China

Original Story MangaCurrently a majority of the original Chinese manga are composed of 4-panel comics and short stories. To promote original story-oriented manga, Zhejiang Gongshang University's Japanese Anime and Manga Cultural Research Group has organized the 1st Story-Oriented Original Manga Competition.

The competition, supported by Shueisha and many Chinese anime news websites and media, accepts any original manga between 10-45 pages long. The deadline is September 9th, winners will be announced in October.

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topWalkers, Kadokawa Shoten's Taiwanese division, has announced a new license agreement with Libre Publishing to distribute Libre's products in Taiwan.

As a result of the new deal, Kadokawa will create a new BL imprint called BLOOM Series. The new imprint will cover BL manga and light novels from Libres, as well as original BL series from Taiwan. Below is the announcement posted on Walker's offcial site:

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As a first in all of China, Beijing Chaoyang District's local tax office announced a new manga character to promote the payment of tax. The name of character is Nana.

On April 4th, students from Baijiazhuang, Chaoyang District met with Nana, special manga featuring Nana were also handed out during the event. According to the Chaoyang tax office, Nana was created in order to educate the youth about basic income tax knowledge, and to help establish integrity and a sense of duty as a taxpayers.

After the recent incident in Shenyang, Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata's Death Note is finding itself in yet more trouble in China. Late last month, Chinese officials have begun confiscating "Death Notes" around a school near Wuhan. According to the director of Wuhan's Publication Bureau, a copy of the confiscated "Death Note" has already been sent to be processed and checked. As soon as the notebook is declared illegal, the authorities will begin taking further actions against "Death Notes" sold around schools.

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topApril Fools' 2007 Special Feature

Recent archaeological evidence support the theory that concept of Death Note originated in ancient China.

With two successful movies and an anime series, Death Note, written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, has become a household name to anime and manga fans. In 2006, dedicated Japanese fans discovered a one-shot story called The Miraculous Notebook by Shigeru Mizuki, which some claimed was the inspiration for Death Note. However, recent archaeological evidence suggests that "Death Note" may have existed in ancient China long before the birth of Japanese comics.

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topAfter the success of two movies and an anime series, Tsugumi Ohba (story) and Takeshi Obata's (art) manga Death Note has become a familiar name to anime and manga fans around the world.

"A notebook that kills anyone whose name is written in it." ??? As Death Note's fame rose, it was bound to happen when someone would try to imitate the mysterious notebook found in the story. In early 2005, some schools in Shenyang, China banned the use of a stationery notebook in response to students using it as "Death Notes." While some felt the ban was an over-reaction, the view that Death Note is "a poison that creates wicked hearts" remained in the minds of many Chinese parents and teachers and protect them from the "evil notebook."

So did the school in Shenyang over-react? While some may disagree, a recent incident in China may have served to further damage Death Note's reputation among Chinese parents and teachers.

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According to Taipei Times, fans waited in line from 3am for an anime and manga festival that took place at the National Taiwan University stadium in Taipei. Manga publishers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan, as well as amateur artists attended the 2-day festival.

The event's first day attracted over 20,000 visitors. According to the event's spokeswoman: "Some people were waiting in line since three or four in the morning."

Source: Taipei Times

A new manga magazine called Lottery Manga Monthly was recently released in Taiwan by Bohai Publishing. Lottery Manga Monthly is one of the recipient of the "1996 Comic Periodical Publications Grant," and receives 300,000 Taiwan dollars each month, for up to 12 months. Lottery Manga Monthly will serialize original manga series created by Taiwan artists.

The mascot for the 3rd China International Animation and Cartoon Festival has been announced. The mascot, a currently unnamed monkey, is based on Son Goku from Journey to the West (Saiyuki), one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.

3rd Golden Dragon AwardWinners of the 3rd Golden Dragon Award, known in China as the "Anime and Manga Oscar," were announced on February 2nd. Over 60 works, 30 artists and publishing companies participated in this year's award. Many foreign works also made appeared in the competition, including Ice Age 2 and Death Note the movie.

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