Recently a figurine of Saber (from Fate/stay-night) given away as a "hand-made collector's edition item" by a Chinese comic magazine called "Donghua Jidi" (Anime Base) became a hot topic of discussion in both China and Japan. The cause of the debates was the figurine's ugly appearance.

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Hakusensha, together with a yet-to-be-named Chinese publisher, will bring Natsuki Takaya's popular shojo manga Fruits Basket to mainland China.

Following the footsteps of manga such as The Prince of Tennis, Inuyasha, and Dragon Ball, the release of Fruits Basket marks yet another large scale official release of a popular series in China. Fruits Basket will also become the first shojo manga with an official version released in China (bootlegged versions, on the other hand, are in abundance).

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Japan E-book Initiative (EBI), Kyocera Communication (KCCS), and Singapore Kyocera Communication Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (KCAP) announced last month a partnership to distribute manga digitally overseas starting 9/19. KCCS and KCAP will be responsible for financial matters, advertising, and customer service. EBI will be in charge the software and the content.

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Qiang Qiang, the new mascot for the 21st Shandong Provice Sports Game (Shandong 21st Game) was recently unveiled to the public. However, the new mascot was met with severe criticism as its design was accused of being copied from a creature in Pokemon.

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On Sept, 30th, Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court (IPC) dismissed Futabasha's dispute with a Chinese firm (Guangzhou Cheng Yi Optical Co., Ltd.) over the trademark of "Crayon Shin-Chan." Futabasha later appealed to Beijing High People's Court.

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Yomiuri Online has an article on an exhibition currently being held at the Suginami Animation Museum in Suginami Ward, titled Tezuka Osamu no Atomu to Songoku Ten, where "visitors can watch the Chinese animated film--Saiyuki: Tessenkoshu no Maki (Japan title, 1941)--that Tezuka says was the inspiration for his manga series...."

On September 16, the Hong Kong government held a license plate auction, where a "GUNDAM" plate was sold for 110,000 Hong Kong Dollars (approximately 14,000 USD).

Other plates sold during the auction included "1 LOVE U", "HANDSOME", "BEATLES", "BABYFACE", etc. The highest bid was "1 LOVE U" at 1.4 million HKD. In the end the auction generated over 11.25 million HKD.

Click Comic Web (TriWorks), the largest (and only) official Chinese online manga distributor, and ComicFans Culture, a large Chinese publisher who publishes numerous anime/manga-related magazines throughout China, has recently signed a strategic cooperation agreement in order to promote Chinese manga copyright and content, Click Comic Web will also begin distributing digital versions of ComicFans' magazines through its DigiBook service.

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The 2006 Guangdong Animation Art Fair (also called Art Fair of Animation or AFA) will be taking place in Guangzhou City Exhibition Center from October 1st - October 5th). Events include manga exhibitions, dance competitions, a Lolita Princess Contest, a "Culture and History of Cosplay" filming event, etc. Also planned for the Fair is the "Click Anime Web" service (powered by "DigiBook"), where fans will be able to read their favorite manga on computers located throughout the fair.

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On August 21st, high school students from China and Japan met in Tokyo to participate in the "Japan China Manga Exchange Meeting". Each participant, with the help of manga artists, worked together to create their own manga artwork. This meeting is part of a series of events organized by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in an effort to improve the relationship between Chinese and Japanese youth through manga.