Voting for the first Anime Blog Awards is now closed, and the results of the nomination can be found on this page.

From Japanator comes an article titled "Manga growth slows in 2007. Is a crash coming?" that ponders the question of whether the U.S. manga market is on a decline:

We've all heard about the trials and tribulations the anime industry in general is undergoing, but we've also heard that while the market for anime DVDs is ailing, manga sales are active and healthy. Things might be changing fairly soon, However - a recent report from industry analysts at ICv2 indicates that the manga market only grew about 5% last year.

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending April 20th:

• #124 - Naruto, Volume 28 - Viz - (Last week: #106)

Also, Comicsnob posts the weekly online manga sales rankings:

• Consolidated Online Sales Rankings For the Week Ending 20 April 2008

A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of April 23th 2008:

• ComicList: ComicList for 04/23/2008
• MangaCast: New Manga Release List - April 23, 2007
• Comics Village: Manga Village Pick 'n' Mix: New Releases 4/23/08
• Precocious Curmudgeon: Upcoming 4/23/2008

Christopher Butcher's Comics212 is 6 years old!:

It's 6 years to the day since I started blogging at Comics212. I'm a considerably better writer at this point, I think. I actually started writing a column for 212.net in December if 1997, so I guess that was my official serialized writing debut (10 years!), but it wasn???t until April 23 2002 that the blogger software roared to life. :)

MangaBlog points out that Viz Media is currently hiring for a number of positions.

New Series on DVD Is Based On Popular Manga By The Creator Of RUROUNI KENSHIN And GUN BLAZE WEST

San Francisco, CA, April 23, 2008 ??? VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced the debut of a new animated fantasy action series ??? BUSO RENKIN ??? to be released as a DVD box set on April 29th. The 3-disc set is rated 'T+' for Older Teen and features the first 13 episodes (of 26 total) with an estimated retail price of $49.98. The second half of the series is slated for release later this year.

Read More »

The Broccoli Books Blog points out that previews for Koi Cupid and sola has been posted on Broccoli's official website:

• Koi Cupid
• sola

SAN JOSE, CA ??? April, 2008 ??? DrMaster Publications proudly announces the production of the highly anticipated picture book by internationally acclaimed video game designer Yasushi Suzuki (a.k.a. ??? D-Suzuki), Goths Cage (previously titled Phantoms).

Goths Cage is an enchanting manga-esque picture book anthology of three short stories with a malicious twist of love and romance. It is based on Yasushi Suzuki's art series that was previously released online in Japan under the name Phantoms KADAN. Suzuki-san re-adapts his art series and transforms it into a bewitching picture book with entrancing grace and charm. Each of his gothic tales is exquisitely crafted with elegant detailed illustrations that transport readers into an enchanted world of gothic glory.

Read More »

ICv2 has released the February 2008 top 100 graphic novel sales estimates and the top 300 comics sales estimates based on Diamond Indexes and Publisher Title Data. Also from ICv2 is an analysis of the trends in December based on the graphic novel sales chart, and an analysis of Diamond Comic Distributors' October sales.

Also, MangaBlog provides its own look at the data, as well as a list of manga from the Top 100 Graphic Novels chart.