According to Muhyojo, the latest issue of Kodansha's Morning revealed that the second volume of its Mandala magazine on March 21st. ANN has more:

Not only will this new 290-page volume be bigger (20 milimeters larger than A4 paper size, or roughly North American "Letter" size), but it will be in full color. 15 creators from eight countries contributed to this project, including 10 artists who returned from the first Mandala volume.

Also from ITmedia (via ANN) is the news that to celebrate the magazine's 50th anniversary, Konami will be making a game that will feature popular characters from Kodansha's Shonen Magazine and Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday.

The latest issue of Shounen Sunday came with a free Sakuya (a character from Kenjiro Hata's Hayate the Combat Butler) card that can be used in Hayate the Combat Butler TCG. New Akiba is reporting that a Hayate fan bought 398 copies of Shounen Sunday in order to get 398 copies of the Sakuya card.

Canned Dogs has more:

He had to travel to 82 different branches of 7-Eleven buying several copies of Shounen Sunday from each branch to complete the task (leaving a few copies so others can get their own copy) [...] 398 is a wordplay on the name "Sakuya", which is why he bought 398 copies.

Canned Dogs is reporting that several new series will begin serialization in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday:

• New manga (title rumored to be Gekkou Jourei) by Fujita Kazuhiro (Ushio to Tora, Karakuri Circus)
• MiXiM♀12 by Nobuyuki Anzai (Flame of Recca, MÄR)

ANN is reporting that Shogakukan and Kodansha are collaborating on a new bi-weekly magazine titled Conan & Kindaichi to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Sunday and Weekly Shonen Magazine:

As the name implies, the new magazine will feature Gosho Aoyama's Detective Conan (Case Closed) manga from Weekly Shonen Sunday and Yōzaburō Kanari and Fumiya Sato's Kindaichi Case Files from Weekly Shonen Magazine. The official announcement will be made on March 18.

Earlier this month, a lawyer named Masatoshi Uchida accused Hideo Iura's manga Bengoshi no Kuzu of plagiarizing a novel he once wrote.

Now Mainichi Shimbun reports that Hideo Iura and Shogakukan are denying the alleged copyright violation:

Iura admitted that he had referred to Uchida's novel but denied that he had violated any copyrights.

"Copyrights cover only concrete written expressions. What was published were actual crimes, and even if I used them as reference, it does not constitute a violation of copyright," a statement from Iura and the publisher said.

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ANN reports that a lawyer named Masatoshi Uchida is accusing Hideo Iura's manga Bengoshi no Kuzu of plagiarizing a novel he once wrote:

Tokyo lawyer Masatoshi Uchida has accused Hideo Iura's Bengoshi no Kuzu (Scum of Lawyers) manga of plagiarism and petitioned the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday to ban sales of Shogakukan's Big Comic Original magazine. (Big Comic Original has been serializing the Bengoshi no Kuzu manga since 2004.)

Via: MangaBlog

Rumiko Takahashi will publish a new chapter of her Rumic Theater series titled Shiawase List (Happiness List) (高橋留美子劇場 しあわせリスト) in Shogakukan's Big Comic Original No.5 (2/20).

An one-shot from Masakazu Katsura (mangaka of Video Girl Ai and I''s) and Akira Toriyama (mangaka of Dragon Ball) will appear in the May issue of Shueisha's Jump SQ (4/4).

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Canned Dogs is reporting that issue 10 of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday (2/6) will offer its readers a chance to obtain an alarm clock featuring Sanzenin Nagi, the heroine from Hayate the Combat Butler:

[The] alarm clock which will have the voice of Sanzenin Nagi from Hayate no Gotoku waking you up every morning. It only costs 980 yen (US$9) including shipping costs (Japan only).

According to Muhyojo, Kazurou Inoue's Ai Kora is coming to an end in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday No.9 (2/6).

The winners of the 53rd Shogakukan Manga Awards have been announced.

Children's Category:
- Keshikasu-kun by Noriyuki Murase
Serialized in CoroCoro Comic (Shogakukan)

Boys' Category:
- Diamond no Ace (Ace of Diamonds) by Yuuji Terajima
Serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine (Kodansha)

Girls' Category:
- Boku no Hatsukoi wo Kimi ni Sasagu by Kotomi Aoki
Serialized in Sho-Comi (Shogakukan)

General Category:
- Kurosagi by Takeshi Natsuhara (Story) and Kuromaru (Art)
Serialized in Weekly Young Sunday (Shogakukan)

General Category:
- Bambino! by Sekiya Tetsuji
Serialized in Big Comic Spirits (Shogakukan)

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