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New Manga Portal Website JManga.com has Launched in North America

Date: 2011 August 19 04:33 | Posted By: Voxie

Category > Manga

Announced at the recent Comic-Con International San Diego, the Digital Comic Association's Japanese manga portal website JManga.com has been launched in North America.

JManga.com provides online manga for sale by chapter and volume, made purchasable using a monthly point subscription system, free previews available to be read by all, as well as information regarding manga currently published in North America. JManga.com also offers special feature content regarding manga culture, such as manga artist interviews, hoping to close the gap between the manga fans, authors and publishers.

JManga.com launches with a couple hundred titles including such diverse titles as; NARUTO, Kekkaishi, Crayon Shinchan, Devil King, Cigarette Kisses, Dragon Girl, Tujiurauri, Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru, Young-kun, ADEKAN, Manga Science, and many more new to the North American market.

JManga plans to update their catalogue every Tuesday, increasing to a few thousand titles within the next year and onto 10,000 by 2013.

Digital Manga version of Neon Genesis Evangelion launches on VizManga.com

Date: 2011 August 16 17:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The good folks at Viz Media have sent us details of their latest title to appear on VIZManga. They've just launched Neon Genesis Evangelion with weekly digital chapters for $0.99. It's available on PC and Mac, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Android phones and tablets.

GEN Manga Issue 4 out now, plus download free indie manga

Date: 2011 August 15 15:55 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

GEN Manga the company bringing us indie manga from the Tokyo underground have sent us reminder that issue 4 is out today.

They've also released issue 2 for free. They're even extending their subscribers discount. What makes GEN Manga interesting is that each issue is published on PDF, so you can download it and read it on any device that'll handle PDF documents. There's no nasty DRM to worry about, or installing extra naggy software, just one file per issue.

Tokyopop to Close at the end of May 2011

Date: 2011 April 15 15:07 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Manga publisher Tokyopop are to close in the US as of May 31st 2011 . The company's film, TV, and European operations, including its Hamburg, Germany-based publishing and international rights sales will continue. ICv2 have more details along with Bleeding Cool News and The Beat which broke the news. As always Anime News Network has coverage of the story too.

Tokyopop's Founder Stu Levy has posted a personal statement.

As the details were announced today we have no idea what impact this will have on their release details, as well as what will happen to the rights of existing Japanese manga and original English language comics also published. Any artists who have worked with Tokyopop should read the small print of their contracts now.

Souce: Tokyopop

Natsume Ono at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2011

Date: 2011 February 02 17:26 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Manga fans in Toronto Canada are in for a treat on the first weekend in May, where Natsume Ono will be the featured guest at The Toronto Comic Arts Festival 2011.

The event is set to run on Saturday May 7th 2011 and Sunday May 8th 2011 with free admission. This will be Natsume Ono first ever public appearance in North America.

You may know her from such works as not simple, Ristorante Paradiso, Gente, and House of Five Leaves.

Lucky Star Manga 6 out now and Bandai NYAF news roundup

Date: 2010 October 12 15:47 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

Bandai Entertainment have sent us details fresh from NYAF including that Lucky Star Manga Volume 6 is out today. You can order it from Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk.

The original Mobile Suit Gundam will be released as a two part DVD under the Anime Legend range.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is going to get a US blu-ray release, details and dates still to be confirmed.

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society is coming to blu-ray.

K-ON! Season 1 will be released on DVD and blu-ray, and will be released over 4 parts. Additionally they'll be releasing a standard and special addition which features a CD (with tracks to be confirmed).

Gundam 00 movie: A wakening of the Trailblazer has also got a North AMerican release, again details and release dates to be confirmed.

Manga Impact Book Details

Date: 2010 August 30 11:16 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

The good folks at Phaidon have sent us the details of their up coming book Manga Impact.

The book has 500 colour illustrations, 300 illustrated entries, and contributions from anime and manga experts such as Jonathan Clements and Tsugata Nobuyuki.

The book is due out November 2010.

Pre Order From Amazon.co.uk
Pre Order From Amazon.com

Multi-National Manga Anti-Piracy Coalition Formed

Date: 2010 June 08 16:47 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Multi-National Manga Anti-Piracy Coalition Formed

We've received some very interesting details from VIZ Media about the formation of a Multi-National Manga Anti-Piracy Coalition.It seems that the industry has grown tired of Scanlations - manga scanned into a digital format and distributed without the copyright holders consent. The coalition include the 36 members of Japan's Digital Comic Association, Square Enix, VIZ Media, TOKYOPOP and Yen Press.

Originally scanlations were manga translated by fans into their native language from Japanese. This can be seen as the manga equivalent of anime fansubs. Some scanlation sites branched out to scans of manga that was already official translated and licensed outside of Japan.

This has cost the manga publishing industry significant amounts of money, not just in lost book sales, but lost opportunities in the relatively new market of eBooks and mobile devices.

The coalition intend to target scanlation sites and aggregators of scanlation sites. They've drawn up a list of 30 sites to targeted for action. First they will ask the sites to cease distributing scanlations. If the sites fail to cease distributing further action will be taken depending on the jurisdiction of each site. Actions include legal injunctions against the sites, reporting the sites to governmental anti-piracy units of law enforcement, including the US Justice Department, local law enforcement agencies and the FBI.

Fans curious about piracy in the anime and manga industry should read the Pirate Anime FAQ.

This is not the first time the anime and manga industry has attempted to stop piracy in the industry, but this is the biggest and most coordinated international effort so far. With many companies in the industry forced to make cut backs, closing down offices, laying off staff, we wonder if this is the start of a new approach? Will more companies pursue legal options? Are fansubbers next?

Bandai Entertainment launches new manga website

Date: 2010 February 16 21:31 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The good folks at Bandai Entertainment have sent us details about their new manga website.

Fanboys wanted for MTV's True Life

Date: 2008 August 19 16:09 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Fandom

Our US based readers who like the idea of appearing on TV should consider this request from MTV who are keen to do a True Life episode on Fanboys.

PiQ To Stop

Date: 2008 June 17 17:31 | Posted By: LittleWoodenBoy

Category > Culture

PiQ's July issue to be its last.

Bleach Creator Tite Kubo to attend 2008 San Diego Comic-Con

Date: 2008 May 21 16:27 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

We've got some exciting news for American anime fans who can get to the 2008 San Diego Comic-Con International, where Tite Kubo the creator of Bleach will be making an appearance from July 25th.

NewType USA's replacement PiQ out now

Date: 2008 March 13 18:01 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

We've received a press release from PiQ LLC, the magazine which is essentially the replacement for NewType USA. The magazine is due out from March 14th 2008. Issue 1 will feature articles about Appleseed: Ex Machina, Code Geass and xxxHOLiC.

Viz reveal manga line up for the first quarter of 2008

Date: 2008 January 09 17:56 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The good folk at Viz have sent us the details for their new manga releases for the first quarter of 2008. They include:

Sand Chronicles
High School Debut
Ral Ω Grad
Monkey High
Honey and Clover
Switch

Plus they’ll be launching Library Editions of popular titles, these hard cover versions will be the first volumes of successful manga series including Bleach, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, Inuyasha, Naruto and Ranma ½, and are intended to be a bit more rugged to withstand long term library use.

U.S. Manga Sales Up, Anime DVD Sales Down

Date: 2007 December 07 14:00 | Posted By: Queen Of Swords

Category > Manga

News from the first annual New York Anime Festival this weekend: Manga sales in the U.S. are up, but sales of anime DVDs are down.

September 2007 Shojo Beat magazine features Yuu Watase cover

Date: 2007 August 14 16:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The folks at Viz Media have sent us details about a special Yuu Watase Absolute Boyfriend cover for the September 2007 issue of Shojo Beat Magazine.

New old manga licences at Comic-Con

Date: 2007 July 29 09:07 | Posted By: Azure

Category > Manga

Hooray it seems to be the season to rescue manga I wanted to buy from rights hell. Viz announced at Comic-con that it will be publishing basket ball classic Slam Dunk. There will be an initial preview in Shonen Jump before collected volumes in 2008.

CMX are rescuing fowl mouth manga Crayon Shin-chan presumably after FUNimation's success the anime on US adult swim.

I am already predicting I will be broke in 2008.

Souce: Anime News Network

Hokusai: First Manga Master

Date: 2007 April 02 15:38 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Art

The good folks at Abrams have sent us details of a new book they're publishing about the groundbreaking artist Hokusai. The book contains lots of lovely selection artwork from Hokusai and is a great example of the variety of work he did. The book is well worth £10, for curiosity or academic interests. It hits the shops on 30th April 2007.

Udon release Megaman and Street Fighter artbooks

Date: 2007 February 20 12:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

Capcom fans will pleased to hear about Udon Entertainment's new artbooks, one for Megaman Zero and another on Street Fighter.

Farewell Ranma

Date: 2006 November 07 14:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The nice people from Viz Media have sent us a press release detailing the conclusion of the long running fan favourite manga Ranma 1/2. Volume 36 of the manga ends the series with a letter to North American fans from Rumiko Takahashi, the author of Ranma 1/2 and another huge favourite Inu Yasha. The final volume is due out in North American on November 14th. So now's your chance to say goodbye to everyone's favourite gender changing comedy martial arts manga!

Seven Seas Goes Yuri

Date: 2006 October 27 08:18 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Seven Seas Entertainment will be launching a new publishing imprint for its library of manga titles. Called Strawberry, this new imprint will focus on yuri, or girl-on-girl, flavored romantic titles. The first titles of the new line are expected to be released sometime in 2007.

Naruto Wins Quill Award

Date: 2006 October 15 13:04 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The folks from VIZ Media have sent us details about Naruto winning the 2006 Quill Award for best graphic novel, apparently this is the first time a manga title has one the category. The Quill awards are unlike normal awards as they are more consumer orientated, so in other words it looks at sales figures rather than panellists decisions.

Future of Anime and Manga Looking Bright in the US

Date: 2006 July 24 04:22 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

The Mainichi Daily News are currently running an article about the success of anime and manga in the US. Reporting from Anime Expo, the article focuses on how anime and manga is becoming more mainstream and also more popular with girls. This trend has been seen in the US for a number of years now, with female convention attendance growing strongly each year. Interestingly this trend is also being mirrored in other fan events across the world too, four or five years ago UK anime fandom used to be the sole domain of rather geeky males, now the UK anime scene also has growing female attendance, along with more mainstream acceptance.

Souce: Mainichi Daily News

Manga Added To Dictionary

Date: 2006 July 08 02:39 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Anime News Network the word 'Manga' was one of the latest words to be added to Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary. It joins words like Google, gastric bypass, drama queen, and about 100 other nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The new edition is expected to be released this fall in its original left-to-right format

Souce: Anime News Network

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.

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

CLAMP at Anime Expo

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

Category > Events

CLAMP makes their first US appearance at Anime Expo.

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.

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

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

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.

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

Antarctic Press Release How To Break Into Comics Guide

Date: 2005 September 04 18:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The folks over at Antarctic Press have sent us the details for their new guide to becoming a professional comic book creator. It covers all aspects from writing, drawing and submitting comic book work. We think it's worth a look into since it's only $2.99, and concise at 22 pages long.

New Manga Release Details

Date: 2005 August 15 07:42 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

Here is some interesting news for those manga readers who are possibly looking for some new manga titles.

A new manga series by You Higuri & Shinji Wada will be coming out in the September issue of Princess Gold and will contain the first installment of ‘CROWN’.

Masami Tsuda known for the popular Anime/Manga Karekano will have her one shot story ‘AKAI MI’ presented in the November issue of LaLaDX on sale October 8.

Ira Ishida the creator of Ikebukuro West Gate Park,has teamed up with a different manga artist for a new story, Akihabara @ DEEP. Drawings were made by Makoto Akane. Akihabara @ DEEP will premiere in the August 12th issue of Comic Bunch.

For Ai Yori Aoshi Fans the series has finally come to an end, in fact the popular Manga by Kou Fumizuki will end in Young Animal No 17 on sale August 26th. The Manga boasts two TV adaptations and has been running on Young Animal since 1995.

Souce: Anime News Network

Manga Kiseiju to become Hollywood Remake

Date: 2005 August 12 09:36 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

More movies based on Japanese Manga are taking Hollywood by storm. Hitoshi Iwaaki's popular manga Kiseiju is going to remade by Hollywood.

Takashi Shimizu, who made his Hollywood debut with the remake The Grudge, will be directing this project by New Line Cinema Productions. Shimizu will be a supervisor in the writing of the script and the film will be produced by his partner Takashige Ichise, as well as Don Murphy of Angry Films and Lisa Henson and Kristine Belson of Henson Pictures. The English title is Parasyte and it is said that production will begin once the sequel to The Grudge is finished.

Souce: Akadot

Monster to become Hollywood Remake

Date: 2005 August 12 09:22 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

According to Akadot, the popular manga of Naoki Urasawa 'MONSTER' will become a Hollywood Remake. The project that has been in the midst of production. Newline Cinema has hired Josh Olsen as the screenwriter, he is also known for the writing scripts for low budget movies including "A History of Violence," "Lethal Trigger," and "Killer Bugs". The contract contract allows for the possibility of sequels.

Souce: Akadot

Range Murata talks about the US Release of Robots Vol 1

Date: 2005 August 05 07:16 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

Everyone has heard about the genius designer of Art & Fashion Range Murata who left a mark on the design world of today. His portfolio of works include: media, anime character design, art books to fashion and industrial design.

Here is a summary of the Akadot Interview to Range Murata where he talks about the US release of his upcoming comic / art book Robots Vol 1 where he plans to conquer the manga world as well.

Mechademia Calls Out For Submissions

Date: 2005 August 02 17:21 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Fandom

New anime and manga-based academic journal Mechademia is looking for sbumissions for future issues.

eigoManga Teams Up with Viz

Date: 2005 August 02 17:03 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

The folks at eigoManga have sent us the details of their partnership with Viz Media. Apparently eigoManga will produce the English language versions of Basara and Flame of Recca. The press release is very thin on details and doesn't really explain what they mean by producing. It's uncertain if they'll be translating it directly or hiring a third party company or individual to do all the work and if they'll manage the logistics such as printing and so on.

Newtype USA to Launch Evangelion Serial Manga

Date: 2005 July 19 22:38 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

Newtype USA will be releasing game-based Evangelion manga, Angelic Hearts, as serial starting in August issue.

EigoManga Forms Partnership with Devil's Due Publishing

Date: 2005 July 14 06:24 | Posted By: Davie

Category > Manga

EigoManga have just sent us a press release of their latest announcement.

ICE Kunion Brings Manhwa to the US

Date: 2005 July 12 15:58 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Manga

We've just got a press release from ICE Kunion, a joint enterprise between Korean publishing companies Sigongsa, Seoul Cultural and others. They mention their October line up, which includes Angel Diary, Chocolat, The 11th Cat and Bring It On, which have sold a combined total of almost a million copies in Korea alone.

The Otaku News crew note that this press release is interesting, since Korean comic books are normally incorrectly marketed as manga to people who automatically assume it is from Japan. ICE Kunion are marketing their titles are Korean and are taking pride in it claiming that "Korean Manhwa has taken over Japanese Manga to be the hottest books in the market".

TokyoPop to Launch New Children's Line

Date: 2005 May 24 18:41 | Posted By: Jeremy

Category > Manga

TokyoPop has announced that they will launch a new branch of their successful Cine-Manga line. This July, they will release the first of the new Jr. Cine-Manga books that will, they predict, revolutionize the children’s book market by bringing beloved characters and storylines from the screen to an original exciting visual format.

Trick-Or-Thieves April Fool's!

Date: 2005 April 02 05:26 | Posted By: Wing

Category > Manga

In regards to the previous article about 'Trick-Or Thieves', it turns out the original announcement on the author's deviantART account is actually an April Fool's joke!
M. Alice LeGrow stated that she would never write a story like this, although she is working on multiple projects for Tokyopop. Unfortunately, 'Trick-Or-Thieves' is not one of them.

Souce: deviantART

Newtype USA April 2005 Issue

Date: 2005 March 30 16:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime

Those nice folks from Newtype USA have sent us the details of their April Issue, which has features on Fearless Females (including the cute and shocking Elfen Lied and Gunslinger Girl), along an with interview from Seiji Mizushima the director of Fullmetal Alchemist. The free DVD includes the first episodes of Maburaho and Gravion Zwei.

Rumble Pak and Sakura Pakk Comics Are Headed For The Eisner

Date: 2005 March 15 16:53 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

eigoManga have sent us a rather strange press release. Their titles Rumble Pak and Sakura Pakk are curently competing for a nomination for an the 2005 Eisner Award. Basically it means they've submitted a form to apply for what is know as the "Oscars" of comics. Still they've put up some of their stuff to look at for free!

ADV Films Announces March 15 Release of The Five Star Stories

Date: 2005 February 27 18:43 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

Those folks over at ADV Films have sent us the details for their US DVD release of The Five Star Stories.

Newtype USA March 2005 Issue

Date: 2005 February 26 11:41 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Press Releases

The folks at Newtype USA have sent us the details about the March 2005 Issue of their magazine.

They've got some Madlax artwork on the cover that has been exclusively drawn for the Newtype USA, they've also got more coverage of Fullmetal Alchemist and Samurai Champloo, along with Maburaho and Scrapped Princess. The cover DVD has both dub and sub versions of Cromartie High School and Divergence Eve.

Newtype USA Vol. 4, Issue 3 will be available March 1, 2005.

ADV Films Announces Release of Cromartie High School: Cromartian Rhapsody

Date: 2005 February 26 11:07 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Anime > DVD

It's press release catch-up time here at Otaku News due to the evil flu that's been lurking around most of the Otaku News Crew have been infected, the others have had to wear Bio-hazard suits! ^_-

Anyway, those nice folk over at ADV Films US have sent us the details of the insane anime Cromartie High School, which is due out on March 15th. Do you fancy the idea of going to a high school full of delinquents? Well Kamiyama somehow has been enrolled there!

ADV also have a nice limited collector's edition with the first volume of the manga bundled in and a custom series artbox to hold all 4 volumes.

Metrocon Seek Human Chess Pieces

Date: 2005 February 20 12:46 | Posted By: Joe

Category > Events

Florida anime convention Metrocon are currently seeking Cosplayer volunteers to participate in their Anime Human Chess Match. So if meet all their terms and conditions and can cosplay as one of the characters listed on their site why not give it a shot? It's also interesting to note that they've got ninja and pirate pawns.

The Otaku News Crew are pondering which anime characters are going to be which pieces, we suspect that Gendo Ikari will be a king for one side, while Rosette Christopher will be a bishop!

Souce: Metrocon

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