On May 15th, a 17 years old boy from Aizu Wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture killed and dismembered his own mother. According to police investigation, a manga was discovered in the boy's room that tells the story of "a detective with multiple personalities who solves strange murder cases."

According to reports, the manga in question began serialization in 1997, and was adapted into novels, movies and more. Although the series was popular, many considered it to be harmful due to its disturbing murder scenes.

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According to updates of the Fanime 2007 coverage from Broccoli Books Blog, Murder Princess creator Sekihiko Inui will be starting a new series titled Ratman in the August issue of Shounen Ace (6/26):

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According to Moon Phase, Katayama Kentarou (Author) and Yamamoto Yamato (Illustrator)'s light novel series Kure-nai will be adapted into an anime. Kure-nai is currently published under Shueisha's shounen light novel label Super Dash Bunko.

Source: LightNovel.org

Top 10 manga (5/23) according to Tohan.

1. XXXHOLiC, Volume 11
2. Fairy Tale, Volume 4
3. Hajime no Ippo, Volume 80
4. Shinshi Doumei Cross, Volume 7
5. Life, Volume 15
6. Gakuen Alice, Volume 13
7. Major, Volume 63
8. Otomen, Volume 2
9. Angel Heart, Volume 22
10. Gantz, Volume 21

Additional Rankings:
- Weekly Top 10 (5/07-5/13) from Taiyosha
- Weekly Doujinshi Top 10 (5/19) from Toranoana
- Weekly BL Doujinshi Top 10 (5/19) from Princess Side

Japan's Foreign Minister Taro Aso announced on Tuesday the creation of a "Nobel Prize of Manga" for foreign manga comic artists in hopes of spreading Japan's pop culture overseas.

Candidates for the new international manga award will be nominated by the general public as well as publishers from Japan and overseas:

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Tokyograph translates two business manga-related surveys from Oricon.

The first survey asked its readers what manga they would like to see turned into a television drama, the results are:

1. Cooking Papa by Tochi Ueyama
2. Hataraki Man by Moyoco Anno
3. OL Shinkaron by Risu Akizuki
4. Takeko-san no Koibito by Reiko Mochizuki
5. Money no Ken by Norifusa Mita

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A new manga titled Shirogane no Karasu by Akimine Kamijyo, mangaka of Samurai Deeper Kyo, will begin serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine issue 26, on sale 5/30.

Source: Ultimatum Talk

According to Hana to Yume's official website, a new manga from Natsuki Takaya, creator of Fruits Basket, will debut in Hana to Yume issue 13, on sale June 5th. The new manga, titled Hoshi wa Utau (Stars Sing), will be a romance story. The texts beside the title reads: "The stray stars' one-sided love romance."

Also, according to this post, a new series titled Peacemaker by Ryoji Minagawa (Spriggan, Project ARMS) will begin serialization in the July issue of Ultra Jump, on sale June 19th.

Ohzora Shuppan has announced a new josei manga magazine. The first issue of the new magazine, titled Romance Tiara, will be released on June 5th, and will be sold for 650 yen.

Yoshimoto Kogyo has announced the official release date of their new comedy/seinen manga magazine Comic Yoshimoto. The magazine, aimed at men between ages 20 - 40, will be launched on June 19th. The first issue is expected to sell over 250,000 copies. The magazine will be released on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of everymonth.

Source: Asahi Shimbun