Impress GAME Watch is reporting that the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association (CESA), which organizes the Tokyo Game Show and is responsible for video game age ratings, has released a free online manga on online gaming etiquette. The manga is available here (PDF).

Source: Canned Dogs

Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump is known for canceling its series (even the 2ch Early Sales info is called the "Cancellation Survival Race"). Each issue of Shonen Jump comes with a survey postcard that asks its readers to vote for their favorite series. Every week, manga serialized in Jump are ranked from most popular to least popular. Usually the less popular series tend to enjoy a very short lifespan.

Weekly Jump Readers' Journal is reporting that Eiichiro Oda revealed in the latest volume of One Piece how Weekly Jump ranks its series:

Read More »

Top 10 manga (9/05) according to Tohan:

1. Bokura ga Ita, Volume 12
2. Hataraki Man, Volume 4
3. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Yoigoshi-hen, Volume 2
4. Five, Volume 7
5. Sumomomo Momomo, Volume 8
6. Uwasa no Midori-Kun!!, Volume 4
7. Parfait Tic!, Volume 22
8. Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 17
9. Zipang, Volume 31
10. Rhapsody in Heaven, Volume 3

Read More »

Shueisha has updated the official Weekly Shonen Jump website with a banner announcing the return of Hunter x Hunter.

Also, according to Weekly Jump Readers' Journal, there are rumors going around the internet that Prince of Tennis, Belmonde and Hero Studies may all be ending in Shonen Jump starting with issue 48 (11/26), to be replaced by new series from Shinya Suzuki (mangaka of Mr. Fullswing), Mizuki Kawashita (mangaka of Ichigo 100%), Takeshi Obata (artist of Death Note, Hikaru no Go) and Shiibashi Hiroshi.

The winners of the 38th Seiun Award (Nebula Award), one of the most famous Japanese science fiction awards, have been announced during the 65th World Science Fiction Convention & the 46th Japan Science Fiction Convention. Hitoshi Ashinano's Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou won in the Comics Category. Other entries in the category were Death Note, Busou Renkin, Karakuri Circus, and Yousei-koku no Kishi.

A complete English list of winners has been provided by Science Fiction Awards Watch:

Read More »

Mainichi Daily News reports that Novala Takemoto, author of the novel Shimotsuma Monogatari that was later adapted a live-action movie and manga under the title Kamikaze Girls, has been arrested for possession of cannabis.

Source: Tokyograph

The Wall Street Journal has published an article titled "Manga Mania," which criticizes Japan for overly relying on manga and anime in its public relations campaign. MangaBlog rounds up the responses from around the web.

The Japan Times has an article on Saki Matsuzawa, a 12-year-old girl whose work, Meron Pan no Ichi Nichi (A Day of the Melon Bread), is going to be released as a manga after serializing online as a interactive online storybook (available in Japanese, English or Korean):

Matsuzawa created the "Meron Pan" story last year, and was soon discovered by Sakyou Takaishi, founder and executive editor of publisher JPS (Japan Publication Service).

From AoD's Matthew Alexander comes an interview with Eijiro Shimada, Editor-in-Chief of Morning and its sister magazine Morning 2, and Yukari Shiina of world-manga.com (specialized in non-Japanese manga), who talk about Kodansha's 2nd Morning International Manga Competition (M.I.M.C.).

Nihon Keizai Shimbun (Japan Economic Times), one of the most respected economics newspaper in Japan, recently published a column from an otaku who claims (without source) that in Japan over 1 million men are obsessed with Neon Genesis Evangelion's Rei Ayanami.

Below is a brief translation of the column:

Read More »