Japan

Both Ultimatum and Moon Phase are reporting that To Love-Ru, the latest manga by Hasemi Saki (story) and Kentaro Yabuki (art) that's currently serialized in Shounen Jump, will be adapted into an anime by XEBEC, and will be aired sometime next spring.

Ultimatum Tidbits points out a post from Yamamoto Atsuji, which revealed that mangaka Noboru Miyama passed away on December 2nd at the age of 51. Noboru Miyama is responsible for titles such as Mefisuto, Pikaichi and Reira.

Japanese video game company Koei has launched a new light novel label this month called Game City Bunko. Currently 6 volumes of light novels are scheduled to be released under this new label, three of which will be released in December, while the other 3 in January 2008. The first light novel, Haruka Naru Toki no Naka de 3: Kurenai no Tsuki, will be released on December 8th.

Source: LightNovel.org

According to this report, publisher Digima ceased operation after suspending its free manga magazine Comic Gumbo: "the first free weekly manga magazine in Japan. It reportedly sustained losses of 200 million yen (about US$2 million)."

ANN is reporting that Kyoto Seika University's Faculty of Manga has created an informational manga to help search for the killer of their student, Daisaku Chiba. A few days later, the manga pamphlet appeared on the internet.

20-year-old Daisaku Chiba was a freshman in the department when he was found stabbed in the central Japanese city of Kyoto on the evening of January 15. He reportedly said, "I have no idea who stabbed me," before dying of his ten stab wounds at the hospital.

In the latest issue of his Flipped column, David Welsh interviews Eijiro Shimada, Editor-in-Chief of Kodansha's Morning and Morning 2, as well as chief judge of Kodansha's Morning International Manga Competition.

ANN reports that Detective Conan creator Gosho Aoyama and voice actress Minami Takayama have divorced:

Various newspapers in Japan have reported on Monday morning that voice actress Minami Takayama (Detective Conan's Conan, Kiki's Delivery Service's Kiki and Ursula) and manga creator Gosho Aoyama (Detective Conan/Case Closed) have divorced. [...] Takayama's agency released a statement that said, "Due to the private nature [of this matter], we have no comment."

According to Digima, Comic Gumbo, Japan's first free weekly manga publication, will cease publication on 12/11 with the release of issue 48.

Source: Anime! Anime!