The first issue of Moe☆Star, a bi-monthly Moe comic-illustration magazine that serializes comics and novels, was released by Mirai Shounen on April 20th.

In past years the manga magazine market in Japan has experienced a rapid decline, what will be the consequence of this trend? After watching Naoki Urasawa's talk on NHK's "Professional: Styles of Work" series, the author of the Japanese manga blog Mandana Tsushin Blog (Manga Bookshelf Transmissions) was surprise by Urasawa's nervous attitude toward fans' reaction at the sudden ending of 20th Century Boy, and published an article on the current manga magazine scene, how it affects a magazine's serializations, and what the future may hold for the market. Below a portion of the article that takes a look at the mange magazine scene in Japan:

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The official site for Futabasha's shoujo manga magazine Comic High! has opened at www.comichigh.jp. Comic High! is a shoujo manga magazine aimed at males, genres like moe, yuri, youth, yaoi, fantasy, heartful and gag are all included in this magazine.

According to Mainchi Daily News, Barazoku, a Japanese gay men's magazine, will be revived for the third time. This time, the magazine will serialized a previously unpublished manga by Junichi Yamakawa, who is known for his Kuso Miso Technique:

"Barazoku," a gay icon since it became the first magazine for the homosexual community, is back on bookstore shelves again -- the third time it has been resurrected since going into hiatus in September 2004 following 33 straight years of publication for the non-straight.

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The first issue of Take Shobo's new seinen magazine, Comic Marble, was released on April 16th.

In the latest issue of PWCW, Kai-Ming Cha takes an in-depth look at Aurora Publishing in "New Manga House Debuts This Summer."

Also featured on PWCW is an article by Brigid Alverson on the second anniversary of Viz Media's Shojo Beat magazine.

According to the latest entry on DramaQueen's news page, the release schedule of DramaQueen's BL anthology Rush will be once every three months instead of every two months:

Houston, Texas, 16th April 2007 Here at the DQ Shop we have been simply thrilled with the response to our pre-order sales, with the month of March being our most successful to date. For all those eagerly awaiting your goodies, the books will start to ship out next week and be shortly winging their way into your hands.

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According to recent sales figures, the circulation of Weekly Shonen Magazine has dropped below 2 million, while the circulation of Weekly Shonen Jump experienced a slight increase. According to Minegishi, Director of Kodansha's sales division, "Only Weekly Shonen Magazine and Young Magazine are making a profit among Kodansha's manga magazine line-up. Monthly Shonen Magazine breaks even, while the others are showing deficit."

In comparison with sales from 10 years ago, Weekly Shonen Jump's circulation has dropped 2.8 million, and Weekly Shonen Magazine's circulation is around 1.9 million. If the manga magazines experience declining sales, the publishers won't be able to make a profit unless tankobon achieves good sales.

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According to Anime!Anime!, Osamu Tezuka Productions plans to release two new digital magazines featuring works from Tezuka Osamu in November 2008.

The first magazine, Tezuka Osamu O-Magazine, is an on-demand magazine that allows its owner to order chapters of Tezuka's manga online. The second magazine, Tezuka Osamu Motion Magazine, is a cell-phone magazine that will feature partially animated manga chapters. Tezuka Osamu Motion Magazine is currently planned not only for Japan, but also for countries in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Source: animeOnline

According to a blog post of its editorial department, Akita Shoten's manga magazine Champion Red Ichigo will become a bi-monthly magazine starting with Volume 2, to be released on June 5th.