Ginger Mayerson from Lincoln Heights Literary Society interviews Digital Manga, Inc.'s CEO Hikaru Sasahara, who talks about himself and how he came to the U.S.

Via: Journalista

A new manga titled My-Otome Arashi will begin serialization in Akita Shoten's Weekly Shonen Champion issue 18 (3/29). The new manga is written by Higuchi Tatsuhito & Yoshino Hiroyuki and drawn by Sato Kenetsu, the same team that worked on My-Otome.

Also a new series titled Shiritsu Sousei Gakuen by Nikuboshi will begin serialization in issue 17 (3/22) of Weekly Shonen Champion.

Source: Ultimatum Chat

VIZ Media has announced two new shojo titles in the April issue of its Shojo Beat magazine:

• Fall in Love Like a Comic by Yagami Chitose
• Sand Chronicles (Sunadokei) by Ashihara Hinako

Also confirmed was the news that Sand Chronicles be serialized in Shojo Beat.

Source: MangaCast

The Beat reports on a rumor that ever since the departure of Kurt Hassler, Borders has been cutting back on its graphic novel division, and as a result "a few publishers are feeling the pinch."

In the article "A List Your Manga Should not Be On," MangaCast looks at the recent trend of manga in the U.S. being postponed indefinitely, and how titles being cancelled/put on hiatus is something that should happen in what is considered a mature market today.

Adult TV star Ai Iijima (34), author and star of the hentai manga Time Traveler Ai, has announced on her TBS "Sunday Japon" program her plan to retirement from the show business.

Shogakukan has announced the suspension of its BL (Boy's Love) light novel label Palette Bunko. The last light novels published under the Palette label were released in December 2006. The Palette Bunko will be replaced by two new light novel labels, Gagaga and Lululu, from Shogakukan in Fall 2007.

According to a report filed by The Research Institute for Publications, the total sales of domestic manga in Japan last year (2006) were 481 billion yen, a 4.2% decline from 2005. This is the first time ever sales of the manga market dropped below 500 billion yen.

The report says that tankoubon sales have been decreasing for the past two years, and that manga magazine sales have been decreasing 11 years in a row. The decline of manga magazine sales was especially noticeable, which indicates that the readers are moving away from the magazine field.

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The 100-ton hammer found in Tsukasa Hojo's manga City Hunter/Angel Heart is now available on Yahoo! Auction as part of the Angel Heart Special promotion project. The hammer, while actually only weighs 50 kg, is signed by Tsukasa Hojo himself. Bidding ends on March 16 at 5pm.

Source: animeOnline

On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending March 4, VIZ Media's Naruto volume 13 ranks at #42, Death Note volume 10 ranks at #149, and Del Rey's Negima! volume 13 ranks at #83.