BOSTON, MA, USA – March 22, 2008 MIT professor Ian Condry, in cooperation with the Consulate General of Japan in Boston, will introduce and lead a discussion on two anime that can be viewed as bookends to the history of Japanese animation:

The Birth of Astro Boy ( 1963 ) and Tekkonkinkreet ( 2006 ).

Astro Boy displays the emotional intensity and storytelling brilliance of manga master Osamu Tezuka, and also illustrates the ways "limited animation" helped studios cope with challenges facing the industry in its early days.

Read More »

According to an announcement from BL publisher Yaoi Underground, Yaoi Underground LLC is now terminated, while Yaoi House LLC's future is still uncertain:

Yaoi Underground LLC will be terminated and the shareholders returned their investments. As for Yaoi House LLC, I leave it to the shareholders to decide how they wish to proceed with the company. I surrender my shares and my stories, all artwork, website, and the Yaoi House trademark. Those who wish to part at this time will have their shares returned to them, and those that decide to take over the organization of the company can determine how my shares are to be divided among them.

Giapet.net has more.

According to a listing on Monster.com, DMP is currently looking for an Entry Level Sales & Marketing Admin:

Digital Manga is looking for an energetic and organized individual to assist with sales, and marketing for our company. Candidate would be responsible for helping to generate sales reports on a weekly basis from data provided by our distributor along with other various market reports that our company may need from time to time.

According to its latest blog post, BL imprint 801 Media is currently looking for some new reviewers:

Got a blog or website dedicated to yaoi or manga in general? 801 Media Inc. has a couple of open slots on our advanced copy mailing list.

Go here for the rules.

New Year - New Bands - New Challenge

Anaheim, California (March 14, 2008) ‹ New Year. New Anime. New Music. New Bands. New Challenge! Prepare your band for battle as Anime Expo® presents the Battle of the Bands at this year's Anime Expo® 2008 held from July 3-6, 2008 at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, CA. More information can be found on the website www.anime-expo.org.

Read More »

According to ICv2, Tokyopop will be releasing Otsu-ichi's novel Goth, as well as its manga adaptation of the same name by Kendi Ohishi (artist of Welcome to the N.H.K.) this fall. The Goth manga will be released in September, while the novel will be released a month later in October.

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending March 9th:

• #17 - Naruto, Volume 28 - Viz - (Last week: #73)
• #115 - Negima!, Volume 17 - Del Rey - (Last week: #0)

Blog@Newsarama and MangaBlog both point out that Wildstorm Comics has posted previews of volume 1 of Yoshinori Natsume's Batman: Death Mask and Yoshito Usui's Crayon Shinchan on MySpace.

A round up of the new comic release list and views for the week of March 12th 2008:

• ComicList: ComicList for 03/12/2008
• MangaCast: New Manga Release List ~ March 12, 2008
• Manga Recon: Weekly Recon: Weekly Recon, 3/12/07
• Precocious Curmudgeon: Upcoming 3/12/2008

San Diego, California, Thursday, March 13, 2008

JAST USA affiliate brand G-Collections, the leading publisher of Japanese PC dating sim games in English, today announced the golden master status of LIGHTNING WARRIOR RAIDY, the first 3D fantasy role playing game system for adults.

Read More »