A 6 minute long promotional video for the upcoming Hayate the Combat Butler anime has been made available online. An alternate, short TV commercial video is available in AVI format from the Japanese fan site Hayacale.

Source: AnimeNation

The cast for Hayate the Combat Butler has been announced:

- Hayate: Ryoko Shiraishi
- Nagi: Rie Kugimiya
- Maria: Rie Tanaka
- Hinagiku: Shizuka Ito

Hayate the Combat Butler is a comedy manga famous for its numerous crossovers and "easter eggs." Currently the manga is being published in the U.S. by VIZ Media.

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According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Shogakukan and Sony Pictures Entertainment and others have announced plans to explore the light novel market aimed at people between 10 to 20 years old. While Shogakukan will be officially entering the light novel market this spring, Sony Pictures plans to tap into the large pool of new writers who write using their cell phone.

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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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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

According to this announcement, Kenjiro Hata's Hayate the Combat Butler will be adapted into an anime TV series in 2007.

Hayate the Combat Butler is a comedy manga famous for its numerous crossovers and "easter eggs." Currently the manga is being published in the U.S. by VIZ Media.

Barubara Ikai by Moto Hagio has won the 27th Japan SF Grand Prize. Barubara Ikai is a science fiction manga published by Shogakukan, it ended in Shogakukan's manga anthology Flowers in August of 2005 with a total of 4 volumes.

Source: AnimeAnime

A new live-action film based on Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys manga has been announced and is set to come out in 2008.

20th Century Boys recently
returned to the pages of Big Comic Spirits after going on hiatus for over eight months.

Source: eiga.com

Recently a conversation was held by Kyoto Seika University's newly established manga department between manga artist Naoki Urasawa, creator of popular series such as Yawara!, Monster, and 20th Century Boys, and Takashi Nagasaki, a manga producer who once worked with Urasawa. The topic of the conversation was centered on the difficulties in creating a positive relationship between manga artists and their editors. Below is a translation of the report from Kobe Shimbun regarding the conversation.

The Relationship between a Manga Artist and an Editor is Collaboration

Naoki Urasawa is talented enough to be able to draw two manga at the same time, one for a weekly magazine (20th Century Boys in Big Comic Spirits) and the other a bi-weekly magazine (Pluto in Big Comic Original). However, Urasawa attributes his success to hard work:

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When Naoki Urasawa's 20th Century Boys ended abruptly last April in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirits, leaving only a note stating that "the next part of the series will resume in Spring 2007," fans wondered if the series will actually finish.

After months of waiting, Big Comic Spirit has finally announced that the "final chapters" of 20th Century Boys will begin serialization in Big Comic Spirit No. 4+5 New Year's issue, on sale December 25th.

Also announced is a new manga from Tohru Fujisawa (of GTO fame) titled Animal Joe, which will start in issue 3 of Big Comic Spirit, on sale December 18th.

A new series called Yuru Yuru Future by Haruko Kashiwagi will begin in Big Comic Spirit No. 6+7.