Winners of the 1st FureComi Manga Competition are now avialable on Shonen Blood's website Web★Blood:

Grand Prize:
- Prize: 300,000 yen, serialization on Yahoo's online service Flex Comix, Fax/Scanner

None

It is regrettable that no work were able to win the grand prize, please wait for the next time!

Outstanding Performance:
Prize: 100,000 yen, Fax/Scanner

• Bloodline by Hiroshi Yanagisawa and Kouta Sakamoto

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According to Champion Red Ichigo's news page, volume 2 of Akita Shoten's Champion Red Ichigo (6/5) will come with an announcement regarding a big project. Currently the only information available is that the project will be a follow-up to the manga My-HiME and My-Otome, more information will be available in Champion Red Ichigo issue 2.

From Papo de Budega comes an interview with Satoshi Kon (今敏), one of the most popular anime directors today. Satoshi Kon is known for works such as Tokyo Godfathers, Millennium Actress, Perfect Blue, Paranoia Agent, and more. In the interview Satoshi talked about many things, including his newest work, an adventure/fantasy movie for children. Complete interview available at Papo de Budega.

MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking (05/05) in Japan according to Toranoana, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking (05/05) in Japan according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side.

According to the latest TOC info, a new series titled Kiss☆Cry by Akira Segami (creator of Kagetora) will begin serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine issue 24, on sale May 16th.

Source: Ultimatum Chat

Japanese manga anthologies are one of the foundations of Japan's manga culture. Most popular series are first serialized in manga anthologies before being released in the tankoubon format. Despite the success manga is enjoying around the world, recent reports indicate that Japan's domestic manga market have gone into a decline. As a result, manga publishers are finding it difficult to make a profit from manga anthologies. Last month, Weekly Shonen Magazine's circulation dropped under 2,000,000. The suspension of Shueisha's Monthly Shonen Jump could also in part be attributed to declining sales.

Despite the difficulties many magazines are facing nowadays, Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump experienced a slight boost in sales in recent months. Last December, for the first time in 11 years, Shonen Jump's circulation increased from 2.75 million to 2.78 million. However, when compared with sales from 10 years ago, this number is hardly encouraging. To understand Shonen Jump's current situation, one needs to look at the magazine's historic circulation.

Below is a look at Shonen Jump's historic circulation, as well as an updated list of the Shonen Jump manga circulation numbers (updated from the 2006 version).

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According to its official website, Ichijinsha will be releasing the first issue of a new game and anime bishojo manga magazine titled Chara☆Mel on June 25th.

In March 2007, several publishers were allowed to include manga in school textbooks. The move was intended to help students who are doing bad in school to learn while having fun. However, the idea of including manga in school was met with severe criticisms.

Mimei Sakamoto, a manga artist for over 20 years and writes essays and manga for several Japanese magazine, recently expressed her opinion on manga textbooks:

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An interview with manga artist Moto Hagio is current available on Matt Thorn's website. The interview originally appeared in the shojo manga issue of The Comics Journal (issue number #269, July/August 2005).

Via: MangaBlog

Manga Jouhou translates an interview from Mainichi Communications with manhwa artists at the Modern Korean Manhwa Exhibition (April 21st - June 3rd), held at the Kawazaki City Museum in Kawazaki City.