In order to raise new talents for its own anime, manga and game industry, China will build its first "Anime, Manga and Game Talents Center" in Haidian District, Shanghai.

Source: QianLong Beijing News

Two new series will start in Weekly Shonen Champion No.12, on sale 2/15:

Mighty Heart by Seishirou Matsuri
OutlawTaxi - Red Lightning by Yu Yagami

In the newly released ICv2 Guide #39: Anime/Manga, ICv2 reports that according to U.S. publishers, 1461 volumes of manga will be released in 2007, a 16% increase from 2006's 1224 volumes. Also reported are the "Top 50 Manga Properties" and the "Top 25 Anime Properties" based on sales information from 2006, with Naruto, Fruits Basket and Kingdom Hearts taking the top 3 spots of the "Top 50 Manga Properties" list.

Illustrator and manga artist Kazuhiro Watanabe (56) passed away on February 6th due to liver cancer. Watanabe has created illustrations for magazines and series such as Izumi Asa Jin No Tsuukin Kai Doku.

Source: Sankei Web

On January 26th, eBookJapan's I-Book Initiative Japan launched its "Shojo Manga Certification" project, a project to test one's knowledge of shojo manga. Josei Jishin, a vulgar magazine for women, also carried the feature in a recent issue.

The test, supervised by mangaka Machiko, contains questions on recent popular shojo manga titles such as Nodame Cantabile, Honey and Clover, Sailor Moon and Chibi Maruko-chan, as well as classics like The Rose of Versailles and Patariro.

Source: YuYu Diary

Issue 8 of Weekly Shonen Sunday came with a "Butler Certification." The feature is part of a special effort to celebrate Hayate the Combat Butler's anime adaption.

In the questionnaire, series creator Kenjiro Hata made up many interesting questions, "wonderful prizes" such as a Nintendo DS will go to those who receive a high score.

Go! Comi has announced its schedule for the upcoming New York Comic-Con:

Friday, Feb. 23
- 2:30-3:30 PM
Capturing Female Readers: The Fastest Growing Audience for Comics

Saturday, Feb. 24
- 10:00 - Noon
Portfolio Reviews

- 2:00 PM
Go! Comi Takes Over the World

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In January, a manga appeared on Yahoo! Auction with a starting bid of 1,000,000 yen. The manga in question is Fujiko Fujio's first manga Utopia - The Last World War, published in 1953 under the pen name of Ashizuka Fujio. In the end, the extremely rare and valuable manga was sold for 1,500,000 yen to the highest bidder.

Source: Animated Cartoon

Precocious Curmudgeon has posted a list of the top selling shonen and shojo manga in Singapore, compiled by the Sunday's edition of The Straits Times.

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MangaCast translates the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking in Japan (02/03) according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side.