Japanese anime production company We've Inc. has announced that it will purchase Sony Magazine's division that's responsible for publishing magazine and books. The price of the acquisition has not been announced.

Kenjiro Hata, mangaka of Hayate the Combat Butler, will be having an autograph session in Makuhari on June 17.

According to the latest Shounen Jump Early Sales Info, starting July 4th, 2 volumes of Rurouni Kenshin Complete Edition manga will be released every month, with a total of 22 volumes planned. Also the Rurouni Kenshin DVD-BOX will go on sale on December 20, and will come in paulownia wood box at a price of 84,000 yen.

Also in the TOC was a comment made by D.Gray-man (which will resume serialization in Jump No. 27) mangaka Katsura Hoshino: "I'm sorry for taking such a long break. My neck is feeling much better, so I'm restarting the serialization. m(_ _)m"

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The first issue of a new otaku magazine from Kodansha, "Megabi" (Mecha + Bishoujo), will be released on June 2nd. From Junji Hotta, author of "Gainax Interviews" and "Moe Moe Japan", and Toru Honda, who worked on "Denba Otoko, "Megabi" can be considered as the definite otaku book among the many publications that deals with the otaku boom in Akihabara nowadays.

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The first issue of SweetPrincess (Cool-B special) will be released on 5/22.

Announced in Young Champion No. 12 (5/22), a new magazine from Akita Shoten called Young Champion Retsu will be released on 6/20. Young Champion Retsu will act as a special issue of Young Champion, and will be released bi-monthly (on the 3rd Thuesday) for 390 yen.

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It has been confirmed that the blockbuster live-action movie Death Note, directed by Kaneko Shuusuke, and adapted from the 14 million units-selling manga also titled Death Note, will also be released in 8 Asian countries and locations. At the Cannes Film Festival, over 50 film companies, including Western ones, rushed to make offers for it. This includes Hong Kong's own major film distributor, Golden Harvest, who has completed negotiations to distribute it.

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Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

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- http://nuruwota.blog4.fc2.com/blog-entry-887.html

Nuruwota ga Kiru has compiled a list of the best selling Shoujo manga, based on the information gathered in this 2ch thread.

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The blog Living on Digital Gadgets has an interesting analysis on the sales strategies of online and brick-and-mortar bookstores, and ways in which online bookstores could learn from the physical stores to better stimulate impulsive purchases. (All costs have been roughly converted to dollars at a rate of 100 yen = $1)

[addendum]
Apparently the author of the blog noticed us linking to/quoting his site, and was kind enough to post an entry giving us a shout-out.

「デジ埋」 管理人様、ご紹介有難うございました!

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