On January 23rd, Director Katsuhiro Otomo and actor Joe Odagiri attended a public meeting during the preview event of the live-action movie Mushishi. Mushishi is based on a popular manga title by Yuki Urushibara (the pen name of Yuki Yoshiyama) that is currently serialized in Afternoon. The manga has sold over 2.9 million copies, and was nominated for the Kodansha Manga Award in 2006.

Director Katsuhiro Otomo (known for anime films such as Akira) adapted Mushishi into a live-action movie after his 16-year break. The movie was screened twice during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah under the title Bugmaster (23-24th January), and all tickets were sold out. Offers for the rights to distribute the film overseas are rushing in from the U.S, Australia, Korea, and various other countries (10 total). A number of press came to the preview event, some audience even stood to watch because they couldn't buy reserved seats. Mushishi will appear on the screens in Japan on 24th of March.

Cinema Leaf has posted an interview with Katsuhiro Otomo and Joe Odagiri, who played the role of Ginko (the main character of Mushishi).

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Japanese broadcast company NTV has announced that the cooking manga Bambino!, by Sekiya Tetsuji, will be adapted into a TV drama. The lead character will be played by Matsumoto Jun, a member of the popular boy band Arashi.

Source: ANN

MangaCast reports that the seinen manga Sexy Voice and Robo by Iou Kuroda will be adapted into a live drama starting April 23, and will run every week on Nippon TV. Matsuyama Kenichi will be playing the role of Robo.

In the latest issue of MediaWorks' Dengeki Maoh, an announcement was made that Persona 3, a popular RPG game from Atlus, will be adapted into a manga series. The new series will begin in the April issue of Dengeki Maoh (2/27), and the artist will be Sokabe Shuuji.

Kaworu Watashiya's manga Kodomo no Jikan is currently one of the most talked about moe/loli manga in Japan. According to an announcement in Futabasha's manga magazine Comic High! (released on 1/22), the cover wrap of the third volume of Kodomo no Jikan, to be released on 2/10, will contain a major announcement regarding the series.

While the content of the announcement is still being kept a secret by Futabasha, many speculate that the announcement will either be an anime adaption, a live-action adaption, a drama CD adaption, or a video game adaption.

Kodomo no Jikan is currently being published in the U.S. by Seven Seas under the name Nymphet. The first volume will be released in April 2007.

A 6 minute long promotional video for the upcoming Hayate the Combat Butler anime has been made available online. An alternate, short TV commercial video is available in AVI format from the Japanese fan site Hayacale.

Source: AnimeNation

The cast for Hayate the Combat Butler has been announced:

- Hayate: Ryoko Shiraishi
- Nagi: Rie Kugimiya
- Maria: Rie Tanaka
- Hinagiku: Shizuka Ito

Hayate the Combat Butler is a comedy manga famous for its numerous crossovers and "easter eggs." Currently the manga is being published in the U.S. by VIZ Media.

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12/28 Update: The official website of Kara no Kyoukai has opened at www.karanokyoukai.com, and the new adaption will be a feature film (as oppposed to an ainme TV series) titled Kara no Kyoukai ~Garden of Sinners~.

According to rumors in Japan, Type-Moon's novel Kara no Kyoukai (????????????) will be adapted into an anime TV series.

The rumor began earlier this month when Ryogi Shiki, the main character of Kara no Kyoukai, appeared in the 2007 Illustration Calendar of the anime magazine Newtype. It was also announced that a Kara no Kyoukai pin-up poster will appear in next month's issue of Newtype.

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A new film adaption of Akira Toriyama's Dr. Slump has been announced, more information will be available in the February issue of Monthly Shonen Jump, on sale 1/6.

Aya Nakahara's Lovely Complex, also known as Love???Com, will be adapted into an anime TV series.