to post them daily, and to achieve this we're looking for a couple of new reviewers to join our established team. You need to have an enthusiasm for manga and a clear writing style, able to communicate what's good and bad about each book you look at concisely and with clarity.

Canned Dogs reports that the November issue of Comic Gum will come with a special Sena★Sena supplementary booklet.

Sena★Sena is a project from the otaku blog Senaka Otaroad, where many popular artists work on medias involving the blog's mascot Senaka-chan. For more info visit here.

From now till November 2007, Viz will be giving away a Naruto prize pack once a week, with the grand prize being a trip for two to the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con.

Source: MangaBlog

From Heisei Democracy comes an article titled "Doujinshi, Obscenity, and Japan's Imperiled Freedom of Speech," which takes a brief look at the history doujinshi and obscenity laws in Japan:

In the light of the recent arrest of a doujin artist on obscenity charges we take a look back at the past five years in the history of free speech regulation and litigation vis a vis drawn pornography in Japan. We examine the current state of affairs and speculate as to the fate of the free speech right enshrined in article 13 of Japan's constitution, one that now seems to rest on a very fragile footing indeed.

Manga cafes in Japan are becoming a place of refuge for the poor who can't afford to live in their own home or a hotel. According to Mainichi Shimbun, a recent survey conducted by the government revealed that the number of homeless people who lives in Internet and manga cafes has reached about 5,400:

Those in their 20s form the largest age group, followed by people in their 50s. The figures highlight employment problems that are affecting middle-aged and elderly people as well as those in their 20s.

Via: MangaBlog

• Konami's OAV and TV anime Sky Girls (スカイガールズ) was adapted into a manga in the October issue of Kodansha's Monthly Magazine Z (8/25). Also began in the same issue was a manga titled Hakokan Younin Burai-cho Himegami (箱館妖人無頼帖 ヒメガミ) by Nozomu Tamaki.

• A manga adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (機動戦士ガンダムOO) will begin the December issue of Monthly Magazine Z (10/26), a preview will be made available in the November issue.

• Two new manga, Ray Sweeper (レイスイーパー) by Narumi Kakinouchi (creator of Vampire Princess Miyu) and Lieutenant-Scarlet (ルテナン・スカーレット) by Takao Ukyo (Original story by Ryoe Tsukimura), will start in Jive's Monthly Comic Rush November issue (9/26).

• A new manga titled Tobaku Haouden Zero (賭博覇王伝 零(ゼロ)) by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, who won the Kodansha Manga Award in 1998 for his manga Tobaku Mokushiroku Kaiji, will begin serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine issue 40 (9/5).

• Ramen Tenshi Pretty Menma (ラーメン天使 プリティメンマ), a fictional game from the Genshiken manga, will be adapted into a real manga, and will start serialization in the November issue of Media Factory's Comic Alive (9/27).

• The official site for the adult manga magazine Comic Hotmilk has opened at http://www.coremagazine.co.jp/hotmilk/