From MangaCast comes the Diamond Previews for January 2008, which provides information on new U.S. releases for March/April 2008.

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending December 23rd:

• #135 - Naruto, Volume 27 - Viz - (Last week: #92)

Also, Comicsnob posts the online manga sales rankings in "Online Manga Bestsellers, 23 December."

Boston, December 27, 2007: New England Anime Society (NEAS), the Massachusetts-based non-profit organization behind Anime Boston and Providence Anime Conference, is proud to be participating in First Night Boston, an all-ages New Year's Eve celebration on December 31st, 2007. First Night Boston activities include arts and cultural performances at venues throughout Boston, and as part of the festivities, the NEAS will be screening anime from 1 PM to 11 PM in the Hynes Convention Center, Room 100.

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Advertising agency JWT recently released its list of 80 things to watch in 2008. In the list, "Manga-inspired clothes" is No.43.

Source: FOX Business

A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of December 28th 2007:

• ComicList: ComicList for 12/28/2007
• MangaCast: New Manga Release List ~ Dec 26, 2007
• Precocious Curmudgeon: Upcoming 12/28/2007

Active Anime reports that the University of Minnesota Press has announced the second volume of Mechademia entitled Networks of Desire:

Networks of Desire--the second volume in the Mechademia series, an annual forum devoted to critical and creative work on Japanese anime, manga, and the fan cultures that have coalesced around them???explores the varieties of desire that structure and influence much of contemporary anime and manga in manifestations that range from the explicitly sexual to more sublimated text and imagery.

Adult manga publisher Icarus Publishing has made the test issue (Issue 00) of its Comic AG Digital (NSFW) available via BitTorrent. The download link can be found here.

From Daily Yomiuri Online comes an article titled "American artist wins new manga award," which looks at rem, winner of Kodansha's 1st Morning International Manga Competition (MIMC).

Source: Blog@Newsarama

Giapet.net reports more incidents involving "Death Note" that are happening around the U.S. since last November:

• "Death Note Was Not 'Hit List', School Officials Say" [ WKRN Nashville ]
• "Death threats lead to two arrests" [ The Milford Daily News ]

Plus hot products in Japan, reviews and more in episode 56.

GRIMES, IA, December 21, 2007 ??? Anime producer and mega-online anime retailer Right Stuf, Inc. is pleased to welcome Wendy Shimamura ??? associate product manager for VIZ Media's Home Entertainment division ??? to episode 56 of ANIME TODAY.

In this all-new interview, Shimamura discusses the highlights of VIZ Media's 2007 anime releases, its download-to-own products and Toonami Jetstream project, next-generation formats, growing the shoujo anime market, the challenges facing the anime industry and what's coming up in 2008.

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