According to People's Daily Japan, Beijing Film Academy has introduced a new category, Nihon Taishi Prize (Japan Ambassador Prize) to its Beijing Film Academy School of Animation Award. The prize was awarded to the head of the Japanese Embassy's Public Relations and Culture Department, who attended the award ceremoney on December 3rd.

With over 50 years of history, the Beijing Film Academy is the most prestigious film school in China. The Beijing Film Academy School of Animation Award was established 8 years ago to promote creativity and production of animations.

Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

1. 20th Century Boys vol.22
2. Fullmetal Alchemist vol.15
3. Initial D vol.34
4. Bokura ga Ita vol.11
5. Koukou Debut vol.7
6. Oooku vol.2
7. One Piece vol.44
8. Red Diamonds Eleven
9. Real vol.6
10. Oh My Goddess! vol.34

MangaCast points out that the winners of the 2006 Seiun (Nebula) Awards have been announced (also included is a list of the nominees):

Best SF Manga:
- Onmyouji by Okuno Reiko/Yumekura Baku (Winner)
- Savage Garden by Nishigawa Rousuke
- Kaguya Hime by Shimizu Reiko

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Two of the largest Japanese search engine, Yahoo! Japan and Infoseek Japan, released their top 10 search terms for anime and manga in 2006. publish 2006 top search terms for Anime and Manga.

While Death Note took the first place in Yahoo's list thanks to the popularity of its manga, anime, and movie, it is worth noting that Pokemon, a project which Yahoo participated in, was not listed. In the overall ranking, Pokemon ranks at #48, while Death Note is at #50, so in reality Pokemon has a higher ranking than Death Note. Another interesting trend is that 6 of the 10 spots were taken by Weekly Shonen Jump titles.

Infoseek's list is a little different compared to Yahoo's, with titles like Eureka 7 and Fate/stay night that are aimed at an older audience making the top 10.

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MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (12/02) according to Toranoana Akihabara, compiled by Akiba Blog.

The recipient of the 2006 Zoooka Manga Prize was announced on November 17th. The Zoooka Manga Prize, hosted by Takarazuka University of Arts and Design and supported by Mainichi Shimbun, was established in an effort to search for new manga artists. This year the award received 482 applications from both home and abroad, 18 works from three categories were chosen: the public category, the university and vocational college category, and the junior and senior high school category.

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From Sake-Drenched Postcards comes a special feature titled "Hentai Manga Gears Up for World Exposure," which takes a look at the hentai manga culture. Also included are interviews with various hentai manga artists:

- Manga Artist Interview Series (Part I) - Toshio Maeda
- Manga Artist Interview Series (Part II) - Takeshi Oshima
- Manga Artist Interview Series (Part III) - Rui Hashimoto

According to the latest Shonen Jump Early Sales Info, a "One Piece x Dragonball" one-shot from Akira Toriyama and Eiichiro Oda will appear in Weekly Shonen Jump No.2, on sale 12/21.

Barubara Ikai by Moto Hagio has won the 27th Japan SF Grand Prize. Barubara Ikai is a science fiction manga published by Shogakukan, it ended in Shogakukan's manga anthology Flowers in August of 2005 with a total of 4 volumes.

Source: AnimeAnime

Novelist Kenjiro Haitani has died of esophageal cancer late last month at the age of 72. Haitani's works include A Rabbit's Eyes, which sold more than 1 million copies and is currently being published by Vertical.

Source: Vertical Weblog