MangaCast points out that the winners of the 2006 Seiun (Nebula) Awards have been announced (also included is a list of the nominees):

Best SF Manga:
- Onmyouji by Okuno Reiko/Yumekura Baku (Winner)
- Savage Garden by Nishigawa Rousuke
- Kaguya Hime by Shimizu Reiko

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Aduld manga publisher Icarus Publishing has announced two new titles:

- Blue Eyes 4 by Tohru Nishimaki
- Afterschool Sex Slave Club by Tuna Empire

According to listings found on Amazon.com, the following titles have been licensed by VIZ Media:

- Ichigo 100% by Mizuki Kawashita
- Pretty Face by Yasuhiro Kano
- Togari by Yoshinori Natsume
- Yurara by Chika Shiomi
* Amazon.com lists the author of Pretty Face as Joseph Kanon, which is a mistake.

The new comic release list from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast.

Panini Comics Brazil will be releasing Trigun by Yasuhiro Nightow in Brazil this December. The format of manga will be 13 x 18 cm, with approximately 176 to 192 pages a volume.

Source: Papo de Budega

Two of the largest Japanese search engine, Yahoo! Japan and Infoseek Japan, released their top 10 search terms for anime and manga in 2006. publish 2006 top search terms for Anime and Manga.

While Death Note took the first place in Yahoo's list thanks to the popularity of its manga, anime, and movie, it is worth noting that Pokemon, a project which Yahoo participated in, was not listed. In the overall ranking, Pokemon ranks at #48, while Death Note is at #50, so in reality Pokemon has a higher ranking than Death Note. Another interesting trend is that 6 of the 10 spots were taken by Weekly Shonen Jump titles.

Infoseek's list is a little different compared to Yahoo's, with titles like Eureka 7 and Fate/stay night that are aimed at an older audience making the top 10.

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MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (12/02) according to Toranoana Akihabara, compiled by Akiba Blog.

MangaCast points out that DramaQueen's RUSH site has launched a new blog called RUSH Blog. Also new is a manga title by Lynsley Brito called Venom Fang.

ICv2 has announced its second annual ICv2 Graphic Novel Conference, which will take place at next February's New York Comic Con.

The recipient of the 2006 Zoooka Manga Prize was announced on November 17th. The Zoooka Manga Prize, hosted by Takarazuka University of Arts and Design and supported by Mainichi Shimbun, was established in an effort to search for new manga artists. This year the award received 482 applications from both home and abroad, 18 works from three categories were chosen: the public category, the university and vocational college category, and the junior and senior high school category.

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