Japan

International Manga Awards runner-up Madeleine Rosca has posted Part 2 of her International Manga Award trip to Japan.

topNaisho no Tsubomi Volume 3 was released on the 29th. Yu Yabuuchi's Naisho no Tsubomi is a sex-ed manga aimed at elementary school students, with a fifth-grade girl as its protagonist. The manga became extremely popular and received many praises.

However, despite Naisho no Tsubomi's success, not all manga involving sex are met with welcoming arms by the Japanese society. In fact, obscene shojo manga (smut) and lolicon manga have always been the target of various child protection groups. Recent news reports of actions taken against harmful shojo and loli manga involving excessive sexual content seem to suggest that a potential new movement is on the horizon. Below is a brief overview of current events, past "wars" and some case studies involving a breed of manga seen by many as "harmful books."

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Kodansha has officially announced that Comic Bon Bon (also known as Comic BomBom) will cease publication with its December issue, which goes on sale 11/15.

Also, a new monthly manga magazine aimed at junior high students, titled Monthly Shonen Rival, will debut next spring.

Ultimatum Tidbits also points out that Get Backers artist Rando Ayamine mentioned in his blog about "Preparing a serialization for a new manga magazine from Kodansha next April."

Source: Jiji Tsushin

Madeleine Rosca, runner-up in Japan's first International Manga Awards, has posted Part 1 of her International Manga Award trip to Japan:

We were visiting Kodansha - who have published Akira, Air Gear, Negima and a whole lot more of my favourites - and a combination of the food and the extreme heat and humidity was just hitting me so badly...within ten short minutes of meeting the editors, I realised I would have to leave, or risk the embarrassment of being sick on Kodansha's nicely polished floor.

Via: animeOnline

Japanese idol Shoko Nakagawa (actress, seiyu, illustrator, singer and more), also known as Shokotan, will finally be able to achieve her "childhood dream" of becoming a mangaka with the debut of her six-part series Noushi no Koi in the upcoming issue of Ohta Shuppan's quarterly magazine Hon-nin (on sale 9/8).

Suorce: Tokyograph

A commercial for Honey and Clover creator Chica Umino's upcoming series, The Lion of March, can be found on Young Animal's website. The new manga will begin serialization in Young Animal issue 14, on sale 7/13.

Also available is a commercial for Kiminori Wagasugi's Detroit Metal City.

Source: Ultimatum Tidbits

topThe 11th Osamu Tezuka Cultural Award Ceremony was held on June 6th. During the award ceremony, each winning mangaka talked about their thoughts, feelings and future plans. In Japan, the Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award has become one of the most prestigious manga award in the industry.

The Tezuka Osamu Cultural Award is one of the most prestigious manga award in Japan. The award, named after Osamu Tezuka, was established by Asahi Shimbun in 1997.

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Fujiko Mine from Lupin III was voted the most beautiful female manga character according to a new poll from Oricon taken from 1,000 men and women.

Source: Tokyograph

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Kodansha to host a second International Manga Competition

Our first full-scale international competition for manga, the "International Manga Competition," has received a phenomenal number of submissions from more than ten countries. We sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm and support.

It will take time to finalize our selections, since we received more submissions than expected, so we plan to announce the results in August on our "e-morning" website (http://www.e-morning.jp/mimc), and publish the grand prize winning work in "Morning 2" #6, slated for mid-October.

Due to the enormous number of submissions we have received, we've decided to host a second International Manga Competition.

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