From Business Week comes an article titled "Forget Manga. Here's Manwha," which takes an in-depth look at Korean manhwa, and if it will be as successful in the U.S. as Japanese manga.

According to Publishers Weekly, Vertical is planning to launch a new (currently unnamed) contemporary manga imprint in 2008 in order to expand its manga line-up. According to the report, the imprint will mainly focus on shojo manga for teens:

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This month several new manga rental services opened in Japan. In the U.S., similar services also exist. Originally spotted on ChunHyang72's Manga Minute Blog, Manga Takeout is a netflix-like service that allows subscribers to rent manga books. Shipping is free and manga subscription includes the rental of Anime DVDs as well. Also included is a "quick return" feature, which allows subscribers to report when books are returned so their next set of manga books can be sent.

San Francisco, CA, April 20, 2007– VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, continues to expand its NARUTO™ franchise internationally with the announcement that 52 episodes of the wildly popular anime series have been licensed for terrestrial broadcast in Chile to Chilevision, one of the country's most popular television channels among young viewers. The series is projected to launch in the second half of 2007.

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Newtype USA is currently looking for a full-time Japanese-to-English translator:

Primary duties consist of performing English translations of Japanese text and proofing completed translations, though other writing, editing and administrative tasks may be required.

Source: ANN

According to this Amazon.com listing, Tokyopop will release volume one of Gakuto Koda's light novel Missing on November 13. Currently Tokyopop has not made any official announcement regarding the license.

Source: AoD

Celebrating their 30th anniversary, comics retailer Austin Books has announced their second annual Manga Melee event, which will take place this Saturday.

Discounted (25%-50% off) manga will be sold during the event. Also announced are special prizes provided by Tokyopop and Dark Horse, as well as Question & Answer and autograph sessions with special guests such as Rivkah and Tony Salvaggio.

Source: Newsarama

The nominees for the 2007 Eisner Comic Industry Awards have been announced, ManagBlog has a list of the manga-related nominations:

Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan:

After School Nightmare, by Setona Mizushiro (Go! Comi)
Antique Bakery, by Fumi Yoshinaga (Digital Manga)

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On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending April 15th, Tokyopop's Fruits Basket volume 16 ranks at #15. VIZ Media's Naruto volume 13 ranks at #118.

The new comic release list for April 18th 2007 from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast.