Between January 21st and February 2nd, a commemorative exhibition called "Japan's Power of Expression" will be held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Japan Media Art Festival. The celebration event will take place at the newly established national fine arts museum in Roppongi, Tokyo.

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MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking in Japan (01/20) according to Messe Sanoh, compiled by Akiba Blog (NSFW).

According to a press release (PDF), Sega Toys will release a limited edition (3,000 sets only) 200-volume miniature set of Osamu Tezuka's manga beginning January 27th. The manga set, 4.45 x 3.65 centimeters in size, will be sold for 73,500 yen.

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From ANS:

Japanese publishing house Shimanaka has announced putting steps in motion to begin the dissolution of the company as of January 10th. Degrading sales are cited as the reason. Shimanaka was known for printing its "Island Comics Primo" masterpiece series of manga reprints by authors including Shotaro Shotaro Ishinomori, Fujiko F Fujio, Reiji Matstumoto, Monkey Punch, Go Nagai and others.

From the Japanese blog lovelovedog comes an article looking at the cost of manga production in Japan. The analysis, written by a school teacher, calculates how much it takes to produce a volume of manga, and compares the result with incomes from other fields.

On the Cost of Producing Manga
- Written by a school teacher

In the case of anime production cost, various references can be found in the following article:

- On the Cost of Producing Anime

Generally it takes around 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 yen to make a 30 minute episode anime. In the case of manga, because there isn't much information available, for now we'll consider the pay for a one-page manuscript as 20,000 yen. Please pay attention to how the calculations are handled, since even by analogy the following calculations contain many steps.

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Visual novel developer/publisher KID (Kindle Imagine Develop), creator of visual novels/dating sims such as Pia Carrot he Youkoso, Memories Off, Ever 17, and Ai Yori Aoshi, has filed for bankruptcy. However, according to a blurb on KID's official site, there still may be a chance for their near-completed games to be released.

Source: insert credit

A new adult magazine titled Men's Young Special Ikazuchi will be released by Futabasha on January 22nd. Men's Young Special Ikazuchi is a special issue of Men's Young.

The first issue of a new seinen magazine titled Comic Charge (????????????????????????) will be released by Kadokawa Shoten on March 20th. Comic Charge will be Kadokawa Shoten's first seinen magazine, and will be released bi-weekly (1st and 3rd Tuesday every month) for 290 yen.

Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

1. Detective Conan vol.56
2. Angel Heart vol.21
3. The Prince of Tennis vol.36
4. Naruto vol.36
5. Katekyo Hitman Reborn! vol.13
6. Pluto vol.4
7. Lovely Complex vol.15
8. Gintama vol.16
9. Ganso! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku vol.13
10. Life vol.14

The latest issue of Shueisha's Akamaru Jump came with the To-LOVE-Ru Winter Art, a collection of To-LOVE-Ru illustrations on double-leaved pages. However, one of the artwork seems to have been deliberately altered.

The picture in question is a spread scene with Lala and Haruna taking a bath together, with a tremendous amount of bubbles are covering their bodies, to the extent that only their faces can be seen. The illustration is published in a very artificial condition.

To quote some of To-LOVE-Ru creator Kentaro Yabuki's comment at the back of Weekly Shonen Jump:

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