Gegege no Kitaro Part 2 will begin serialization in the April issue of Comic BonBon (3/15). The launch will coincide with the fifth season of the Gegege no Kitaro anime, which will premiere on April 28 in Japan.

Also mentioned were some Gegege no Kitaro manga releases. Volume 1 and 2 of the manga, as well as volume 1-3 of the original version by Shigeru Mizuki will go on sale March 16th.

Source: Ultimatum Talk

Starting in the March issue (1/16) of Shonen Sirius of Kodansha's Shonen Sirius is a manga titled Route 225, based on the novel of the same name written by Chiya Fujino and illustrated by Takako Shimura.

Also starting in the same issue is a new manga titled Kaidan to Odorou Soshite Anata ha Kaidan de Odoru. The new manga is illustrated by Nozawa Beam and written by Ryukishi07, the original creator of 07th Expansion's popular doujin game Higurashi no Naku Koro ni.

Kaidan to Odorou Soshite Anata ha Kaidan de Odoru was originally published in volume 6 of Kodansha's magazine Faust as a novel written by Ryukishi07.

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January 31st marks the deadline of Kodansha's 2nd Penguin Illustration Contest. All original illustrations dealing with penguin are accepted, winner of the grand prize will receive 300,000 yen.

Information on the previously reported Kodansha International Manga Competition is now available on Kodansha's official website:

www.e-morning.jp/imc

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of its manga anthology Morning, Kodansha has announced a new International Manga Competition to look for new manga talents from around the world.

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Kinoko Nasu, the mastermind behind the story of Tsukihime and Fate/stay night, is also the author of the novel Kara no Kyoukai (of which a featured film was recently announced). However, Kara no Kyoukai was not Nasu's only novel. On January 9th, Kodansha released volume 1 of Nasu's other novel, DDD, under its Kodansha BOX imprint.

The story of DDD was originally published in the magazine Faust. DDD volume 1 includes "J the E" (Faust September issue 2004), "HandS. (R)" (Faust November issue 2005) and "HandS. (L)" (Faust December issue 2005), and a new story titled "formaal hunt."

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Say Hello to Black Jack by Shuho Sato is a popular manga that began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Morning in 2002. The manga, based on Osamu Tezuka's Black Jack, won the 6th Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Prize in 2002. After 13 volumes and over 10,000,000 units sold, Say Hello to Black Jack finally came to a stop in 2005.

Just when everyone thought Say Hello to Black Jack has finally ended, news came that the manga will resume serialization in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits under the title Shin (New) Say Hello to Black Jack.

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A new manga titled Nennin Tsurebito by Akihito Yoshitomi (Ray, Eat-Man) began serialization in Magazine Z issue 2 (12/26).

Also, a new manga by Katsu Aki, mangaka of Futari Ecchi, will start in Magazine Z issue 5 (3/26).

Enjoying manga has always been about using one's eyes. To listen to a manga, people either have to watch the anime or listen to drama CDs. This situation is about to change with an ambitious new program from Kodansha's Monthly Magazine Z. On January 26th, a new website called www.yomishi.jp will be opened.

Yomishi.jp will provide downloadable sound files from Yomishi (?????????????????????) (literally reading masters). After downloading the sound file of their favorite manga, visitors can play the sound file, enjoying dialogues read by a professional manga reader while reading the manga.

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Keeping the tradition from past new years, on the first day of 2007, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan all placed full-page ads in numerous major Japanese newspapers.

Source: Nuruwota ga Kiru

Takehiko Inoue's Vagabond, which began serialization in Kodansha's Weekly Morning in 1998, is a samurai manga based on Eiji Yoshikawa's novel Miyamoto Musashi. The manga won the 4th Media Arts Festival Grand Prize and the 24th Kodansha Award for Best Manga in 2000, as well as the 6th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award in 2002.

Now in its eighth year of serialization, the series is getting closer to its final story arc. In November SWITCH ON Excite released an interview on Inoue's Vagabond. The article explores the development of his drawing techniques, his plans for Vagabond, and more.

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