ShueishaShueisha has announced that volume one of its Gintama manga has now sold over one million copies. One of the major factor behind the sudden increase in sales was the announcement of a Gintama anime. Volume 17 of Gintama will go on sale in Japan in March. Source: ANS According to the preview page on the BJ website, Kei Toume's Sing Yesterday for Me will resume serialization in Business Jump issue 8 (3/15). Sing Yesterday for Me went on hiatus in September of 2006, and many thought the series ended for good due to the announcement message.
Also, Shueisha's Public Relations Department stated that a new magazine is currently being planned to replace Monthly Shonen Jump: "We plan on creating a new magazine that is more in tune with the times, tentatively slated for a launch this fall." Monthly Shonen Jump was launched in December of 1969 as a sister magazine of Weekly Shonen Jump. In 1989, the magazine's circulation reached 1,400,000, while last year only 420,000 copies were printed. Series serialized in Monthly Shonen Jump include Claymore by Norihiro Yagi, Beet the Vandel Buster by Riki Sanjo & Koji Inada, Captain by Akio Chiba, Mahou Tsukai Kurohime, and more. There has been no announcement regarding the future of manga currently serialized in Monthly Shonen Jump. Source: Yahoo! Japan Controller M&Y by Akira Akatsuki, which began in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 2 in early 2007, will end in Shonen Jump issue 13. Also, two new series are set to begin serialization in Shonen Jump issue 14 and 15: Issue 14 (3/5): Samurai Usagi by Fukushima Teppei Source: Ultimatum - Talk
Gokusen follows the story of Yamaguchi Kumiko, the granddaughter of a Yakuza boss, who tries to become a high school teacher. The manga was adapted into a drama in 2002, and later an anime series in 2004.
The images in question appeared in 2007 Issue 1 of Shueisha's Cookie magazine, some comparison can be seen here: [ Comparison 1 ] [ Comparison 2 ] [ Comparison 3 ] [ Comparison 4 ] The apology letter from the Cookie Editorial Department: ANS reports that Japanese fans are accusing mangaka Rin Yoshii's manga SWITCH of copying a photograph from the November 06 issue of the fashion magazine SWEET. A comparison between the original photograph and the SWITCH manga scan can be seen here and here (the scan is from the January 07 issue of Shuisha's Cookie).
The picture in question is a spread scene with Lala and Haruna taking a bath together, with a tremendous amount of bubbles are covering their bodies, to the extent that only their faces can be seen. The illustration is published in a very artificial condition. To quote some of To-LOVE-Ru creator Kentaro Yabuki's comment at the back of Weekly Shonen Jump:
In early 2006, a Japanese blog published an article (the entry was taken down, but a Chinese version can be found here) about a 24-page one-shot called The Miraculous Notebook (不思議な手帖) by Shigeru Mizuki, which was published in the magazine Comic Mystery in 1973. The story of the one-shot revolves around a magical notebook: when a person's name is written on that notebook, the said person dies. Sounds familiar? Below is a summary (with some pictures) of the one-shot:
Part 1 of the article introduces the readers to the term "fujoshi," and provides an overview of the situation. In Part 2, the article takes a closer look at the impact of the fujoshi audience on Shonen Jump. [The Turning Point of Shonen Jump] Shonen Jump experienced a turning point during the serialization of The Prince of Tennis by Takeshi Konomi. |
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Finale: Panelosophy
An ongoing conversation about the philosophy behind manga both in the U.S. and abroad. Manga Ranking
Monthly charts of comparative manga rankings based on aggregate online sales listings from Matt Blind. |