MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking (04/14) in Japan according to Toranoana, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking (04/14) in Japan according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side.

Orange County Register posts a link to a software made by University of St Andrews's School of Psychology called "The Perception Laboratory's Face Transformer." By uploading the picture of a person onto its website, the software will manga-lize the person in the photo.

Source: animeOnline

Japan will be holding its first annual Manga Proficiency Test on June 17th. The test is divided into many categories for people ranging from regular fans to professionals:

The test is divided into many categories and levels [...] for beginners to professionals, including general (4 levels), manga character (3 levels), manga story (3 levels), manga drawing technique (3 levels) and manga assistant (2 levels).

Source: Manga Jouhou

The results of the school textbook authorization of 2006 were announced on March 30th in Japan. "Manga Textbook" appeared on the results as a Mathematics II textbook for high schools. However, the textbook's publisher, Keirinkan, had to delete more than half of the manga-related contents the draft version of the textbook.

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According to Sankei Shumbun, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affair has designed a 16-page Detective Conan pamphlet aimed at educating students on foreign affairs.

Source: Manga Pontification

As a first in all of China, Beijing Chaoyang District's local tax office announced a new manga character to promote the payment of tax. The name of character is Nana.

On April 4th, students from Baijiazhuang, Chaoyang District met with Nana, special manga featuring Nana were also handed out during the event. According to the Chaoyang tax office, Nana was created in order to educate the youth about basic income tax knowledge, and to help establish integrity and a sense of duty as a taxpayers.

MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking (03/31) in Japan according to Toranoana, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking (03/31) in Japan according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side.

It's a common practice nowadays to include free gifts with manga magazines in the form of posters or keychains. However, the latest issue of MediaWork's Dengeki G's Festival came with 3 free gifts that are quite special for a magazine:

1) A pass case featuring Shakugan no Shana S artworks from Noizi Ito.
2) A Shakugan no Shana themed mobile phone screen cleaner.
3) A 155x50cm Shakugan no Shana dakimakura (hug pillow) cover, featuring artworks from Noizi Ito herself.

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MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking (03/24) in Japan according to Toranoana, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking (03/24) in Japan according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side.

Currently a preview of Del Rey's American manga Make 5 Wishes can be found on Tokyopop's website.

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