Stars and Stripes reports that the U.S. Navy is using manga to introduce itself to the Japanese public:

Commander, Naval Forces Japan public affairs is taking a page out of Japanese pop culture to explain the U.S. Navy, its ships, sailors and mission to the Japanese public.

MangaCast points out that Del Rey has acquired Basilisk author Masaki Segawa's Yagyu Ninja Scrolls. The manga, which was licensed during NYCC, is currently listed on Del Rey's release schedule for Q4 2007 (PDF). The first volume will be released in October 2007.

MangaBlog points out that although Yen Press' official site does not contain any information the publisher's upcoming titles, a release schedule can be found on this Hachette order form (PDF).

Library Journal has published an article on Rumiko Takahashi. The article looks at Takahashi's accomplishments, and goes on to call her "Japan's J.K. Rowling."

Source: AoD

On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 for the week ending May 13th, Volume 14 of Viz's Naruto is the only manga on the list, ranking at #64.

NEW YORK, NY, May 15, 2007 - Del Rey Manga, an imprint of Ballantine Books at the Random House Publishing Group, announced today that it has acquired an original graphic novel starring Odd Thomas, perhaps the most memorable and beloved character Dean Koontz has ever created. The charismatic young fry cook from Pico Mundo, California has appeared in three New York Times bestselling novels: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, and Brother Odd, which was one of Koontz's fastest-selling hardcovers.

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From MangaManiacCafe comes a summary (Cross-posted to MangaCast) of the translating manga panel chaired by Toshifumi Yoshida and Trish Ledoux at this year's Anime Central. The panel provides an in-depth look at what it's like to be a translator in today's manga industry.

In the latest issue of PWCW, Bill Aguiar interviews Megatokyo creator Fred Gallagher, who talks about his work as well as Megatokyo Volume 5, which will be released later this month.

Via: MangaBlog

According to ANN, the excerpt from Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight that will appear in Viz's Shojo Beat 2nd Anniversary issue will be the original Princess Knight that ran in the manga magazine Shojo Club from 1953 to 1956.

According to GamersHell, OnNet USA and OnNet Korea will be collaborating on a new manga-styled Massively Multiplayer Online Shooting game titled Manga Fighter. The game will be a third person shooter, and will be released in late 2007. today announced they have reached a licensing agreement for Manga Fighter to be released in the US in the second half of 2007:

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