On 9/1, the hosts of a Taiwanese variety show called "The Guess Show" (我猜我猜我猜猜猜) introduced the light novel The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya as an adult light novel by saying it's "obviously H" and "so A[dult]," and went on to read out "adult scenes" from the book. The episode caused an uproar from the online community and the fans. The host's response was: "Obviously what I said weren't from the novel, I'm also a Haruhi fan, it's not my fault if they can't take a little joke." In the end, the show did not apologize.

A few days ago, Kadokawa Taiwan issued a statement explaining that the Haruhi novel is in fact not an adult novel, and asks the TV show to better organize its programs in order to avoid further confusion:

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According to an article from Spiegel Online, a pair of manga-styled virtual police (a man and a woman) will be used by the Chinese government to "patrol" internet user's screen.

According to public officials, this will help remind users on the internet that they're being watched and to not break and laws. The virtual manga cops will be put to work on September 1st on 13 Chinese internet portals:

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The 10th Bucheon International Comics Festival (BICOF 2007) is taking place from August 16th - August 19th at the Boksagol Culture Center in Bucheon-si, Gyeonggi-do. Many Chinese artists are attending this year's event to participate in a special China-Korea Illustration exhibition.

Also, the Dong-A Ilbo reports that the well-known Chinese artist Chenweidong is attending the event:

He is currently leading the "New-Chinese Comics" movement that strives to re-interpret Chinese history or traditional culture with a modern outlook.

From ComicBitsOnline comes an article titled "Manhua, Manhwa & Manga," which takes a brief look at the history of Hong Kong comics -- also known as manhua.

Via: MangaBlog

The 2007 Hong Kong Comics Festival took place in Hong Kong last month. Although the organizers initially expected an attendance of around 550,000, over 560,000 fans showed up for the 5-day convention. Due to an unexpected rise in attendance, sometimes the convention stayed open until 11:30pm to accommodate special special events. According to the report, sales of tripled compared to last year.

Source: ZhongMan

From Yomiuri Online comes an article looking at how Taiwan is quicker in turning manga into TV dramas than their Japanese counterparts:

Taiwanese broadcasters are now adapting manga popular among girls for use as TV dramas even more quickly than their Japanese TV counterparts. Some of these Taiwan dramas have done well in other Asian countries too, fueling a craze that has left broadcasters in the manga's country of origin in their wake.

Via: Giapet.net

Are Hong Kong comics really all about kung fu? The FØØL's Progress has published an article that looks at different kinds of HK comics outside of the kung fu genre.

What is plagiarism? Plagiarism is the act of claiming original authorship or incorporating material from someone else's work into your own work without crediting the original author, sometimes doing such an act unconsciously is also considered plagiarism.

When it comes to manga and plagiarism, things never end well. Sometimes manga found guilty of plagiarizing are suspended and recalled, and some authors even stop working. There are also times when people, or even an entire nation, get away with nothing. The world of manga plagiarism is full of interesting, sad, and sometimes funny tales.

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The 2007 Hong Kong Comics Festival will take place this year in Hong Kong between 7/27 - 7/31 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. The 5-day convention is a made up of two separate events, the 9th Hong Kong Ani-Com and the 4th Hong Kong Game Fair.

Events planned for the Hong Kong Ani-Com include manga and anime exhibitions, presentations from manga artists, cosplay contest, a anime/manga/toys/etc. "Mega Store," as well as a Gundam model competition/exhibition sponsored by Bandai, Media Works and the Dengeki Hobby magazine.

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According to the Japan Media Arts Plaza's official website, this year's Japan Media Arts Festival will take place in Shanghai, China in order to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations.

According to the announcement, this year's festival, taking place from 8/19 - 8/26 in Shanghai Sculpture Space, will be different from the past. The event will showcase winning works from past festivals in order to present to Chinese fans "The joyous culture created by Japan."

Go here for a list of manga that will appear at the festival.