Manga News and Information
JapanA New Imprint and Web Site Launch Rumiko Takahashi's Newest Series RIN-NE Gets Its First Volume San Francisco, CA, July 8, 2009 - VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the launch of a brand new imprint, SHONEN SUNDAY. Featuring the works of some of the top shonen manga creators in the world today, the Shonen Sunday magazine in Japan provides the content for this imprint. The magazine recently celebrated its 50th anniversary since its first issue arrived on newsstands in March of 1959. Los Angeles, Thursday, July 2, 2009 Bishoujo game localization company JAST USA today announced a new licensing partnership with Japanese multimedia entertainment producer, Nitroplus Co., Ltd., to produce English localized versions of Nitroplus game software. JAST USA President Peter Payne announced the deal at the 2009 Anime Expo bishoujo games industry content panel along with details of the first of several Nitroplus games to be released in English, Zanma Taisei Demonbane (release title pending). The doujinshi collection of Yoshihiro Yonezawa, manga critic and co-founder of Comiket, was donated to Meiji University, his former university. The university is converting a seven-storey building to house Yonezawa's collection and that of Tsuguo Iwata, another prominent doujinshika, as the Yoshihiro Yonezawa Memorial Library of Manga and Subcultures. LN.org reports that France Shoin is launching a new light novel label called Tiara Bunko:
Visit The Official Rumiko Takahashi English Language Web Site - TheRumicWorld.com On April 22nd For The Latest Work From One Of The Greatest Creative Forces In Manga San Francisco, CA, Date April 15th, 2009 - VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry???s most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, announces the debut of a new manga series from legendary creator Rumiko Takahashi. The series, titled RIN-NE, will be launching simultaneously April 22nd exclusively in Japan in WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY magazine and online for North American audiences on www.TheRumicWorld.com, the brand new official North American web site for all Rumiko Takahashi-related news and information. Through this unprecedented collaboration, a new chapter of RIN-NE will be released each week for English-speaking manga fans to enjoy at the same time as their Japanese peers.
Gossips or not, these stories are nonetheless fun to read. Below is a translation of an article detailing some of these fascinating stories: All the hot gossip here! - Secrets of the comic book artists exposed! You are a comic book fan; you passionately love comics and see them as food for your soul. And just as you love comic books, you love their creators; you love them as much as your own parents and marvel at how they could have the energy and imagination to continue time after time to create such magic. The image of them in your mind is dazzling and heroic. At some point, however, the thought may have occurred to you 'comic book creators are real people too; beneath the veneer of fame, their lives share the same realities as ours.' Sometimes such an idea can come as a shock to you! It is these stories behind the storytellers that we will call 'gossip' here. So what is the gossip on their lives? Do you dare join us in digging up their secrets? From this point it's going to get unflattering for some comic creators. According to the latest issue of Shounen Sunday, a new series by Rumiko Takahashi, mangaka of Ranma and Inuyasha, will debut in the spring. At the moment no title or plot were given. Source: Rumic World
Below is the 2008 Top 50 Ranking manga tankoubons and their sales data, and the Top 10 Series ranking as compiled by Oricon: Top 10 Series of 2008
In late 2006, Leiji Matsumoto accused J-Pop singer Noriyuki Makihara of plagiarizing lyrics from the Galaxy Express 999 manga, and announced that he would like to hear an apology from Makihara. In 2007, Makihara Noriyuk filed a 22 million yen lawsuit against Leiji Matsumoto for "repeated demands for an apology and false accusation." Now Daily Yomiuri Online reports that the Tokyo District Court has ordered Leiji Matsumoto to pay 2.2 million yen in compensation for defaming Noriyuki Makihara:
The event takes place twice a year. The latest one, Comiket 75, is taking place from 12/28 - 12/31. Below is a round up of some of the English coverages from around the internet: |
Manga Zombie
Finale: Panelosophy
An ongoing conversation about the philosophy behind manga both in the U.S. and abroad. Manga Ranking
Monthly charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. |
The world of mangaka often produce fascinating stories. Some of them simply an interesting read, while others outright impossible. Some of these stories are true, while others are rumors that found their way into internet bulletin boards and became "real."
Oricon, a company that originally ranked music sales (think Japanese Billboard), but nowadays ranks almost everything related to Japanese entertainment, has released the 
ComiPress teams up with writer Udagawa Takeo and translator John Gallagher to publish an online version of the English-language translation of Manga Zombie.
