Papo de Budega has conducted a small interview with Viz Media regarding the release status of its manga titles in Latin America. Contrary to what has been said on numerous Latin web forums, Viz currently has no plans to release Ichigo 100% and Megaman: Starforce in Latin America.

According to Viz Media's Senior Director Public Relations Evelyn Dubocq: "We are not planning to sell Megaman: Starforce or Ichigo100% [in Latin America]." According to Evelyn, the recent rumors are not official and have nothing to do with Viz Media.

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According to Shogakukan, issue 17 of its seinen manga magazine Young Sunday will come with an original joint-illustration made by Rumiko Takahashi and Mitsuru Adachi.

The illustration, which features Azusa Satomi (from Adachi's Idol A) riding on Kosaku Hatanaka (from Takahashi's One-Pound Gospel)'s shoulders, was created earlier this month for an auction to benefit the city of Yuubari in Hokkaido. The event was part of Shogakukan's campaign to celebrate Young Sunday's 20th anniversary.

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Rabbit Valley, an online anime/manga shop, has announced that it will drop all CPM/Be Beautiful products from its catalogue due to the recent copyright issue with Libre Publishing:

NOTICE - Pirated works removed
It has come to the management's attention that several items we sold by the publisher "Central Park Media" doing business as "Be Beautiful" were not authorized, licensed reprints of an artist's work. We have pulled the following items from our catalog: "Golden Cain," "Embracing Love Volume 1," and "Selfish Love" volumes 1 and 2. It is the policy of Rabbit Valley (R) Comics to NEVER endorse piracy of any kind. Until the licensing issue is cleared up, these items have been pulled from the site. Further information is available from the original Japanese publisher's website at http://www.b-boy.jp/info17.html.

Source: Icarus Blog

A new book titled The Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga-Anime Revolution will be released by Stone Bridge Press in September 2007. The author of the book is Frederick Schodt, a close friend of Tezuka and the author of Manga! Manga! and Dreamland Japan.

Source: ANN

Two movie adaptations of Tsutomu Nihei's Blame! were announced during the Tokyo Animation Fair. The two movies consist of a full 3D CG movie that will experience a theatrical release, and a shorter movie that will be released on DVD.

Tsutomu Nihei's response to the adaptations: "I'm glad to have the original made so fruitfully into these movies. The feelings of dark and hopelessness is very well portrayed. I stopped drawing half a year ago to participate in this project."

Via: Manga Pontification

An anime adaptation of Zombie-Loan by PEACH-PIT (DearS and Rozen Maiden) has been announced. The official website of the anime will be launched on 4/18, but is current available at www.zombie-loan.com.

Zombie-Load is currently serialized in Square-Enix's shounen manga magazine GFantasy, and so far 7 volumes have been released in Japan. Zombie-Loan has been licensed in the U.S. by Yen Press.

Via: animeOnline

On the USA Today Booklist Top 150 (PDF) for the week ending March 18, VIZ Media's Naruto volume 13 ranks at #30, and Fullmetal Alchemist volume 12 ranks at #130.

According to JBC Publishing, the latest Inuyasha manga also will suffer delays in Brazilian market. As with Furuba, the reason is match the chronology of Japanese releases.

The next volume of Inuyasha will be released by JBC in the beginning of April, and will follow a monthly release schedule afterwards.

Source: Papo de Budega

Type-Moon recently re-newed the Kara no Kyoukai official movie website at www.karanokyoukai.com. According to the "new" website, instead of a single film, Kara no Kyoukai ~Garden of Sinners~ will be a 7-part movie series. The seven movies will cover all seven chapters of the original Kara no Kyoukai novel.

Also, a promotional video will be shown at the Aniplex booth during the Tokyo International Anime Fair. Other promotional events are also being planned.

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According to Yaoi Suki, in response to Libre Publishing's recent copyright infringement accusation, CPM's Managing Director John O'Donnell is currently heading to Japan to sort things out with Libre:

I spoke with Matt Geller, who works for Marketing Director David Hair. He did not have any comment yet, but promised to get back to me as soon as he did. He was, um, unaware of the situation. So, I gave him the link to the Libre site and showed him the notice.

MangaCast posts the latest newsletter from 801 Media, which contains information on two of its newly licensed titled:

• Sensitive Pornograph by Ashika Sakura - October
• I'm Not Your Stepping Stone by Shiuko Kano - November

Also, Maybe I Am Your Steppin' Stone, sequal to I'm Not Your Stepping Stone, will be released in 2008.

The new comic release list for March 14 2007 from ComicList, compiled by MangaCast.

According to Nikkei News, starting in April, manga publisher Gentosha will begin offering manga online in 7 different languages. Also announced were plans to distribute its manga around the world in six different languages (Japanese, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Korean, Taiwanese). Currently Gentosha's planned line-up includes Gravitation EX, which is being released in the U.S. by Tokyopop.

Source: Manga Jouhou

Manga top 10 according to Tohan.

1. Nana Vol.17
2. Lovely Complex Vol.16
3. One Piece Vol.45
4. Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Vol.18
5. Sprout Vol.4
6. Ahiru no Sora Vol.15
7. Fairy Tale Vol.3
8. Cross Game Vol.7
9. The Wallflower Vol.18
10. Konjiki no Gash Vol.28

San Francisco, CA, March 21, 2007 – VIZ Pictures, an affiliate of VIZ Media LLC, the leading U.S. publisher of Japanese animation and comics that focuses on Japanese live-action film distribution, continues to expand its catalog of acclaimed titles set for special North American theatrical screenings with the release of PING PONG, the comedic sports film by director Fumihiko Sori.

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HERNDON, VA - March 21, 2007 - DLSite.com today announced the release of a fully localized, English version of full 3D combat action game "Street Fucker".

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ANN interviews Fuyumi Ono, creator of the popular novel The Twelve Kingdoms. The Twelve Kingdomsis currently being published in the U.S. by Tokyopop.

From Sporadic Sequential comes a brief interview with manga artist Usamaru Furuya (Short Cuts, Happiness). The interview originally came from volume one of Usamaru Furuya's Short Cuts manga. In the interview Furuya talks about his experience as a manga artist, and what it's like to work with an editor.

"In Publishing Manga With Little Fanfare," Publishers Weekly's Kai-Ming Cha takes a in-depth look at manga publisher Fanfare, and talks about what to expect from the non-mainstream manga publisher in 2007.

Via: animeOnline

Japanese publisher Shinchosha will release a new digital magazine titled Com2 on March 23rd. The magazine is said to be Japan's first monthly digital subscription magazine that will be distributed through mobile phones. The monthly subscription fee is 350 yen. According to Shinchosha, English and Chinese versions of the magazine are also being planned for the future. The magazine can also be obtained online through eBookJapan.

According to Mainichi Daily News: "In Japan, several mobile phone Web sites already offer hundreds of novels -- classics, best sellers and works written especially for the mobile phone. Shinchosha's will be the first monthly comic book which is only available online, NHK said."

Source: BroadBand Watch

According to ICv2, both comics and graphic novels experienced a boost in sales in February, with "comics posting a healthy 15% year-over-year gain and graphic novels a solid 9% boost. The total dollars spent on both comics and graphic novels rose by 14% over February of 2006."

Japanese BL publisher Libre Publishing has posted a notice on its website claiming that Be Beautiful, CPM's yaoi imprint, has been illegally publishing its properties in the U.S. The notice encourages fans to refrain from buying Be Beautiful products.

An English version of the notice is available on Libre's website:

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MangaCast translates the weekly Doujinshi ranking (03/17) in Japan according to Toranoana, and the weekly BL Doujinshi ranking (03/17) in Japan according to Toranoana's BL specialty store Princess Side.

Bang Gyeong-su, writter of the story for the Korean comic Bbongjjak, has filed a lawsuit against Lee Hyon-se, chairman of the Korean Cartoonists Association. Lee Hyon-se claims that he was the writor for the story of Bbongjjak, but Lee took all the credits for making the comic and went on to make profits off of the work. According to the report, Bang is supported by an association of other comics story writers.

Source: The Hankyoreh

Comics Worth Reading's Johanna Draper Carlson has announced a new site called Manga Worth Reading, which will feature manga reviews and news headlines posted on Comics Worth Reading.