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Mainichi Daily News Release Manglish - Manga in English

Date: 2006 July 03 08:14 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The Mainichi Daily News have started to release Manga in English on their website. They've called it Manglish (manga in English), taking talents from their MangaTown site, and providing an English translation of the original text by rolling your mouse over the Japanese text.

The debut story is called Six Feet Girl, about a 16 year old girl who is 180cm tall (which actually makes her 5"9'). Apparently she gets depressed every time she starts a new school when the other students laugh at her height. The manga is by Gyugo (or Jugo) Hazuki. Looking at the site it's not clear how good the translation will be, especially if English speaking readers are used to a certain standard, it appears to by translated by a Japanese speaker into English. Currently MDN have posted two pages, and will add a new page each weekday.

Billingual Manga for Japanese people wishing to learn English isn't that uncommon and is frequently sought after by English speaking collectors outside of Japan. However this marks an interesting start - a Japanese publisher releasing free daily manga direct from Japan, some industry analysts predicted this a few years ago and it's good to see that MDN are now publishing manga in English, hopefully more Japanese firms will start soon too.

Souce: Mainichi Daily News

Manga Summer Reading

Date: 2006 June 30 10:29 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Tokyopop teams up with the Los Angeles Public Library to launch manga summer reading program.

Viz Media announces end of Rurouni Kenshin manga series

Date: 2006 June 29 13:15 | Posted By: Dallas Marshall

Category > Manga

Manga publisher Viz Media brought some news that fans of the Rurouni Kenshin manga series would not want to hear. Viz has announced that this widely popular series will end after its 28th volume is released on July 5.

Fans do not need to be sad though, for Viz has also announced that there will be a Rurouni Kenshin fiction novel. This is the first of its kind and will be unleashed to the masses on October 17. The novel is called Voyage To The Moon World and is written by Kaoru Shizuka, it is Shonen Jump's first fictional novel release, and will retail for $9.99. Voyage To The Moon World features Kenshin Himura in a brand new adventure. Viz will also release a new manga series, Buso Renkin from the creator of Rurouni Kenshin, Nobuhiro Watsuki on August 1. And not only that, Mr. Watsuki himself will be a guest at Comic-Con International in San Diego this July!

The final volumes of the series have been greatly anticipated by fans, as they have not been animated before.

FuyuCon UK Convention Set For October 2007

Date: 2006 June 21 07:45 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

The good people from the East Midlands Anime Group have arranged a convention for Friday 19th October to Sunday 21st October 2007. FuyuCon has capacity for 500 members and will be based at the Britannia Hotel Nottingham. Full weekend membership costs £40.

Anime expert Helen McCarthy will be the guest for FuyuCon, it will be her first UK anime convention appearance in a while. Helen regularly attends US conventions such as A-Kon.

FuyuCon is a welcome addition to the UK anime convention calendar. Since the capacity is 500, we suggest you book as soon as possible to avoid any disappointment.

Death Note Manga Proves Popular

Date: 2006 June 18 17:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The Mainichi Daily News is currently running a story about the popular manga Death Note in their national news section, they state it's now established as one of Japan's greatest-ever manga. The 11 volume series of books have already sold a combined total of 18 million issues.

Unusually little is known about the author and artist Tsugumi Oba, not even his/her gender as Tsugumi can be use by a boy or girl.

The story focuses on Raito, a boy who finds a notebook that gives him the ability to kill people by simply writing their name down in it, along with how they die. Anime and video game versions are currently in production.

Souce: Mainichi Daily News

New Books From VIZ

Date: 2006 June 03 10:39 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

VIZ Media announces their new releases for the rest of 2006 at BookExpo.

Tokyopop to Launch New Pop Fiction Line

Date: 2006 May 09 10:28 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Retail

Tokyopop planning to add new line of novels geared towards young adults.

Learning Japanese with Manga

Date: 2006 May 04 17:11 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Fed up of reading ill informed badly researched articles by people who think their anime and manga experts we're please to have discovered this article by manga guru Frederik L. Schodt, he's written several excellent books on manga and even translated both Ghost in The Shell manga with Toren Smith (in otherwords, unlike the many bandwagon jumpers out there, he knows his stuff). The article on the Japan Times Online website focuses on American students using manga to learn Japanese.

Schodt highlights that since they're highly addictive and a lot better than forcing adults to repeat infantile passages in textbooks they make a great learning tool. The article has a lot more information, so go and read it! ^_^

Souce: Japan Times Online

Popular Manga to End

Date: 2006 April 29 09:39 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Manga News two popular manga titles that have been serialized in Japanese Magazines for years are now approaching the end. These are Samurai Deeper Kyo and 20th Century boys.

Samurai Deeper Kyo a Manga by Akimine Kamijiyo, will end in Weekly Shounen Magazine issue 23, on sale May 10th. An Anime TV series was also made a couple of years ago and Samurai Deeper Kyo remains one of the most popular anime/manga series ever.

20th Century Boys which is a Manga by Naoki Urasawa who also is the manga-ka of Monster and Pluto, has been serialized in Shogakukan's Big Comic Spirit for 7 years. This month unexpectedly without any announcements the final chapter of 20th Century Boys was suddenly released in issue 21-22 of Big Comic Spirit.

While the ending may be a surprise to many, according to a note in the same issue of Big Comic Spirit, the next part of the series will resume in Spring 2007.

Souce: Manga News

Mobile Manga on the Rise

Date: 2006 April 14 10:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The Mainichi Daily News is currently running an interesting article on the rise of Mobile Manga - manga displayed on users mobile phones.

The subscription service is seen by many as good value for money and more convenient than paper based manga. Comic Site, a service set up by telephone company NTT, has had over 10 million downloads since starting in August 2004. Mobile manga also adds effects not found on it's paper equivalent, with pages that can make the readers phone vibrate when they are a reading a shooting scene. The future looks promising for mobile manga in Japan, and it seems from the article it is DRM free, as it mentions that school girls share their favourite manga files.

Souce: Mainichi Daily News

CLAMP at Anime Expo

Date: 2006 April 13 11:54 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Events

CLAMP makes their first US appearance at Anime Expo.

Cosplay Cafe at Cafe Manga

Date: 2006 March 29 17:54 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Emily has just sent us some details about an event she's organising in London next month, Cosplay Cafe at Cafe Manga. Aimed at Cosplayers kameko (photographers) and their chums. It's set for Sunday 23rd April, 2pm-5.30pm, and includes fun activities like a photoshoot, a talk/workshop, a quiz, anime and live action screenings, along with a swap table. They'll even have goodies to give away too! ^_^

Interesting Oricon Survey on Manga Adaptations

Date: 2006 March 29 13:15 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

There is an interesting article on Manga News covering a survey conducted by Oricon about what manga fans want to see adapted into a Hollywood movie.

VIZ Made Master Licensor for Bleach

Date: 2006 March 22 10:04 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Anime

VIZ Media becomes the official Master Licensor for anime and manga series Bleach.

Creator of Samurai Zombie Accused of Plagiarism

Date: 2006 March 19 05:27 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Manga News, Hendra Wahjudi, creator of the recent Tokyopop Rising Star entry Samurai Zombie, is being accused of plagiarising the work of Samura Hiroaki's Blade of the Immortal. For a comparison of the manga here is the link: http://www.toothycat.net/~emsie/ref.jpg

Souce: Manga News

Naruto Makes Top 30

Date: 2006 March 14 12:23 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Latest volume of Naruto cracks the Top 30 of USA Today's best seller list.

Mixed Reactions Over Manga Panties Giveaway

Date: 2006 February 28 13:05 | Posted By: Spike

Category > Freaky Things

According to the Daily Mainichi News, Japanese magazine Cyzo has lashed out over a new manga that is being promoted with the gift of a pair of what they are describing as being "commonly worn by pre-schoolers".

Follow-up on Ottaker's Manga Evening

Date: 2006 February 28 05:16 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Manga

Following my recent report on Ottaker's promotional push on the manga scene, I've gotten hold of a small list of other branch locations where a Manga Evening is taking place. If your branch isn't on there, I've been told to keep checking and/or asking away. Areas probably differ in consciousness with manga, and are likely to hold a Manga Evening too, if they know there is a demand.

Megatokyo moves to DC's CMX

Date: 2006 February 28 02:57 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Manga

The popular web comic Megatokyo is set to move print publishers from book four. Megatokyo will move from Dark Horse to DC comic's CMX inprint. An interview covering details of the new book is up at The Pulse. Volumes 1-3 will remain with Dark Horse.

Souce: Megatokyo

New Manga Collector's Club + Manga Events with Ottaker's

Date: 2006 February 26 08:28 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Manga

After getting a heads up from Anime Artists UK on bookshop Ottaker's new Manga Collector's Club, I searched around and found that Ottaker's Coventry branch will also be holding a small manga evening on April 6th in association with Tokyo Pop.

Three Arrested in Tokyo Over Manga Postings

Date: 2006 February 19 12:33 | Posted By: Spike

Category > Manga

Three men have been arrested in Tokyo over apparent copywrite infringement due to the scanning and subsequent posting of manga on a cybercafe server.

Sweatdrop Shop

Date: 2006 February 12 14:45 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

Those artistic people from Sweatdrop Studios have dropped us a line to tell us about their new on-line shopping system. They take Paypal too, which is useful for those who don't have or want credit cards. We recommend you grab a copy of Sugardrops if you haven't already, since it contains artwork from a selection of the Sweatdrop Crew. The press release they sent us also has a discount coupon. ^_-

Manga Manufacturing at the Japanese Embassy London

Date: 2006 January 30 16:08 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Events

The Japanese Embassy in Piccadilly, London is hosting a free to enter exhibition focusing on the production of manga from the rough through to the finished work. The exhibition focuses on the work of manga artist Kiriko Kubo.

It runs from 30 January - 24 February 2006 and is open Monday - Friday 9.30 am - 5.30 pm.

Souce: Japanese Embassy

Kia Asamiya Interview on Sequential Tart

Date: 2006 January 25 13:09 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Manga

Sequential Tart has an interview up with Kia Asamiya creator of Nadesico, Steam Detectives and Silent Mobius. The interview is focused around Dark Angel: Phoenix Resurrection- Asamiya’s latest work for the American comics company Image. What’s especially interesting is that he has drawn the comic left to right, and it will be the Japanese version it’s flipped for!

Souce: Sequential Tart

'Death Note' Art Books Galore

Date: 2006 January 25 07:40 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Manga News Amazon.jp has posted information about the Death Note art book Blanc et Noir and DEATH BOX, Blank et Noir will be sold for 4935 yen, while DEATH BOX will sell for 18900 yen.

New Manga Licensed by Tokyopop

Date: 2006 January 21 07:11 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Anime News Network, Tokyopop has confirmed that the following mangas have been licensed and will be out in July:

Elemental Gelade (Erementar Gerad)
Kuro no Kishi
Redrum 327
Yorozuya Tokaido Honpo
Zapt!
Le Potrait de Petit Cossette
Strawberry Marshmallow (Ichigo Mashimaro)
Trash
Peppermint
Otogi Zoshi

Souce: Anime News Network

Berserk Manga Sells Over 21 Million Copies

Date: 2006 January 18 13:21 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Anime News Service, the fantasy/horror Manga by Kentaro Miura - Berserk, exceeded 21 million copies. This is displayed on an ad for Vol. 1-29 of the Berserk tankoubon where publisher Hakusensha breaks the news. The print spot can be found at the tail end of the latest Berserk serial (#267) which runs in Young Animal magazine.

Souce: Anime News Service

Prince of Tennis Manga-ka Injured

Date: 2006 January 11 08:09 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Manga News it was reported that Manga-ka Takeshi Konoshi was Injured and only 11 pages of Prince of Tennis manga appeared in the latest issue of Weekly Shounen Jump (No.6+7). Konoshi injured himself due to age and had to finish the chapter while still recovering at the hospital thus resulting in fewer pages.

Souce: Manga News

More Manga to be Adapted into Anime

Date: 2006 January 11 08:08 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Manganews more manga titles will be adapted into anime. These titles include Air Gear, Shounen Onmyoji and also a second season of School Rumble.

Souce: Manga News

UK Rising Stars Announced

Date: 2006 January 06 04:18 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Manga

The winners of The Rising Stars of Manga UK have been announced. The Grand prize was taken by Paul Duffield with the manga Falling Star the second prize was one by Sonia Leong with the manga Fatal Connection.

Comiket: Comic Convention in Tokyo a Hit

Date: 2006 January 02 07:03 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Mainichi Daily News, Comic-Book fans gathered last Thursday and Friday in front of Tokyo's Big Sight exhibition venue where Comic Market 69, Japan's largest comic convention started, spreading information on self-published comics, video games and related material.

NewType USA to Serialize Seven Seas Manga

Date: 2005 December 28 12:25 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

NewType USA to serialize Seven Seas Entertainment's Aoi House starting with January 2006 issue.

Slam Dunk Caught in Plagiarism Scandal

Date: 2005 December 23 09:58 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

Bad News for Manga-ka Takehiko Inoue the creator of Slam Dunk as reported in Anime News Network that he is claimed to have plagiarised other sources.

Top 5 Manga of 2005

Date: 2005 December 17 07:04 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

Oricon has released the results of the "Top 5 Attention-Grabbing 'Manga' and 'Books' of 2005" poll. It was a fantastic year for 'Nana' as it ranked number. Here are the results of the poll:

1. NANA - adapted into movie
2. Hana Yori Dango (Boys Before Flowers) - adapted into live-action drama
3. Death Note
4. Dragon Sakura - adapted into live-action drama
5. Hachimitsu to Clover (Honey and Clover) - adapted into TV drama

Souce: Manga News

Del Rey to Publish Gundam SEED Destiny

Date: 2005 December 16 11:27 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Del Rey Manga will publish the manga adaptation of Gundam SEED Destiny starting in 2006.

VIZ and TokyoPop Team Up For German Manga Launch

Date: 2005 December 01 11:05 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

VIZ Media B.V. announces team-up with TokyoPop Germany to publish hit manga for the German market.

Sweatdrop Studios At Comic Expo Brighton

Date: 2005 November 15 17:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Those nice people over at Sweatdrop have sent us a press release for their appearace at the Comic Expo in Brighton. Tokyopop and Letraset will be there too. It's certainly worth a vist if you like your comics or want to be more active in the independent UK comic scene.

Nana At the Top of Shoujo Manga List

Date: 2005 November 07 11:54 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Anime News Network, Oricon a Company that Ranks everything related to Japanese entertainment has conducted a survey in which ranled the top 10 Shoujo Manga.

The survey was published on their magazine Oricon Style on November 4th. In total 1137 respondents took part in this survey. Nana won the top spot as the most liked Shoujo Manga. Below is the full list:

1 NANA (Shueisha)
2 Hana Yori Dango (Shueisha)
3 Honey and Clover (Shueisha)
4 Nodame Cantabile (Kodansha)
5 Tenshi Nanka ja Nai (Shueisha)
6 Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyou (Hakusensha)
7 Renai Catalogue (Shueisha)
8 Glass no Kamen (Hakusensha)
9 Fruits Basket (Hakusensha)
10 Chibi Maruko-chan (Shueisha)

Souce: Anime News Network

Seven Seas Entertainment Aquires Boogiepop

Date: 2005 November 01 03:00 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Manga

Seven Seas Entertainment has announced it will move into the world of licensed Japanese material with the acquisition of Kouhei Kadono's Boogiepop series of novel and manga, the first volume is due out in 2006.

Flower of Eden manga

Date: 2005 October 26 14:18 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Akadot the Shoujo Manga ‘Flower of Eden’ by Yuki Suetsugu is being accused of Plagiarism due to huge similarities mostly in the artwork with Takehiko Inoue's SLAM DUNK. The discovery which was made on postings on the internet message board 2CH (now famous as the site where Densha Otoko originated), led Kodansha to apologize for the matter and as a fact printing of all of Suetsugu's comics has been cancelled, and those in stores will be withdrawn. Suetsugu has already admitted to a number of the accusations, and has apologized for her lack of moral and judgment in a public statement made on the Kodansha Website.

Souce: Akadot

More Manga Adaptations

Date: 2005 October 18 12:56 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Anime News Network another 2 manga will be adapted into a Live-Action movie and an Anime series. In fact a live-action drama based on Rumiko Takashi's ‘Maison Ikkoku’ will be broadcast next year. The other project is an Anime TV Series of Akihito Yoshitomi's ‘Ray’ manga. No Further Details are available at the moment.

Souce: Anime News Network

Tsubasa Chronicle Sequel

Date: 2005 October 17 06:37 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Anime > TV

CLAMP did it again, in less than a week they announced live on their website another of their projects, this time it is a second TV series based on Tsubasa Chronicle. ‘On Sunday In Japan’ was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine. Tsubasa Chronicle was broadcast on NHK from April 2005 and the new sequel will air on the same Network starting in spring of 2006 on Saturdays at 18:30-18:55pm.

Souce: Anime News Service

Clamp Manga to Become Animated Series

Date: 2005 October 15 09:06 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Anime News Network the Super-Popular Manga Team CLAMP announced on their website that their popular manga XXXHOLIC will be adapted into an animated series which will be shown on Japan TV next year.

Souce: Anime News Network

Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari Manga to Become a Live-Action Film

Date: 2005 October 11 04:46 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Anime News Service, another Manga-Based Live-Action will be produced. This time it’s the popular Manga ‘Tokyo Daigaku Monogatari’ by Mangaka Tatsuya Egawa who also was behind the popular Manga ‘Golden Boy’.
The lead role was given to twenty year old actress Yoko Mitsuya who is widely known for 87cm chest size.
The story is about high school students who aim to enter the prestigious Tokyo University. When high school boy Murakami falls in love with his classmate Haruka, it is love at first sight. But as luck would have it his friend Sano also falls in love with her and is getting in the way.
The Film is to open next spring and an adaptation of the story to TV drama and animation has already been done.

Souce: Anime News Service

NASA Approved Manga

Date: 2005 October 08 09:42 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Those clever people at NASA have teamed up with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design to produce manga that explains the NASA satellite mission to study the Earth's ionosphere. They're aiming this at "students between sixth ninth grade". The Otaku News Crew think this this a great way to teach kids about space and the science behind it.

The 24 page comic can be downloaded for free here.

Souce: Slashdot

Riyoko Ikeda to Release New Manga

Date: 2005 October 07 10:18 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Manga News, Riyoko Ikeda who was famous for The Rose of Versailles will release a new Manga which will be an adaptation of Yukio Mishima's novel SPRING SNOW. The Manga series will consist of 10 installments the first of which will be published soon on Shukan Josei Magazine.

Souce: Manga News

Waru:Not Based on Yukari Hashida

Date: 2005 October 02 07:29 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

As many Anime News Sites have been reporting that the new Takashi Mike Live-Action film was based on the popular manga Waru by Yukari Hashida, it is now reported that actually there was an error and the movie is based on a similarly named 1970’s manga by Hisao Maki.

Therefore a possible disappointment for Yaoi fans as in this version of Waru there are no boy to boy relationships.

Hashida’s Waru was creditted as being "an edgy action-packed tale of outlaw swordsman Youji Himuro".

Souce: Anime News Network

Manga Sales Decreasing in Japan

Date: 2005 September 30 22:12 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Manga sales decreasing in Japan due to rental shops and used sales.

Japanese Manga and Cultural Politics Lecture

Date: 2005 September 29 16:15 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Author and anime expert Jonathan Clements has sent us details of the SOAS Japanese Manga and Cultural Politics Lecture and Discussion in London. This is due to take place at 7pm Tuesday 11th October, with free admission at the The Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS. Since it's hosted by The School of Oriental and African Studies, you know it should be good.

More Live-Action Movies based on Manga

Date: 2005 September 28 09:30 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

More Manga Based Live-Action Movies are taking the Japanese Film Industry by storm. The future adaptations will be based on the Manga Waru-Final and SUBARU.

IMAF 2005 Lines Up Top Speakers and New Anime

Date: 2005 September 26 17:29 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

With the competition deadline edging ever close, the nice folks at IMAF have sent us some more details for their London event.

Highlights include Sweatdrop Studios, a special screening of Millennium Actress, along with the Europe Premiere of Streetfighter - Alpha Generation. Even Garnier will be their with its Manga haircare range. The IMAF is certainly worth attending to see the wonderful range of entrants.

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