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As many manga readers know, manga magazines often contain colored pages. Seinen magazines have a mild transition of color pages; they change from cream to light orange, and so on. On the other hand, Shounen magazines, like Shounen Jump and Shounen Sunday, and Shoujo magazines, like Ribbon and Ciao, use intense colors for their paper, like yellow, orange, green, etc.

*Note the “color pages” discussed here is not the “full-color” pages that appear in the beginning of a chapter, but the actual color of the paper the ink is printed on.

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imgPirated Gundam products (videos, toys, etc.) has always been very popular in South Korea. In 2005, when Sunrise, which owns the rights to Gundam, tried to register "Gundam" as a trademark in South Korea, they were turned down by the South Korean agency.

Naturally, Sunrise appealed to the Korean courts. However, Sunrise lost the appeal for the incredible reason that "In Korea, 'Gundam' is a general term for robots which appear in anime" (韓国では『ガンダム』とはアニメに登場するロボットの一般名詞である)!

The "Gundam Trial" was so shocking to Japanese people that it had come to be seen as an urban legend. However, it was proven that it was no joke, but an actual trial. For more info, see here or here (創通=Bandai).

When "super robot" anime and manga were gaining momentum during the 80's, the popular shows weren't as easily accessible in South Korea as they are today. Surpassing even the modern fansubbers, people in South Korea began releasing Japanese animations as "Original South Korean Products" under different names, many of which were televised by Korean TV stations. Below are some examples of the "Original Korean Products" and their Japanese counterparts:

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maidhuntAkihabara is known around the world for its otaku culture and maid cafes. Not only is Akihabara a hot tourist spot, but it also serves as a place for geeks and otakus to "heal their spiritual wounds."

A few days ago, a shocking event took place in this otaku heaven that sent tremors throughout the otaku world - a maid was threatened, and subsequently molested, by a man. This incident is now being called "Maid Hunting," named after the controversial "Otaku Hunting" event that took place earlier this fall in Akihabara.

According to reports, around 7:00pm on October 17th in front of the JR Akihabara Station, a 18 year old girl dressed as a maid (who was handing out flyers) was approached by a man. The man asked, "Are you a college student? Where do you work?" The maid was then asked to bring the man to the maid cafe she worked at. When they were climbing the stairs of the maid cafe, the man suddenly took out a small knife, and proceeded to forcefully molest the maid's lower body.

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Recently a figurine of Saber (from Fate/stay-night) given away as a "hand-made collector's edition item" by a Chinese comic magazine called "Donghua Jidi" (Anime Base) became a hot topic of discussion in both China and Japan. The cause of the debates was the figurine's ugly appearance.

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Ken Akamatsu, mangaka of Love Hina and Negima!, attended a live-talk session on October 11th, held by ANIME KAI in Shinjuku LOFT/PLUS ONE from 7:30 pm to 11:40 pm. The session consisted of three parts with 10 minutes breaks in between. Burning Heart of Moe, a Anime, Manga, and Game related news blog, has posted a summary and a list of fun facts from of the event:

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Preface
- By Ed Chavez

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imgOn 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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imgAnimeAnime 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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imgGedo Senki was expected to be one of the best movies this summer, especially since it is the debut film of Hayao Miyazaki's eldest son, Goro. Everyone expected Gedo to make a good start. The reaction from the audience, however, was less than remarkable, and severe criticisms have been being posted on online forums.

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