Gentosha released its 2006 mid-term financial report on November 15th.

According to the report, while the domestic Japanese publishing business has been on a decline with the decrease in operating profits and such, Gentosha's revenue is still on the same level as its revenue during the same period last year. Although Gentosha's results this year were affected by the decline of the overall publishing business, the comics business itself showed a positive trend.

The number of books published by Gentosha this year is 12 points higher compared to last year's 98 points; however, the number of reprints have decreased. Sales in the first half of 2006 amounted to 3,864 million yen (-4.3% from last year), and operation profit was 770 million yen (-28.0% from last year).

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The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) has released an updated report (PDF) on the status of the Japanese Publication Industry. According to the report, sales figure of manga tankoubon (a compilation volume) has increased 4.2%, while manga anthology sales has decreased by 2.6% compared to last year. As a result the entire manga market experienced a net decrease of 0.5% (around 502.3 billion yen).

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On Sept, 30th, Beijing No.1 Intermediate People's Court (IPC) dismissed Futabasha's dispute with a Chinese firm (Guangzhou Cheng Yi Optical Co., Ltd.) over the trademark of "Crayon Shin-Chan." Futabasha later appealed to Beijing High People's Court.

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San Francisco, CA, October 3, 2006 ??? VIZ Media, LLC (www.viz.com), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, announces its selection of Ty's Toy Box, LLC (www.tystoybox.com), the leading multi-channel e-tailer of licensed character brands, to handle its e-commerce fulfillment operations. Effective immediately, Ty's Toy Box will be responsible for the technology, merchandising, warehousing, fulfillment and customer care for VIZ Media???s online marketplaces.

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On September 20, Impress R&D's Internet Life Laboratory released the result of their 2005 analysis on the Japanese electronic manga market in (04/2004 - 03/2005). According to the report, the electronic manga market was worth 3.4 billion yen in fiscal year of 2005. The electronic book market was worth 9.4 billion last year, with the electronic manga market occupying 36% of the entire market.

The investigation was based on two reports, "Electronic Book Business Analysis Report 2006" and "Electronic Manga Business Analysis Report 2006," both from Internet Life Laboratory. The reports study the rapidly increasing trend of the electronic book market.

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AnimeAnime is currently running a column called "100 Questions About Anime & Manga Overseas," where Japanese fans send in their questions about the foreign Anime and Manga scene. One of the questions asked was "How does the scale of the U.S. manga market compare to Japan's manga market?" Below is a translation of the response:

Hi, It's Romi, again.

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JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) is currently conducting an ongoing series of investigations on manga markets in different parts of the world, including Japan, U.S., Europe, and more. Japanese news site AnimeAnime takes a look at JETRO's report on the German manga market, below is a translation of the report.

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Recently the Chinese government is beginning to push the growth of the Chinese entertainment industry. Anime, manga, and games are fortes of Japan, with China'????s youth population of 500 million, China is becoming an attractive market for the Japanese entertainment industry, but it's not going to be easy.

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DMP announced that 801 Media Inc., a new yaoi manga publisher, which will be managed by people from DMP, will make its debut at this year's Yaoi Con.

"I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ali Kokmen as Manga Marketing Manager for the Del Rey imprint, a new position, reporting to Ballantine/Del Rey Associate Publisher and Director of Marketing Kim Hovey.

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