Top 10 manga (12/27) according to Tohan:

1. Fullmetal Alchemist (18)
2. Ookiku Furikabutte (9)
3. Kuro Shitsuji (3)
4. Ahiru no Sora (18)
5. Cross Game (10)
6. Hajime no Ippo (82)
7. Otomen (4)
8. Konjiki no Gash!! (31)
9. Major (65)
10. Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (11)

Additional Rankings:

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According to Moon Phase, Kozue Amano's manga Aria will come to an end in the April issue of Mag Garden's Comic Blade (2/30), with chapter 60 being its last chapter.

Also announced is that as part of Tunasima Sirou's Jinki: Extend revival project, Jinki -Shinsetsu- will begin serialization in the May issue of MediaWorks' Dengeki Moeoh.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – December 21, 2007 –

Intermixi Tours is proud to announce another round of details and price information about our upcoming Neo-Tokyo and Kame Hame Kansai tours!

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The 2007 Japanese Media Arts Festival has announced its "Jury Recommended Works" for the Manga Division:

Story Manga

• OOKIKU FURIKABUTTE by Asa Higuchi
• Oyururi Mantama Nikki by Tamakichi Sakura
• MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko / Hajime Yatate, Yoshiyuki Tomino
• Sgt. Frog by Mine Yoshizaki
• Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa
• 81diver by Yokusaru Shibata
• THE TOP SECRET by Reiko Shimizu
• moyasimon tales of agriculture by Masayuki Ishikawa
• USHIJIMA the Loan Shark by Shohei Manabe
• PIPPI, the Prophet by Chuya Chikazawa

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Both Ultimatum and Moon Phase are reporting that, according to the latest issue of Shogakukan's Big Comic, Takao Saito's long-running manga series Golgo 13 will be adapted into an anime.

ANN reports that the Japanese government has decided to spend 147 million yen to spread manga and other Japanese pop culture to Eastern Europe:

The decision was made during cabinet-level discussions between Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukuaga and the other ministers on the 2008 budget. Although the "Program to Spread Japanese Culture" will ostensibly send 30 people to teach Japanese in Hungary and three other countries, its main purpose is to introduce Japanese popular culture.

MediaWorks has launched a new comic imprint called SYLPH Comics. Manga serialized in MediaWorks' comic SYLPH magazine will be released under this new imprint.

After the suspension of Comic Bom Bom, Negima!? neo (ネギま！？ neo) by Takuya Fujima, based on Ken Akamatsu's Mahou Sensei Negima!, will begin serialization once again in Magazine Special No.2 (1/19).

A new one-shot titled Kuru Fukuro (黒梟) by Yoshio Sawai, mangaka of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, will appear in Weekly Shounen Jump No.4-5, on sale 12/25. Also starting in the same issue is a new series titled Shinritsu Poseidon Gakuen by Shinichiro Oe.

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Japanese readers recently noted similarities between Naka Gomura's manga Megabaka, serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shounen Magazine's January 11th Special Issue: Magazine Dragon, and other popular series such as Death Note, Air Gear and MPD-Psycho.

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According to an announcement on the Japanese Foreign Ministry's official website, the Second International MANGA Award, a contest created by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to boost Japan's pop culture, is now accepting applications from overseas manga artists. The deadline for submission if February 29th, 2008, and the contest's guidelines for application can be found here (PDF).

Source: Japan Today