Yomiuri Online recently published an article looking back on the Japanese manga industry in 2006.

The article invited three guests from the industry to talk about some of the major trends that appeared in the last year. The three guests were: Tomohiko Murakami (Critic/Editor), Go Sasakibara (Editor), and Kaori Tanaka (in charge of the Junkudo bookstore in Ikebukuro).

Manga Trends in 2006

Manga became increasingly dependent on television. Tomoko Ninomiya's Nodame Cantabile sold over 19,000,000 copies after being adapted into a live-action TV drama, which also helped push the sale of Nodame Orchestra CD and other merchandise.

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Austin Osueke, the CEO of eigoMANGA, will be delivering a presentation on eigoMANGA's latest publishing and media projects at MACWORLD on the 10th of January at Noon (PST).

Source: ActiveAnime

Dong-A Ilbo has published an article on the manhwa industry in South Korea. Contrary to the success of manwha overseas, the domestic manhwa market in South Korea is not doing so well. Over 80% of the Korean market is composed of imported comics, mostly from Japan. Even worse, the size of the Korean market is decreasing.

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Publishers Weekly reports that Advanced Marketing Services, which owns distributor Publishers Group West, has filed for bankruptcy.

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TokoToko Editor's Misc. Note, a blog run by a female manga editor who has been in the business for over 15 years, has posted a multi-part article titled "The Reason I Quit My Job as a Manga Editor." Below is a translation of part one of the article:

The Reason I Quit My Job as a Manga Editor Part I

The short answer - I can't communicate well with others. That's all.

The long story - I knew manga to some extent and liked it, so I wanted to be a manga editor since I thought I could handle it. Besides, I didn't want to edit anything else other than manga.

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In 2005 China's cell phone e-book market was estimated to be over 720,000 (around 92,000 USD) Yuan. According to reports, with the rapid growth of anime and manga in China, this year the market could be well over 31,660,000 yuan (around 4,000,000 USD), and in 2010 over 624,000,000 yuan (around 80,000,000 USD).

Source: Tech-ex

ICv2 reports that the former VP of Viz Media, John Easume, will now take on the role of the president of Viz Media Europe, which will be based in Paris. Easume will now maintain, or "oversee operations," in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East region.

On December 6th, Yoyogi Live Animation Co., Ltd. (Yoyogi, Shibuya Ward, President - Ryoich Ishikawa, Capital - 40 million yen, 40 employees) petitioned for the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act, and on the same day received the Preservation of Assets Order from the Tokyo District Court.

Established in May of 1978, Yoyogi Live Animation managed the anime school Yoyogi Animation Gakuin (????????????????????????????????????), which had over 6000 students in its 13 different branches of study. Yoyogi Animation Gakuin, one of the largest anime schools in Japan, has earned great recognition for its honorable history, positive scores, and the large number of graduates. The animation school has raised numerous anime creators within its Anime department, as the Imaging, Game Creation, and Show Business departments. The revenue of the school was reported to be approximately 7,700 million yen in April 1998.

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The Association of Copyright for Computer Software (ACCS) and the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) have released a report estimating the damage caused by the peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing program Winny to the Japanese entertainment industry.

A test was conducted on October 10th, where Winny activities were closely monitored during a 6-hour time period. According to the report, there are currently over 210,000 Winny users illegally pirating anime, manga, games, softwares and music, causing over 9.5 billion yen worth of damage to the Japanese entertainment industry.

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Kadokawa Group Holdings has announced its plan to divide Kadokawa Shoten into three separate companies next January.

The three new companies are:

(New) Kadokawa Shoten - The "new" Kadokawa Shoten will take over the publishing and management of "cultural contents" from the "Old" Kadokawa Shoten.
Kadokawa Magazines - Kadokawa Magazines will handle magazine publishing.
Kadokawa Group Publishing - Kadokawa Group Publishing will become the support and supply side of publishing.

Kadokawa Herald Pictures will take over the management of the old Kadokawa's affiliate film business, and Kadokawa Group Holdings will take over Kadokawa's management section. According to Kadokawa Group Holdings, the split is a part of Kadokawa's strategy to specialize its publishing business.

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