February, 2008

The following manga appeared on the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending February 24th:

Storefront highlights boys' love anime, manga & more!

GRIMES, IA, February 28, 2008 - Anime producer and distributor Right Stuf, Inc. continues its 20th anniversary celebration with the launch of YaoiAnime.com (http://www.yaoianime.com), a new "boutique" powered by the RightStuf.com anime superstore that showcases boys' love anime, manga and merchandise.

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topThe Mandana Tsushin (Manga Bookshelf Transmissions) Blog ponders who is the busiest mangaka, and has written a series of articles listing the achievements of some of the busiest mangaka in history.

I received a note to the effect that George Akiyama might have been even busier. Thank you, V Hayashida-sama and Sugaya-sensei.

Certainly, George Akiyama's 1970 was really something. I've put things in order using the George Akiyama's Hidden Room site for reference.

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CHINA NOW, the UK's largest ever festival of Chinese culture, launches the first ever exhibition in Britain to explore Manhua - the powerful narrative art form of comics and graphic novels in China.

Manhua are poised to become the next global cross-media phenomenon, spinning off into films, television, animation, games, toys and more. The exhibition will take place between 7 March - 11 April at the London College of Communication. The exhibition explores 19th Century Picture Story Traditions, the Modern Manhua Masters, Hong Kong's New Wave movement and China's Next Generation of artists.

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From StarWars.com comes an interesting comparison of various manga adaptations of Star Wars.

Source: Icarus Blog

ANN reports that the Canada Border Services Agency has recently banned (PDF) a number of adult anime manga:

The Canada Border Services Agency has ruled in a October-December 2007 list (released this month) that the American re-releases of the hentai anime series Cool Devices and Words Worth (pictured at right) qualify as obscene under subsection 163(8) of Canada's Criminal Code.

Anime and manga retailer Right Stuf has launched a new BL-oriented portal called YaoiAnime.com:

Right Stuf is proud to present YaoiAnime.com, where you can find all of the Yaoi, Boys Love, and Shonen-Ai products in Right Stuf’s catalog. Learn a little more about the genre and find anime, manga, novels, and various merchandise covering the 13+, 16+, and 18+ age levels. From hit anime like Gravitation, to popular manga like Fake, YaoiAnime.com and Right Stuf are your number one stop for all things Yaoi!

ANN is reporting that Shogakukan and Kodansha are collaborating on a new bi-weekly magazine titled Conan & Kindaichi to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Sunday and Weekly Shonen Magazine:

As the name implies, the new magazine will feature Gosho Aoyama's Detective Conan (Case Closed) manga from Weekly Shonen Sunday and Yōzaburō Kanari and Fumiya Sato's Kindaichi Case Files from Weekly Shonen Magazine. The official announcement will be made on March 18.

Dark Horse has posted preview chapters of Park Joong-Ki's Shaman Warrior online:

You can now find links on the darkhorse.com home page and on our "Manga Zone" home page to free online preview chapters of Park Joong-Ki's SHAMAN WARRIOR Volume One.

[...]

Basically, we want to turn you on to an amazing manhwa (Korean comics) series -- check it out from the beginning and come by every Friday for a new chapter.

Source: Mecha Mecha Media

U.S. manga publisher Infinity Studios has announced that it will make its titled available online:

Richmond, CA – February 25th, 2008 Today, Infinity Studios LLC is proud to announce the introduction of our all digital ebooks.

Starting on March 1st 2008, Infinity Studios will be offering ebook editions of all new titles scheduled to be released; available for purchase only through the Infinity Studios website. http://www.infinitystudios.com This includes Zero volume 4 and Sweety volume 3 which were originally scheduled for release in February 2008.

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Comix Talk has an interview with Seven Seas' senior editor, webmaster and writer Adam Arnold.

MangaBlog's Brigid Alverson interviews Matthew Reidsma, author of the diary comic High Maintenance Machine.

In "Takemiya the teacher," The Star Online talks to Keiko Takemiya, creator of Kaze to Ki no Uta.

San Francisco, CA -- eigoMANGA and AsianWeek Produces The Anime Pavilion At The Fourth Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration.

The Anime Pavilion celebrates the otaku (anime fan) culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. Anime fans all over the Bay Area are invited to an exciting day-long programming line-up of live Japanese rock (jrock) performances, an anime theme runway fashion show featuring original anime clothing lines from Japanese and Bay Area fashion designers, an anime cosplay masquerade, as well as additional features from the Fourth Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration.

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Explosive 3D Ninja Combat Headed for Stores Today

LOS ANGELES - February 26, 2008 - TOMY Corporation and D3Publisher of America, Inc. (D3PA), publishers of interactive entertainment software, today announced that NARUTO™: Ninja Destiny for the Nintendo DS™ handheld system has shipped to retailers nationwide. Featuring stunning, cinematic techniques and the original orange-clad ninja, the fighting game promises vibrant 3D battles that are true to VIZ Media's hit animated TV series NARUTO.

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DEMON PRINCE: CHILDREN OF GAIA AVAILABLE NOW
VOLUME 2 APRIL 10th

February 25, 2008- New graphic novel publisher Dimensional Manga is proud to announce their first release Demon Prince: Children of Gaia, Volume One, is available nationwide this week. Dimensional Manga will release the entire series in 14 volumes with 1-5 released this year.

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Story of Two Women Searching For Love And Meaningmidst the Hustle and Bustle of Tokyo A Box Office Hit In Japan

San Francisco, CA, February 26, 2008 – VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media, LLC that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, has announced a pair of new theatrical runs scheduled for New York and Los Angeles of NANA, a live action film directed by Ootani Kentarou and based on the best-selling shojo manga (graphic novel) series by Ai Yazawa.

NANA will screen in Los Angeles, March 21-27 at the IMAGINASIAN CENTER and then in New York, April 4-10 at the IMAGINASIAN THEATRE. Press screenings for both locations are also planned and theater information follows at the end of this release.

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Iranians and Israelis, Americans, Russians and Chinese, Europeans and Africans Gather to Say a "Good Word"

Hod Hasharon. Israel, February 25, 2008. BuzziNews is the world's first and only online journal reporting exclusively in cartoons. Cartoonists come together from around the world and communicate their positive message to a global audience. The portal has been online for 3 months and has already attracted world-renowned illustrators from 18 countries who have sent in their cartoons.

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Earlier this month, a lawyer named Masatoshi Uchida accused Hideo Iura's manga Bengoshi no Kuzu of plagiarizing a novel he once wrote.

Now Mainichi Shimbun reports that Hideo Iura and Shogakukan are denying the alleged copyright violation:

Iura admitted that he had referred to Uchida's novel but denied that he had violated any copyrights.

"Copyrights cover only concrete written expressions. What was published were actual crimes, and even if I used them as reference, it does not constitute a violation of copyright," a statement from Iura and the publisher said.

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Country's Mix Of Western And Asian Culture Creates A Growing Demand For Diverse Titles

San Francisco, CA, February 22, 2008 - VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive publishing, animation and licensing companies, has announced its continued global expansion with a new distribution agreement with Madman Entertainment to offer a wide variety of Shueisha manga (graphic novel) series to the burgeoning market in Australia and New Zealand. Shueisha Inc., is one of Japan's largest publishers and is a parent company of VIZ Media.

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Lunia Is Now Commercially Available

ATLANTA & BEIJING--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CDC Games, a business unit of CDC Corporation and pioneer of the "free-to-play, pay for merchandise" model for online video games in China, announced today that its CDC Games International (CGI) business unit has launched Lunia, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) based on the popular manga-style comic art form, for commercial availability in North America.

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In "SOFT POWER, HARD TRUTHS / Manga magnate aims to redraw San Francisco," Yomiuri Shimbun talks to Seiji Horibuchi, founder of Viz Media:

In the audience that evening was Seiji Horibuchi, the pioneering founder of Viz Media, one of the first and largest Japanese entertainment companies to take root in American soil. Horibuchi moved to the Bay Area more than 30 years ago. He founded Viz in 1986. Two years ago, he launched Viz Pictures, a spin-off that focuses on releasing live-action features to complement the mountains of manga, anime, toys and related merchandise the parent company already handles.

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From About.com:Manga comes an interview with graphic designer and author Chip Kidd and Batman memorabilia collector Saul Ferris about the "secret origins" of their Fall 2008 artbook/comics collection, Bat Manga! The Secret History of Batman in Japan.

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The top 15 manga (January - February 2008) in France according to BdZoom:

  1. Naruto (34)
  2. One Piece (41)
  3. Bleach (25)
  4. Naruto (33)
  5. Berserk (23)
  6. D. Gray-Man (8)
  7. Death Note (7)
  8. Naruto (32)
  9. Get Backers (25)
  10. Naruto (1)
  11. Übel Blatt (4)
  12. Parmi eux (18)
  13. Naruto (2)
  14. Naruto (31)
  15. Rose Hip Rose (1)

From BdZoom comes the top 15 "Bandes Dessinées" (French-style comic books) for the week ending 2/20:

  1. Astérix (12)
  2. Okko (4)
  3. Les rugbymen (6)
  4. Les Schtroumpfs (26)
  5. Lanfeust des étoiles (7)
  6. Jeremiah (28)
  7. Le guide du zizi sexuel
  8. Star Wars, Chevaliers de l'ancienne république (3)
  9. XIII (19)
  10. La quête de l'oiseau du temps : avant la quête (2)
  11. Les femmes en blanc (30)
  12. XIII (18)
  13. Tanâtos (2)
  14. Conte de fées à l'Elysée
  15. Merlin (9)