Shueisha will be releasing an add-on issue to its shojo magazine Cobalt on June 18th titled Bessatsu Cobalt. The magazine will be sold for 680 yen, and is said to be a light novel magazine aimed at maidens (otome).

ANN reports that three Japanese males in Tokyo, Morioka, and Osaka were arrested on May 18th for unauthorized file-sharing of manga.

The three males, aged 17, 26, and 29 respectively, scanned and uploaded manga from Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump and Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday on the Winny peer-to-peer file-sharing network.

Source: Asahi Shimbun

According to Negima! creator Ken Akamatsu's latest diary entry, the news of a live-action Negima! will be officially announced in Weekly Shonen Magazine issue 25, on sale 5/23.

Source: Ultimatum Chat

The Japanese National PTA Conference has named Shogakukan's Sho-Comi (Shoujo Comic) the number one manga magazine that should not be read by children. The result was obtained through a questionnaire in November 2006 from parents of 5th and 8th grade students.

Sho-Comi came in first as the worst magazine for children, while Ciao (Shogakukan) ranked 2nd, and Nakayoshi (Kodansha) took the 3rd spot. As for the reason why the magazine should not be read by children, 60% said that these magazines contain excessive sexual content.

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Death Note is banned in Beijing, Shueisha comments that "All of them are pirated anyways."

More strange incident involving Death Note in China following up to the "banning of horror books in Beijing."

On the 16th, a Chinese/English newspaper China Daily reported that "Beijing local government has ordered to retrieve Death Note from its publisher Hualing Publishing due to its bad effect on juvenile - the manga is causing students to neglect their study by indulging themselves in Death Note."

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Manga top 10 (5/16) according to Tohan.

1. Angel Heart, Volume 22
2. D.Gray-man, Volume 11
3. Gintama, Volume 18
4. Initial D, Volume 35
5. Hanma Baki, Volume 7
6. Katekyo Hitman Reborn!, Volume 15
7. Steel Ball Run, Volume 12
8. Life, Volume 15
9. Garouden, Volume 20
10. Ganso! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku, Volume 16

According to the latest post on Champion Red Ichigo's news page, the new follow-up project to the manga My-HiME and My-Otome will be a new series titled Vita Sexualis, created by the "My-HiME Trio" (Yoshino Hiroyuki, Higuchi Tatsuhito, Sato Kenetsu) and Eeji Komatsu (Maburaho, Junk Force).

From the Mainichi Daily News comes an interview with Barefoot Gen creator Keiji Nakazawa, who talks about his work and how he came to create Barefoot Gen.

MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking (05/12) in Japan according to Toranoana, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking (05/12) in Japan according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side.

The question of "Is enjoying Japanese manga and anime an unpatriotic act?" has been a great point of debate in China. The topic has caused many problems, and many young Chinese people are torn between their anti-Japan feelings and their love for Japanese manga.

One college student once posted on a Chinese bulletin board: "I don't want to be unpatriotic, but I can't help but watch Japanese anime. What should I do? Please give me some advice, I'm really under a lot of stress."

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